[aisuru]

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Gretna | Gretna edging closer to closure

so it looks like Gretna are finally going to the wall. Mileson is on the way out, and then the party is over, as the club won't be able to continue in full-time professional football.

Gretna are paying the price for buying success for the last four seasons, and have fallen into the same trap that i was predicting nine months ago. i didn't expect it to happen exactly like this, to be fair, but i was right in principle. achieving promotion for three consecutive seasons is too much, too soon. Thistle made it into the SPL the season after being promoted to the 1st Division, and we soon found out how difficult the big clubs will make it for you. we lasted two years before tumbling back down, and haven't been able to regain the same level of success since. Gretna, of course, have been consistently bottom or thereabouts since August, victims of their own accomplishment. there's a much bigger gap between the 1st Division and the SPL than between the 1st and 2nd Division - both financially and quality-wise.

just goes to show that spending your way to the top only creates a bigger fall when you run out of capital to sustain it.