ANOTHER day, another deadline at Gretna. On this occasion, however, it was made abundantly clear that this is the final stay of execution. If a buyer is not found by a week tomorrow the club will die.
David Elliot, of administrators Wilson Field Ltd, told a press conference in Gretna Green yesterday: "We have funds until 17 May and at that point, to be quite frank, we stop.
"We have got four interested parties and I would like to remain
hopeful that one will come through before the end of the season. But we are in dire straits and I think these potential parties who have expressed interest need to get on with it now."
If no viable lifeline is forthcoming then Gretna Football Club will play their final match against Hearts on Tuesday, 13 May. Ironically, that will be two years to the day when the tiny Dumfriesshire club faced the same opposition in its finest hour – the 2006 Scottish Cup final at Hampden.
Elliot, whose firm was appointed administrator in March after owner Brooks Mileson was no longer in a position to bankroll Gretna's running costs, would not reveal identities of the four interested parties. He said: "I have disappointed you (the media] before by saying that I have signed a confidentiality agreement and then the people I have been talking to have been in the press the next day. However, I would prefer to stick to the confidentiality agreements I have signed."
Elliot addressed the media immediately after a two-hour meeting with creditors, which was attended by former manager Rowan Alexander, who claims he is owed £800,000 after his rolling contract was terminated. The administrator's proposal to continue until 17 May, which is possible only due to the advanced payments received from the Scottish Premier League, was accepted by the meeting and Elliot insisted that liquidation, with the loss of 40 remaining jobs, was not inevitable.
"There is a realistic prospect of somebody stepping in," he said. "I believe that and that's why we will continue to trade. If I didn't believe that we would stop now."
Elliot explained that any prospective buyer would not be lumbered with the club's crippling debt, which is estimated at around £3.8 million.
"I would not want to try and sell the company's shares," he said.
"The company itself does have very substantial debt. What I would try to do is create a vehicle whereby the only thing the purchaser would pick up would be the footballers' contracts – and there will be six of them at the end of the season.
"The only other thing the purchaser would need to find would be the money to buy the ground (Raydale Park] and upgrade to the required standard should they want to play at Gretna.
"The football debt is partially expunged because the commercial TV rights money is payable at the end of the season, providing we fulfil all our fixtures. Which we will do."
Elliot revealed that no asking price had been placed on the club. "It's not a Mars bar that's 50 pence," he said. "I have to take into account whatever the offers are and accept the best offer on the day."
One potential fly in the ointment arose during the creditors meeting which had clearly taken Elliot by surprise. A rumour has been circulating locally for some time that a public trust dating back to the club's formation could put in doubt ownership of Raydale Park, which is the club's sole remaining asset and is valued at just over £800,000.
"I didn't realise there was such a problem until the meeting this morning," admitted Elliot. "My solicitors tell me the ground is owned by the limited company which I've been appointed administrator.
"I've been told that back in 1946 the ground was acquired by subscription, in other words by local people. A question mark has been raised in my mind how the ground was transferred from their ownership into the limited company.
"If the ground is not owned as I think it is within the limited company I have been appointed administrator then I can't deal with it. But I am convinced from my solicitors' report that it is owned by the company. I will investigate but I'm still confident I can progress. I wouldn't sell the ground if I wasn't confident legal title rested in the company which I had been appointed administrator."
Elliot said he is yet to speak directly to Brooks Mileson and confirmed that the former owner, who is said to be seriously ill, is the largest single creditor in the form of a loan to the club which is outstanding at £1,871,427.82.
Mileson's total exposure is closer to £8m but that includes £6m which was converted into share capital.
Elliot also revealed that the directors of Gretna could be held responsible for the club's debt if it is found they continued to trade knowing the club was insolvent. He said: "This club has traded without the ability to pay its debts from its footballing income – it hasn't been able to do that for a long time.
"A lot of people have lost their money so I said (to the creditors] that I would personally want to look at the possibility of wrongful trading. That is not fraud but is when a company director allows the company to trade while knowing or ought to have known that the club was insolvent."
He added: "If it is found that this was the case, the directors could be made personally liable for the debt."
The full article contains 951 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
