This doesn't look like happy ever after

Ah, Gretna FC, the fairytale club with a place in all our hearts. Once bumping around in English non-League football, they got bought by charismatic uncle-figure Brooks Mileson, jumped ship into Scottish football, and powered their way up the divisions into the SPL.

Or a tiny provincial club that became the play thing of a multi-millionaire, who despite their delapitdated stadium and average attendances in the low hundreds, bullied their way to the top table simply through spending way more money than anyone else.

They may be fondly spoken of at Hearts, ever since their 2006 Scottish Cup final together, but most of Scottish football regards them with little affection. Once in the SPL, Gretna struggled, but rather than use the January transfer window to get in some more players, the club released most of their higher earners, leaving them pitifully ill-equipped for survival. As a result, the relegation "battle" is dead - Gretna are certainties to go back down, as they are currently 9 points below a surely uncatchable Kilmarnock.

You could reasonably ask what the point of it all was, but events took a dramatic twist when the players weren't paid on Monday. Gretna implied this was merely because Mileson is in hospital and unable to sign the cheque, which at the very least shows how utterly dependent the club is on one man. But it also suggests that things could be much, much worse than that... if Mileson either won't or can't prop them up anymore, the club will be in serious financial shit. Chief exec Graham Muir today admitted that administration is a possibility.

To their credit, the players said they were more worried about the sick boss than their wages. Somewhat charmlessly, the management team - Davie Irons and Derek Collins - jumped ship to Morton.

Mileson seemed to think he could buy his way into the big time, but it's a lot more complicated than that. Ambitious clubs need to grow organically, attracting bigger crowds and building the infrastructure as they do so. Clubs like Falkirk show it can be done.

But the SPL is no place for village pub teams.

Gretna scrape a draw, but they're still pointless

Back to domestic business at the weekend, and both Edinburgh clubs had reasons for regret. Hibs enjoyed a terrific home draw with Dundee Utd, hardly a disgraceful result, but shocking defending had given the visitors a two goal lead before Hibs rallied themselves.

Hearts, meanwhile, failed to take full advantage from the gifts on offer against Gretna. It was a story of maroon midfielders, really... first Michael Stewart got sent off after some shameful play-acting from Danny Grainger. Then Laryea Kingston scored with a nice chip from just outside the box, before scoring at the wrong end to level the scores.

Watching the highlights, though, is depressing. Fir Park was once again empty, even if the official attendance of 1,544 was not the lowest at a Gretna match this season. Alright, so they are a small club (Hearts, the self-styled big club, should surely be taking more than 400 supporters with them to Motherwell though). But just what else is it that Gretna offer?

The truth is that they play some decent football at times, which is a credit to Davie Irons' coaching. But it's rarely enough. Irons characterised their problems as a lack of squad depth, a lack of experience, and a lack of quality. Meanwhile, it transpires that it's Mick Wadsworth, the Director of Football, who holds sway over transfers. This is perhaps a clue to the acrimonious departure of previous manager Rowan Alexander.

Gretna desperately need investment in the squad, yet after spending much more money than their rivals to force his club up the divisions, owner Brooks Mileson seems to have turned the taps off now that they've arrived in the SPL. At this rate, they are going straight back down.

Can anyone explain what the point of all this is?

Gretna are promoted, but is it good news for the SPL?

As with the top flight, the Scottish Football League Division One took a surprisingly long time to declare a winner this season. Twelve points clear at the top at the turn of the year, and scoring for fun, Gretna looked a shoe-in for the title and their third successive promotion. But their subsequent wobble, coupled with St. Johnstone's great run of form (they were fighting in both cup competitions, too, remember) made for a thrilling last day of the season.

It's heart-breaking for the Perth team, who have ended up with nothing after a season that promised so much. They got to the semi-finals of both the League and Scottish Cups, and pushed Hibernian and Celtic hard in both games, but eventually the better resourced teams came through. On Saturday, they got even closer - they beat Hamilton 4-3 in a pulsating game, and for 5 minutes were Division One Champions as it stood. But then the news came through from Dingwall - Gretna had scored again to go 3-2 up against Ross County, and back above the Saints in the table. They held on and took the title by a single point.

Gretna's rise has been meteoric. The former English non-League team have risen from Division Three to the SPL inside 5 seasons, and became the darlings of many last season when the got to the Scottish Cup Final, and only lost out to Hearts on penalties. Those same observers will now be hailing the romance of this small-town club earning its chance to play against the giants of the Scottish game next season. Eccentric owner Brooks Mileson has promised he will invest more of his fortune to ensure that Gretna will be able to hold their own in the SPL.

And yet... while the management team obviously deserve credit for organising things on the park, Gretna's turbocharged ascent has been entirely down to Mileson's cash. In Division Two, they assembled a squad more costly than many SPL clubs' wage bills. Their crowds at Raydale Park have hovered around 2,000, and while they can expect their SPL status to attract more fans, the fact that they will be playing their "home" games at Fir Park next season (Raydale Park doesn't meet the SPL's minimum criteria) means a 250 mile round trip will probably dissuade many of them from travelling. And the SPL needs more empty seats like the Scottish Labour Party needs the Iraq issue.

Given the limited catchment area, it's genuinely hard to see how the support can grow significantly in the longer term. Gretna are a small town club, propped up by a wealthy benefactor, not a genuine new force in Scottish football. If Mileson ever turns off the taps, it's hard to see how they can sustain their position.

Compare this with St. Johnstone. While Gretna took 500 fans to Dingwall on Saturday (admittedly, a tough journey), the Saints took 3,000 to Hamilton. They have built a team under an astute young manager, Owen Coyle, with the experience of players such as Derick McInnes and Jason Scotland, who desperately wanted to test themselves in the SPL again, week in, week out. McDiarmid Park would love to welcome the Perthshire crowds back to watch the big boys come to town, and dream of the days when their club took on SV Hamburg or Monaco in European competition. At the end of the day, they couldn't quite do enough to get promotion, but romance is not the preserve of the wedding specialists from near the Border.

As it is, they will have to bide their time. Gretna are up, and time will tell how much further they can go.