Football News And Views

Gretna, who have stormed up the Scottish Leagues could be facing closure after being in a terrible financial crisis. Gretna stormed up the Scottish leagues due to their funding from businessman Brooks Mileson but he has recently became very ill and his funding to Gretna has been cut off and now the club face peril. Only ten players have apparently agreed to play on Saturday which means Gretna could face further fines and penalties and they could easily lose any number of their players as all of them have not been paid recently which is in breach of their contract agreements. Gretna have already faced a ten point deduction because of their administration and they are looking for funds to get them though to the end of the season. Yesterday, Gretna administrator David Elliot revealed that the club owed £350,000 to the inland revenue and they also have a further debt of around £900,00. It was reported that they had to raise £30,000 by midday today or face closure but so far they have not been closed but I feel it will happen very soon as this situation is not getting any easier for the club. This may end up being the second time Gretna have lost their football team after Gretna Green FC became bankrupt in the 1920s.

I really liked Gretna and enjoyed watching them fly up the leagues but that success has proved to be their downfall and as their former manager, Dave Irons, said earlier in the week, it has all happened far too quickly for the club. Things really have gotten out of control.

I was shocked to read that Martin Taylor has not visited Eduardo in hospital to apologise for the tackle which broke the Croation’s leg. A lot of reports had suggested otherwise including the News of the World interview which Eduardo has claimed was completely made up. When asked about the News of the World story in his first interview since the injury (which was to Croation TV) he said:

I guarantee you that it’s completely made up. This here is my first interview after the injury. I asked them to clarify that it was not an interview with me, and they did, so it’s okay now.

Eduardo also thanked the Arsenal medical staff as well as Gilberto Silva who was on hand to translate for Eduardo who’s English is clearly not 100% yet. You can read the full translated interview here. Once again we wish Eduardo a quick recovery.

Arsenal became the first english club to win at the San Siro against AC Milan after a supurb 2-0 win. Arsenal continued where they left off from the first leg, in control. AC Milan have not had the best of seasons so far domestically and their poor form seemed to have continued against a fantastic Arsenal side. Throughout the whole game Arsenal dominated possession and were allowed to play their slick passing game. AC Milan had a couple of half chances in the first half, one coming after 18 minutes when a good long ball from Kaka found Pato who shot tamely at Almunia. Arsenal had by far the best chance of the first half when Cesc Fabregas shot from outside the area only to see his shot rebound on the crossbar.

Arsenal carried on where they left off in the second half and again had a couple of good chances. A Fabregas corner found it’s way to the feet of an unmarked Senderos who could only shoot straight at the Milan keeper, Kalac. Not long after Arsenal had another chance. Pirlo, who had a terrible night, gave the ball away to Adebayor on the edge of the Milan box and he picked out Eboue but his shot didn’t trouble the keeper. Pirlo almost made amends when his free kick forced a good save from Almunia in the Arsenal goal.

Arsenal bought Walcott on with 20 minutes to go and the young Englishman almost set up a goal when he was found well at the far post by Hleb but Kalac did well to block the shot with Senderos and Adebayor waiting for the tap in. Arsenal finally made the breakthrough when a low 30 yard shot from Cesc Fabregas found the Milan corner in the 84th minute. With the game beyond AC Milan, Arsenal doubled their lead when Walcott crossed low across the goal and Adebayor tapped in to get his first champion’s league goal for Arsenal.