Gretna FC: Living the Dream
A Season with Football's Most Remarkable Club

Andrew Ross

Category Sport
Pub Date August 2007
ISBN 1 84502 155 X
Extent 224 pp.
Price £14.99
Format Paperback, 234 x 156 mm
Plate/Illustrations 8pp colour



Gretna FC: Living the Dream is a fly-on-the-wall diary of the trials and tribulations, the highs and lows and the tears and laughter of Gretna FC – the small club with big ambitions that is aiming for promotion to the SPL at the first attempt. From the makeshift stands at Gretna’s rundown Raydale Park – Scotland’s southernmost league stadium – to the frozen terraces at Ross County’s Victoria Park – the nation’s most northerly league stadium – Andrew Ross traverses the country taking in every game as the Black & Whites seek a historic third promotion in three seasons. In his six months following the team, Ross faces blizzards, floods, gales, cancelled trains, hostile away fans and killer meat pies.

After becoming part of the scenery at both home and away fixtures, Ross is granted exclusive access to the dressing room, the boardroom and to Gretna’s eccentric backer and Managing Director, Brooks Mileson. The multimillionaire’s story is every bit as fantastic as the club’s. Suffering from ME and having just one semi-functioning kidney, Mileson survives on a daily diet of 100 cigarettes, Lucozade and ‘sheer determination’. Yet, his philanthropy and enthusiasm have seen the club win successive promotions, reach the final of the Scottish Cup and even qualify for Europe in recent seasons.