With Gretna are still in administration and under threat of going out of business if no investor is found, midfielder Gavin Skelton fears the team’s abysmal display against Caley Thistle may jeopardise the careers of the players at the doomed club.

Skelton knows the importance of performing well between now and the season’s end. He said: “It is disappointing as we are all going to be looking for clubs and it is a worrying time.

“A couple of the players are on loan and have got contracts next year, but the rest of us are out of contract even if there is a club next year. It is a worrying time for us all and you don’t want to be putting in performances like that. Interest is very nice but until you have signed something it is definitely on your mind. It depends what comes up. I am not Ronaldo and in the position of choosing where I want to play. If anything comes up I will have to look at it and it is nice to be linked to clubs in the SPL. It has been a long season and it has started to catch up with us all.”

It has certainly not been an easy season for Gretna. Forced to play their games at Motherwell's Fir Park due to the club not meeting the minimum stadia criteria set by the Scottish Premier League, attendences at games has been alarminly low, but this is to be expected for a town with a population of 2,700. Their first game of the season resulted in a 4-0 loss to Falkirk, after which the team recorded only four points in 12 games. The first win in the SPL came when they defeated Dundee United 3-2 at Fir Park; the jump from the First Division to the top flight in Scotland was just too great.

Owner Brookes Mileson had been bankrolling the club since they started their climb up the leagues, but when he fell ill, reports about the clubs financial and footballing health started appearing in the newspapers. Players and staff where not being paid and a complicated legal tangle between the club and former manager Rowan Alexander the former manager resulted in many distractions both on and off the pitch. The continued low attendences meant that with less money coming in, the financial troubles mounted up: a crowd of 431 turned up for the game, which was 250 fewer than attended a match on the same day between East Stirlingshire and Elgin in the Scottish Third Division.

Gretna officially went into administration, when owner Brooks Mileson withdrawing his financial support. The automatic 10 point deduction that followed effectively sealed the clubs fate and Gretna were formally relegated from the SPL on March 29, 2008 after being defeated 2-0 by St Mirren at Love Street. With debts of over 4 million pounds and assets of only 1 million pounds, the future looks bleak for Gretna. With no new owner in sight survival seems a far off prospect.  Twenty-to players, including 8 senior players along with coaching staff and the former owner's son have already been made redundant.

So where now for Gretna FC? Assuming the club survives in whatever form, a return to the amateur leagues beckons. There have been many commentators who claim that Gretna should never have been allowed into the SPL, but on the pitch anyway, they meritted their position amongs Scotlands top tier.  Should the SPL have widened its criteria away from just looking at stadium criteria and looked at the financial health of the clubs coming in to the league? Possibly, but Gretna are not alone in going into administration whilst playing in the SPL: Motherwell did it in 2002 but were saved from relegation as Falkirk didn't meet the stadium requirements. The difference was that Motherwell had a viable fan-base and had enough credibility to attract new players, two things that Gretna lacks.

Next year, Hamilton will take the place of Gretna FC. I hope the league has done a careful audit of Hamiltons finances to make sure that whilst they may perform on the pitch, we avoid the sorry state that Gretna got into.