This is it, don’t get scared now. One final push for us and our final update in our journey with Gretna and what a crazy and emotional 10 seasons it has been! We are back from our mid season break and we did get to squeeze in a couple of friendlies to try and get the morale up and continue getting the lads trained in our new Christmas tree formation. We come away from games against Heston Rovers and Dumfries 12-0 winners! We return from our break with a cup game against St. Mirren as we look to try and add silverware and after that we face Rangers at Ibrox so not an easy return. Can we add another trophy in our final season?
This is the formation the lads have been familiarising with the past month or so which looks to have helped our recent results and we will continue to use this in the second half of the season.
With it being January you know there will be transfer activity as we see players come and go. First off we did lose a player in the break as Guy Renyard picked up an injury in training and damaged his cruciate ligaments and would be out for 7-8 months so Newcastle United recalled him back and we wish him well. Roy ‘ROOOONNNEEEYYYYY’ Rooney joins on loan from Arsenal and Kenlyn Christopher joins from Fulham for £275k rising to £750k. Players have left as Uchenna Benjamin joins York City for £1.9 million, Pete Dewhirst joins rivals Aberdeen for £1.8 million, Chris Rae joins TNS of Wales for £195k rising to £275k, Paul Cummins joins Portsmouth for £125k and Brandon Malone joins Cardiff City on loan. It was Hello and Goodbye to Dodo who joined on the 1st January as he arrives from Brazil and just over a week later he was sold to Leeds United for £15 million!
January
Our journey in the Scottish Cup continues after a comfortable win over league rivals St. Mirren. We were awarded a soft penalty mid way in the first half which Ruben Loftus-Cheek tucked in to the bottom corner. Ruaridh Porteous doubled our lead when the ball drops to him on the edge of the area and he turns and rifles it past the keeper. Jason Knight made it 3-0 with a shot from just inside the area which beat the keeper despite him getting a hand to it. We were out of sight when sub Silvio Gamarra made it 4 after Jason Knight plays a long ball over the top and he scores from close range. St. Mirren got on the scoresheet late on after a one two finds Charlie McShane in the area to fire past Greg Holligan. We cause an upset as we beat Rangers on their own turf. Rangers took the lead after we can’t clear a free kick and Camilo Pinto is played in to score at the keepers near post. Jason Knight gets us back on level terms after he robs the ball off a defender and drills it past the keeper at his near post from outside the area. We then take the lead minutes later after Leo Watson squares to Jhon Serna in the area to fire home at the front post. Rangers looked to have got a share of the points when they won a soft penalty which Camilo Pinto drilled in to the right corner for his second of the game. We then got a late winner after Leo Watson again setting a goal up as he squares to sub Dean Campbell to fire first time in to the far corner.
We held league leaders Hibernian to a draw despite us taking the lead and then coming from behind to rescue a point. We take the lead through Pascal Kpohomouh heading home a free kick at the back post. We wasn’t in front for long as Hibernian came back at us and after some lovely one touch passing Jordan Moffat found himself in the area and slots it past the keeper. They then take the lead in the second half and it’s our nemesis Zakaria Soulaimani as a cross finds him in acres of space and he puts it past the keeper in to the bottom corner. 5 minutes from time and we level through Ruaridh Porteous‘s free kick which is cleared back out to him and he drills it past the keeper. St. Mirren and Charlie McShane come back for revenge and beat us with him getting a hat-trick. A poor back pass from Pascal Kpohomouh let Chris Hood pass to Charlie McShane to fire in to the bottom corner. We get on level terms from the penalty spot which Ruben Loftus-Cheek tucks in to the bottom corner. Minutes later and St. Mirren were back in front and again it was a sloppy pass that let them in and Andrew Rowley sets up Charlie McShane to fire in to the far corner from the right of the area. He completes his hat-trick on the hour as he gets to a cross first and side foots past the keeper. We end the month with a bore draw to bottom of the league Motherwell.
Our win over St. Mirren will see us face Hearts in the Fifth Round of the Scottish Cup.
February
We get in to the quarters finals of the Scottish Cup after a double from Jhon Serna beats Hearts. We take the lead just before half time when Jhon Serna rises highest to head home a corner from Ruaridh Porteous. His second comes early in the second half after Jason Knight plays a long through ball for him to run on to and tuck past the keeper. We left it late to beat Hearts again a few days later. We took the lead through Jhon Serna after Josh Brooking whips a ball across the face of goal and Jhon Serna pokes it past the keeper. Hearts get back level early in the second half when we can’t clear a free kick and the ball bounces around the 6 yard area and Leighton Clarkson sticks his leg out to poke it over the line. It took us until the 93rd minute to get the winner when sub Silvio Gamarra plays in Jhon Serna to score at the near post to get the three points. We held Celtic to a goalless draw in front of a packed out Raydale Park despite playing around an hour with 10 men after Jason Knight was shown a second yellow in the first half.
Our journey in the Scottish Cup continues as face Dundee in the Quarter Finals. Only 2 games after and we could be champions..
We struggled to a draw at home to Dundee United. We took the lead early in the game from the penalty spot as Roy ROOONNEEEYYY scored his first for the club as he fires it in to the bottom right corner. Dundee United levelled with about 20 minutes to go when Jalil Saadi scores with a bullet header at the back post from a free kick. A pretty dominating performance saw us overcome Dundee and progress in to the semi finals of the Scottish Cup. Josh Brooking put us ahead after Ruben Loftus-Cheek plays a ball over the defence for him to run on to and fire across the keeper in to the far corner. We doubled the lead in the second half after Silvio Gamarra gets down the right and puts a ball to the front post for Jhon Serna to flick past the keeper.
The draw for the next round of the Euro II was made and we somehow face Krasnodar again who was also in our group! Hopefully we can repeat history and beat them to progress in another cup!?
We were handed arguably the easier draw for the Semi Final game in the Scottish Cup as we face Championship side Ross County.
March
We kick the month off with another trip to Russia to face a familiar opponent as we play Krasnodar again. We were held to a 1-1 draw in which they took the lead but we were the better side. Alexandr Leonov put them ahead after a free kick was nodded down to him to score form close range. It took us until early in the second half to pull level when Leo Watson whips a ball in from wide left for Silvio Gamarra to head home at the front post. Another tough game follows as we travel to Partick Thistle who we have been hunting down in 5th in recent weeks. A poor performance form us saw Partick Thistle get a crucial win. Sam Smith puts them ahead in the opening 5 minutes when he beats Josh Brooking to a cross to tap in at the back post. Euan Rennie got their second after Mark Gauld misses a ball up to their striker leaving Euan Rennie in on goal to fire across Greg Holligan. A dominant performance at home to Krasnodar sees us progress further in Euro II. Jhon Serna put us ahead after Josh Brooking drills the ball up field and the keeper comes and then stops allowing Jhon Serna to get the ball and slot it under him in to an empty net. Stephen King doubled the lead seconds before halftime after a one two with Josh Brooking before beating the keeper at his near post with pace. Josh Brooking then turned goal scorer after a one two with Ruben Loftus-Cheek allowed him to get in to the area and fire across the keeper in to the far corner.
Defensive errors meant struggling Kilmarnock left Raydale Park with three points. Magomed Abdurazakov put Kilmarnock ahead after a throw in which he took was passed back to him and he then went on and beat three defenders before scoring from a tight angle. They doubled the lead in the second half after a clumsy tackle meant Jack Aitchison scores from the spot by firing it in to the bottom left. We do pull one back when Bafana Mpandle plays a ball to the front post for Jhon Serna to score from close range. We get a crucial win away to Aberdeen and had to endure a nervy final 5 minutes. A Jhon Serna double got the job done with his first coming when Jason Knight plays him in to slot in to the bottom corner from 8 yards. He gets his second early in the second half as a Ruaridh Porteous free kick causes chaos and he reacts quickest to poke it over the line. Aberdeen caused a nervy ending after they won a soft penalty and Michael Ruth drills it in to the bottom right corner. Final game before the league split is a trip to Dundee. We come away with a late winner despite being down to ten men. Tony Chalmers put them ahead after a cross from James Bree finds him at the front post to tuck past Greg Holligan. Anthony Elanga gets us level with a finish in to the top corner from outside the area. Moments later Kevin O’Hara had a golden chance to retake the lead from the spot for Dundee but he put it straight down the middle in to Greg Holligan‘s arms. We then go down to ten men with a couple of minutes to go as Josh Booking is shown a second yellow for a late tackle. We left late in to injury time to get the winner when Ruaridh Porteous plays a through ball down the middle for Jhon Serna to get on to and fire past the keeper at his near post.
After our home win against Krasnodar saw us through to the Quarter Final of the Euro II where we will face Bulgarian side Ludogorets away in the first leg. Beat these and we face either Genk or Feyenoord in the Semi Finals.
April
Ludogorets up first in April as we travel to Bulgaria for the first leg. We come away with a BIG win which sees us with one foot in the next round. Jhon Serna opens the scoring after their defender’s clearance smashes off our player in to Jhon Serna to score from close range. Jason Knight doubles the lead minutes later after he makes a late run it to the area to get on to Josh Brooking‘s cross and finds the bottom corner. Jhon Serna gets his second of the game after Jason Knight pulls the ball back across the area for him to side foot past the keeper. Roy Rooney got his second goal for the club and again from the penalty spot as he fires it in to the bottom right corner. Silvio Gamarra comes off the bench and makes it 5-0 with an effort from the edge of the area which curls past the keeper and in to the far corner. Days later and we face Championship side Ross County in the semi finals of the Scottish Cup. We get the job done after Ross County got off to the worse start possible after Eric Allen was shown a straight red for an elbow in the opening two minutes. Jhon Serna put us ahead when he head homes a corner from Ruaridh Porteous. Ross County‘s only shot on target came after they won a soft penalty and Dan N’Lundulu tucks it in to the bottom corner to level. Roy Rooney gets the winning goal with a looping header from a Ruardidh Porteous free kick early in the second half. A rotated side as we host Ludogorets in the second leg. Ludogorets get the win but not by enough to progress. Nikolay Ganev put them ahead on half time after a free kick is nodded back across the area for him to slot past David Gray. We are back level when subs combine with Jhon Serna pulling it back from the byline to Roy Rooney to score from close range. Ludogorets‘s winner comes against the run of play after we head a cross out to Alexandru Galat on the edge of the area to hit it first time in to the top corner giving David Gray no chance.
We are in to the Semi Finals of the Euro II and is probably our toughest opponent as we come up against Dutch side Feyenoord and we are at home for the first leg.
In an even game away to Aberdeen, one goal was enough for us to come away with the three points. Ruaridh Porteous is allowed to run with the ball and he rifles it past the keeper from just inside the area to get the only goal of the game. We follow that with a big win at home to Rangers. Jhon Serna put us in front when he gets on the end of a Bafana Mpandle cross and fires it across the keeper. Ruaridh Porteous doubled the lead just after half hour when Leo Watson squares to him in the area and he drills it past the keeper at this near post. He then got his second of the game in the second half when Ruben Loftus-Cheek plays him through to fire across the keeper in to the bottom corner. Rangers did pull one back late on when Sidnei Tavares heads home a corner late on. Three goals in the first half were enough for us to take a commanding win in to the second leg at Feyenoord. Roy Rooney put us ahead from the penalty spot which he drilled in to the bottom left corner. Pascal Kpohomouh doubled the lead with a header at the back post from a Ruaridh Porteous free kick. Ruaridh Porteous then became a goal scorer when Jhon Serna pulls it back for him to fire past the keeper at his near post. We end the month with a narrow defeat to league and cup champions Hibernian. We were arguably the better team but couldn’t take our chances. Ex Gretna man Andre Knowles put them ahead with a finish at the back post from an Ashley Taylor free kick. We got back on level terms in the second half when Ruaridh Porteous whips a free kick to the back post for Stephen King to tap in. Hibernian‘s winner came when Jordan Moffat plays a ball over the top for Zakaria Soulaimani to round the keeper and score in to an empty net from a tight angle.
May
We took a slightly rotated side to Netherlands for our second leg against Feyenoord. We were outplayed for a large portion of the match but we did enough to hold on for a 0-0 and progress to the final! We were unlucky not to beat Celtic after we took the lead and they ended the game with 10 men. Jordan Fulton put us ahead in the second half after he loses his man and heads home at the front post from a corner. Celtic were awarded a soft penalty and Efthymis Koulouris puts it bottom right. A minute later and he is shown a straight red for an elbow off the ball but they held on for a draw. We end the season with a home game against Partick Thistle and we cruise to a 3-0 win. Roy Rooney put us in front early on after Jhon Serna pulls it back and he hits a rocket first time in to the near post. Jason Knight doubled the lead just after the hour when Leo Watson pulls it back and he curls it around the keeper. Jhon Serna made it 3-0 when he loses his marker and tucks home at the back post from a corner.
We are into the final of the Scottish Cup and we will face league rivals Rangers at Hampden Park! It is the first time the club has reached the final of the Scottish Cup in it’s short history!
Scottish Cup Final
A slow start cost us a chance of winning the game and the trophy against Rangers in the Scottish Cup final. Mick Blake put them ahead in the 6th minute when we were temporarily down to ten men and Jean-Claude Moukoko whips a ball in to Mick Blake to tuck home at the near post. Rangers were awarded a soft penalty close to half time which Camilo Pinto sticks bottom left. Rangers got two more goals in the final 10 minutes to see us off for good. Daniel Vlcek plays a one two with Camilo Pinto on the edge of the area before firing across Greg Holligan in to the far corner. Minutes later and Stefan Kerr comes off the bench and makes it 4-0 after we half clear a corner but its put back in to the area and he hits it first time past the keeper. It wasn’t a 4-0 game and looks worse than what it was, who knows what would have happened had we not had a slow start.
We are also into another final as have somehow managed to get ourselves in to the final of the Euro II Cup and we will face Russian side Spartak Moscow who similar to Rangers will be a tough team to face.
Euro II Final
A 10 minute spell in the first half was enough to ensure Spartak Moscow were Euro II champions. Zelimkhan Bakaev put them ahead when a clearance hit the back of Stephen King and fell to him to score from close range. They double the lead minutes later when Alphonso Davies puts a ball on to Amine Gouri‘s head to cushion it past Greg Holligan. He then got his second of the game when a poor header from Pascal Kpohomouh goes straight to him to fire in to the bottom corner. We had a glimmer of hope just after the hour when Jhon Serna drives through the middle and fires in off the post from the edge of the area. That was soon put to bed as 60 seconds later Yangel Herrera drills a free kick back across the keeper in to the far corner. We got a second in the game when Jhon Serna played in Silvio Gamarra to take a touch and fire in to the far corner but it wasn’t meant to be this year.
We continued to pick up our form in the second half of the season and eventually finished the season 5th. A season of two halves it feels and we still managed to secure a European spot after a dreadful start to our league campaign. We have looked a much better side this side of Christmas and the lads really dug in and worked hard to turn our fortunes around and our Christmas tree formation really seemed to help as we looked to be harder side to break down and get in behind. A successful season as we didn’t get relegated and qualified for Europe again!?
Youth Intake
One of our better youth intakes at Gretna and it would have to be in our final season wouldn’t it! I wouldn’t expect to see them near the first team but a couple would probably be selected for the Euro II team to make up the numbers and ensure we pass the quotas. The ones that stand out this year are Jim Henderson, Alan Degnan, Stuart Mimnaugh, Kyle McCann, Jordan Douglas and Tom Miller.
A really strong second half to the season ensured we would get a spot in Europe for another season. The strong second half meant we got to TWO cup finals, we lost both but we didn’t embarrass ourselves and on another day we could have easily won one if not both of them and come away with a cup double in our final season! We tried our best in both finals and just a small lack of concentration was enough to see us lose both finals but I am proud of the lads for getting us there and going beyond expectations. Just hope the fans aren’t getting use to that..! We also got another interview offer this time from Bournemouth who were mid table in the Premier League. We did also get the Scottish Football Writers’ Manager of the Year award.
What a summer we could have had with our largest transfer budget ever! No thanks to the work in moving players on for big money in recent seasons such as Dodo and fan favourite Slawomir Dziubek and our runs in Europe continue to bring in much needed money to add to the finances. We continue to improve our commercial side and we are a long way off the rest but we are still making small gains every season to becoming a real established Premiership side!
We have brought in so much money through our cup runs this season. We got £301k for beating Krasnodar over two legs, £430k for reaching the Quart Finals of Euro II, £689k for reaching the final and £1.29 million for losing in the final to Spartak Moscow along with £2.34 million TV revenue for Euro II and £822k for coefficient ranking in Euro II. We also got £2.48 million for finishing 5th in the league and £773k in gate receipts and TV money for our cup win over Ross County and around £800k for reaching the Scottish Cup final and TV income and gate receipts. That is a LOT of money coming in to little Gretna which really helps us to punch above our weight at times and help beat the big boys on a near regular basis now.
We did also break the record for gate receipts of £90k which beats £60k against Hearts in the cup a couple of moments ago. Despite technically not being at our ground we broke the clubs record attendance with 8,716 against Feyenoord in Euro II which beats the record of 6,000 at Raydale Park in 2024.
On the whole we had a good season and we also broke some club records. Jhon Serna breaks the record for goals in a season with 32 which beats Slawomir Dziubek‘s 26 in 2026. Ruaridh Porteous beats his own record of assists with 16 which beats 15 from his 2025/26 season. Jhon Serna also set a new record for player of the match awards with 11 which beats Glenn Hancock‘s 8 in 2023. Greg Holligan sets a record for clean sheets with 25 which beats Will Mannion‘s record of 24 in 2023. Jhon Serna also came second in player of the season and in the golden boot both in Euro II.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed our journey with Gretna! Although it is not quite over yet as I will release a quick overlook/ round up of my favourite eleven in our time here and a look at who’s won what in the main leagues and that kind of thing.
TheFMGamer 
