Kenny: The fans saved us

Derry City manager Stephen Kenny has hit out at Gretna’s rapid rise through Scottish football by insisting: “We’re the real fairytale club.”

He watched as his team finally burst Gretna’s bubble by subjecting them to a 5-1 thrashing in the UEFA Cup at Fir Park last night.

The result would have come as a shock to a team who have transformed themselves into a success story since their arrival in the Scottish Football League four years ago.

With Second and Third Division championships already under their belt, they have been tipped to achieve their ultimate aim of playing in the Bank of Scotland Premier League next season.

And it was their Tennent’s Scottish Cup run – they were defeated by Hearts on penalties in the final – which allowed them to book their place in the UEFA Cup for the first time in the club’s history.

But Kenny insists their success is down to nothing more than cold, hard cash thanks to millionaire owner Brooks Mileson.

And he claims Derry City – saved from going to the wall by fans a few years ago – is a far better story.

“People say that Gretna is a dream, that it’s a romantic story,” he said. “But what it is, is an entrepreneur with cunning who could see that he wasn’t going to go far in the Unibond League and had the opportunism to go into the Scottish League.

“He won Division Three with a relatively small amount of money in English terms but a high amount in terms of the Scottish lower leagues.

“Entrepreneurship is what has got them where they are and has given them the ability to attract players that Second Division clubs could never attract.

“Our story is about supporters saving the club and about community. Our players grew up with Derry and you can see the passion.”

Ryan McGuffie gave Gretna an early lead but that was cancelled out by Darren Kelly, before Kevin Deery and Ciaran Martyn grabbed a double each.

The result all but kills off Gretna’s chances of reaching the first round proper when they travel to Ireland for the second leg in a fortnight’s time.

Kenny added: “We beat Gothenburg – who are twice UEFA Cup winners – home and away in the last round and we were listening to how Gretna were strong favourites. But we just took it in our stride – we prefer to do our talking where it counts.”

Gutted Gretna boss Rowan Alexander admits his players simply were not good enough on the night.

“We were taught a lesson in terms of work ethic, desire and hunger – all of which Derry had in abundance,” he said.