Brooks Mileson, the former owner of Gretna Football Club, has died at the age of 60 after a long illness.

He was found at his home in Blackford, near Carlisle, on Monday morning.

Mileson became one of the most high-profile figures in the Scottish game, bankrolling Gretna from non-league to the Scottish Premier League.

During those five years of success, Gretna also reached the Scottish Cup final in 2006 and made a brief appearance in the Uefa Cup.

But Mileson withdrew from public view last season amid reports of increasing ill-health, his finances were withdrawn and Gretna were relegated after just one season in Scotland's top-flight.

The club from the village on Scotland's border with England eventually went out of business in June.

Prior to that, his profile could not have been higher.

Mention his name and the image of a chain-smoking pony-tailed eccentric leaps to mind.

He was Mr Gretna - taking them from the obscurity of England's Unibond League to the top level of Scottish football - if only for one season.

They also reached the Scottish Cup final, losing to Hearts, a result that earned them European football, though they were humbled by Derry City.

Earlier this year, Mileson was admitted to hospital with a brain infection and though he was released, neither he nor Gretna ever fully recovered.

A new club, Gretna 2008, was formed from the ashes of the original Gretna FC and currently play in the East of Scotland League.

James Grady signed for Gretna from Dundee United and he remembers Mileson with fondness.

Grady told BBC Scotland: "In my first game for Gretna at home, I turned up and I met Brooks hoovering the bar area. He didn't expect anyone to do anything that he wouldn't do himself.

"He was just a one-off. I don't think we'll get anyone else like him.

"He wanted to get to the Premier League and into Europe, but I don't think he actually believed it himself."

Grady thought it was amazing that the club achieved so much in such a short period.

"He felt he could do it, but to do it in three consecutive seasons, winning the title, getting to a Scottish Cup final and into Europe as well - he just had a hunger and drive in him that I had never seen in any man before."

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