EVENTS at East End Park are out of sight for Gavin Skelton but they were never likely to be far from his mind.

A move to Blue Square Bet Premier club Barrow 18 months ago has restricted the defender's view of Scottish football but some of the rumblings coming from within Dunfermline Athletic this month have disturbed memories that had been settled. They involve another team in black and white which found itself so far in the red that it could not recover. Gretna finally awoke from "the dream" on August 8, 2008. The club were not roused gently, and their final throes will have been enough to make even the hardiest Fifer flinch.

The emergence of an individual prepared to cover the immediate costs of a voluntary administration, and therefore avoid the company that owns Dunfermline being liquidated over an unpaid tax bill, appears to have bought a reprieve for now but, amid all of the background noise, all Skelton hears are echoes from the past. Having joined Gretna before they were admitted to the Scottish Football League in 2002, he would be one of the last to leave before the club went under, scoring in the final minute of their last match – a 1-0 win against Hearts.

The writing was already on the wall since the withdrawal of ailing owner Brooks Mileson had forced the Scottish Premier League to nurse the club to the end of the season, with their relegation to the third division offering only a nominal punishment and a place to scatter the ashes. Skelton's goal had at least allowed him a famous last word.

"I wasn't happy . . . there was a moment of enjoyment but there was also a sinking feeling. It was a sad moment in a way," says the defender, whose time in Scotland would also be tinged by the grief of relegation with Hamilton Academical.

The 31-year-old treats the subject of financial turmoil plainly but his sympathy for Dunfermline is clear, even though he is not up to speed with just how much is owed and to whom. It was the same at Gretna, where Skelton was left to piece together the gravity of the situation through media reports and hearsay; the squad kept in the dark as club officials groped around in the shadows desperately seeking a way to pay off debts of over £4m. Gretna had been placed in administration in March and matches became regarded as a place of refuge, yet Skelton is dismissive of the suggestion that the Dunfermline squad will be able to escape cold reality in the heat of competition.

"There is just so much uncertainty," he says. "People think that because you are at the club, you know what is going on but you just pick stuff up out of the press and you are also hearing scare stories from other people. You are thinking 'is that happening?' and sometimes those stories get out of control – you literally don't know what's happening.

"You worry about your future when your manager speaks to you differently on a Monday, because you have had a bad game on the Saturday, and you worry about what is out there for you. I'm sure that's what the Dunfermline players will be thinking about at the moment. It's your livelihood and it's coming up to the end of the season as well, so you are not just thinking about if the club is surviving. It might sound selfish but the players will be thinking about themselves. If they are out of contract in the summer, will they get another contract there? Or will they need to find a new club? Also, will they get what they are owed or not? It's the lack of information that is worse."

That any news was being delivered by a number of different voices at Gretna hardly helped; responsibility for the first team that season passing between Davie Irons, Mick Wadsworth and Andy Smith. That Jim Jefferies remains in situ at Dunfermline has been a source of comfort for his squad during such turbulence, then, and Skelton holds the coach in high regard after working under him for 18 months at Kilmarnock. "They have got a good man helping them in Jim Jefferies," he says. "He is a good speaker, an honest guy."

A form of Gretna has since resurfaced in the East of Scotland League as Gretna 2008, although such a meek fate is harder to imagine for a more established club. Mileson had chosen to fund a club that had no strong fanbase or identity and Skelton remains unconvinced Scottish football did all it could to keep Gretna going. Any bitterness makes way for a hope that Dunfermline are not made to feel abandoned in their time of need.

"They have a bigger fanbase than us and I think the league will be more on their side," says Skelton. "They will want to keep a club with a big history like Dunfermline going."