With a decision whether or not to renew our commitment to the national stadium looming ever closer for the SFA what are folks thoughts on it?
It does seem logical to bin the whole thing and stick two fingers up to Queens Park, who own it but never put a penny into it, and take the internationals around the country, that is until you look at exactly what that will mean. Every game with any meaning will still be played in Glasgow, with the rest of the country getting meaningless friendlies or the busted flush qualifiers nobody wants to see and the ugly sisters dividing up the spoils from the games where there's real money to be made, including the league and Scottish cup finals, putting even more money into their pockets.
I can honestly also see a scenario where the venue for old firm semi finals or cup finals will be either decided on the toss of a coin or played on a two legged basis. I simply cant see police Scotland allowing them to play each other at the only other stadium capable of holding the game which is in Edinburgh, even if the police were ok with it the council would never sanction it IMO.
Taking all this into account I would say we simply have to do two things:
The first is to find a way to wrest control of Hampden from Queens Park .. rental for the stadium from the SFA, SPFL, concerts and other events goes into their company ... but any renovations to the stadium over the years has been paid for from grants and sponsorships only attained because of the involvement of football with the stadium ... when the pitch gets re laid for example I'm pretty sure the SFA pay for it, not Queens Park ..... its a farcical situation.
The second ... dependent on the first happening ... is for Scottish football to find a way to rebuild the stadium and take its capacity up to at least 60,000 ... Look at what they did to the Maracanã Stadium ... nothing fancy, they just built another basic one tier stadium but with the stands much closer to the pitch. That's all they need to do with Hampden, knock down the east, north and west stands and rebuild them much steeper and much closer to the pitch at both ends ... steepness means more height, but if they want the stands to be level all the way round all they need to do is lower the pitch and put another section in front of the south stand to bring it level with the others.
They could probably do the whole lot for 70 million quid and when you look at the money SKY and BT pump into the EPL and Champion's league I bet you could get them to put up at least 40 million of it for the naming rights .... the SKY Hampden park stadium would perhaps even appeal to them.
As you can see its a slow Sunday and I'm bored waiting for the Scotland game to start ...... But in all seriousness, IMO allowing Hampden to pass into history would be a huge mistake.
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Thread: The future of Hampden
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08-10-2017 12:08 PM #1
The future of Hampden
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08-10-2017 12:11 PM #2
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I think the national stadium should be around the Motherwell / Airdrie area - more accessible for those coming from the north and east, even those from the south.
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08-10-2017 12:12 PM #3
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Doesn't the SFA own Hampden now?
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08-10-2017 12:33 PM #4This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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08-10-2017 12:43 PM #5
It's not the greatest stadium in the world, but not half as bad as some make out. One of footballs most famous venues and every Scottish football fan will have memories never to be forgotten, be that international or club. I hope we continue on at Hampden Park.
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08-10-2017 12:48 PM #6
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If they don’t want to do that then let’s put it in Inverness. Neutral ground and very little goes to the highlands. Every bit as relevant as any other part of the country
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08-10-2017 12:53 PM #7
It's the SFA, they'll choose the easiest option (no brain required), so they'll just renew the lease on Hampden.
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08-10-2017 12:57 PM #8
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Hampden will be hosting games at the euros in 2020, should have been done up for that imo
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08-10-2017 12:57 PM #9
Make Hampden bigger and better would be the best way to go imo. Sharing Murrayfield would be the most cost effective way to go, but it would never happen, and if I’m being honest I’m glad it won’t happen.
United we stand here....
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08-10-2017 01:07 PM #10
If they wanted to do a botch job semi rebuild,(....this is Scotland we are talking about so seems plausible)
I would leave the main stand and rebuild the north,east,west and make them multi tiered with a proper rake to the seating, east and west stands are especially poor for spectator viewing.
There is not a huge amount of space behind the north west corner, they might have to shift the odd weegie out their house and claim a bit of land.
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08-10-2017 01:09 PM #11This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
We could try and increase capacity to 60k... although only 1 qualifier in this campaign has sold out
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08-10-2017 01:25 PM #13This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Their continued ownership of the stadium has been a disaster for it over the years IMO. Example .... Glasgow was desperate to hold the Commonwealth games and the Scottish government was very very keen to help them do it. Short of building a white Elephant that would be utterly useless within a fortnight the only possible venue was Hampden .... Even though they had Glasgow council and the government over a barrel Queens Park Ltd allowed them to spend 14 million quid on the stadium with incredibly no lasting legacy or benefit to it whatsoever ... any company worth its salt would have insisted that the stadium had to benefit in the long term from such an arrangement. Which proves to me that Queens Park Ltd see the stadium as nothing more than a cash cow and have little or no interest in its upkeep, its maintenance, or sadly its future .... they are little better than a slum landlord.
But then why should they bother when all the money they have ever needed to improve it and keep it running has come through its connections to the SFA and Scottish football in general .... Its like renting out a house and expecting the tenants to pay to have the roof replaced and bizarrely the tenants agreeing to it .... hell its like renting out a house you have expected your tenants to buy for you.
The biggest question which remains for Queens Park Ltd is what exactly do they do if the SFA and SPFL refuse to use the stadium in the future? You can only hold so many Take That and Robbie Williams concerts in a year, so far for the summer of 2018 all they have booked is 3 nights of Ed Sheerin. With footballs lack of input there is no way they would be able to attract a penny of public money, nothing like the sponsorship they do and nowhere near the annual rental income. The SFA / SPFL have Queens Park Ltd over the same barrel they had Glasgow Council and the government over with the Commonwealth games.
The SFA and SPFL if you ask me can near enough 100% expect Queens Park Ltd not to call their bluff when it comes to a threat to withdraw from their use of Hampden and at that point the whole situation is up for negotiation with all the cards firmly stacked in favour of Scottish football .... The only fly in the ointment is will the absolute dullards who run our game have the brains to see it and the balls to take full advantage?
Get that place into the hands of Scottish football, or even better a charitable trust in the control of Scottish football and Hampden could have a future .... IMO its as iconic a Scottish landmark as Edinburgh castle or the Forth bridge and getting it into the hands of a charitable trust isn't as fanciful as it might seem if you ask me .... manage to do that and the prospect of access to public funding and major sponsorship for a rebuild would be far higher than they are at the moment.
If Scottish football was united in its purpose instead of being at loggerheads all the time the clubs could get together and get Celtic Park and Ibrox who both have far better facilities and certainly in the case of Ibrox are far easier to get to, to compete with Hampden for big concerts. If the buggers wont play ball run them into the ground until the place is a rusting hulk.Last edited by NAE NOOKIE; 08-10-2017 at 01:39 PM.
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08-10-2017 01:35 PM #14
It was an opportunity missed when it was redeveloped. They should have forced Queens Park out and built a 60K stadium with stands nearer the pitch. Ideally this would happen this time round but I suspect the SFA will cut their losses and ditch Hampden.
"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.' - Paulo Freire
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08-10-2017 02:31 PM #15
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If Hampden didnt exist id think there was no need to build a national stadium, especially such a rubbish one.
But it does exist, so i think the history etc makes it worth keeping. I just wish they had shown slightly more vision when they refurbished it to make it decent. If Lansdown Road and Cardiff Arms Park could be turned into the brilliant stadiums they have been, i dont understand why Hampden couldnt.
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08-10-2017 02:42 PM #16This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
With Celtic and Sevco owning the only two stadiums capable of matching Hampden and the presence of at least one of them in every set of cup semi finals played, not to mention finals, the effect of having no national stadium would be as I said before to pump even more money into the coffers of the two clubs who are already miles in front of everybody else in spending power. If they have any regard for the general good of Scottish football its something the SFA and SPFL have to be worried about.
I've said it before ...... If the Scottish government were prepared to spend hundreds of millions on a glorified school sports day that subsequent studies have shown actually had no overall beneficial affects on the good health or prestige of the nation ... something they could have learned before the event by looking at the stats for previous commonwealth games and Olympics ... then there is no reason why they shouldn't get on board with helping to build this country a national football stadium we can be proud of and which is fit for purpose. They are quick enough to stick their nose in when it comes to using football for their own ends .... its time they did something to help it.
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08-10-2017 02:42 PM #17
Hampden should be left to Queens Park or torn down. We are a small country and already have a top class national stadium in Murrayfield. I'd be happy enough going to Murrayfield/Ibrox/Parkhead for semis and finals
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08-10-2017 02:51 PM #18
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Keep it, make it better sell name right and extend it. I couldn't count the amount of times at the Malta match I looked up to where I was sitting in the final and day dream. We just won the cup there. Keep it now.
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08-10-2017 02:53 PM #19
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08-10-2017 02:55 PM #20This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show QuoteMature, sensible signature required for responsible position. Good prospects for the right candidate. Apply within.
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08-10-2017 02:57 PM #22
The view is absolute ***** but there is something special about going there. Always feel goosebumps when I walk in.
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08-10-2017 03:00 PM #23
I've said for years we will buy a new stadium cut price from Qatar after the 2022 WC. That stupid friendly at ER wasn't for nothing and they'll have 7 or 8 stadiums to spare after their farcical tournament.
Whether that stadium is then reconstructed at the current site or moved elsewhere is the question.PM Awards General Poster of The Year 2015, 2016, 2017. Probably robbed in other years
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08-10-2017 03:04 PM #25
If I win the Euromiilions I'll make a contribution to a new National Stadium... but only if they promise to build it outside Glasgow and accessible by motorway and rail.
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08-10-2017 03:11 PM #26This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
tbf Hibernian would need to be consulted to see if we wanted any part of the hibs end, we could maybe get some use of concrete for filling in the corners at ER, you just need to look at hertz to see the cost of tin is obviously much higher than good solid concrete
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08-10-2017 03:13 PM #27
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08-10-2017 03:16 PM #28
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08-10-2017 03:18 PM #29
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08-10-2017 03:39 PM #30This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Other grounds would be used when neither Celtc nor Sevco are involved - Easter Road would be a front runner for many of the central belt clubs. Murrayfield could be rented for a Hibs-Hearts game.
Do we really need a rarely used stadium just to provide a neutral venue for two groups of bigots to exchange vile taunts? The money saved on that white elephant could be invested in grass roots facilities to bring through better young players to improve the standard of our game.
National games can then be taken round the country and played at Pittodrie, Easter Road etc rather than forcing everyone to travel to Glasgow every time. After all, it's our national team and not our Glasgow team.Mature, sensible signature required for responsible position. Good prospects for the right candidate. Apply within.
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