Holyroods input to Scottish Football

[NAE NOOKIE]

There isnt an incident goes by in Scottish football without Holyrood giving its tuppence worth on the situation. Be it from sectarianism to the current SEVCO debacle.

Given that a number of times politicians of every party have acknowledged the importance of the game in Scottish society, exactly what have they done in a practical sense to help professional football in Scotland?

Compared to the rest of the British Isles ( if you include the Republic ) we have by far the worst national stadium. Also, if you look at the grounds in the upcoming SPL season they are a pretty poor bunch.

Dundee ... Ancient main stand and one side of the ground less than perfect
ICT ........ 3 sided ground with a main stand that doesnt even have a roof on all of it
Ross County ... Pretty basic I would guess and not much different from when we played there .. some seats added.
Yams .... Death trap main stand and the rest very basic.
Aberdeen ... tired old place thats seen better days ... New stadium planned ... not holding my breath TBH.
Dundee Utd ... cramped and looks like it was designed by 8 different people.
Motherwell ... 2 thirds of a main stand and one side of the ground badly needs updated.
Killie ... Not too bad ... They need an 18,000 capacity like we need a 40,000 capacity.

St Johnstone .... Decent ground ... but needs something in the corners
St Mirren .... See St Johnstone

Hibs ... Much better than any of the above .. but needs something substantial in the corners.

Celtic ... Apart from the restricted view in two corners not much to do there.

I have never been a fan of public money being used to prop up professional football clubs. But given the hard time the building industry is having just now, perhaps chucking a few million into helping clubs improve their infrastructure would help keep some firms afloat and bring much needed jobs.

Also .. if the grounds were better perhaps it would encourage more folk to attend.

In the knowledge that the UK govt have chucked millions and millions into the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics, surely a few million for more permanent stuff could be justified.

Sorry .... I was bored :greengrin

[Keith_M]

Actually, I think the condition of the Stadia is the least of Scottish Football's worries.

I'd go as far to say that the overall standard of stadia in Scotland is better than almost any country in Europe of a similar size (Hampden aside).



What I'd consider more important is the corruption and total stagnation of the game in this country.

Scottish teams get regularly put out of Europe in the early stages by some minnow team we'd previously never heard of from a backwater country.

The national side are gradually getting worse as every year passes. The overall standard of skill of footballers in this country is deplorable; e.g. when was the last time we produced a genuine top class player?

The setup in this country has been shown to revolve around two teams, and would have continued to do so without the greed of one of the clubs and then intervention of the fans of the other 40 clubs.

The media can't see any further than their next invite to Ibrox/Parkhead/Murray Park/The home in Jersey of whoever the next Rangers owner is.

[Part/Time Supporter]

Stadiums are the least of Scottish football's worries. The overall standard is pretty decent, mainly because middle-sized Scottish clubs got a disproportionate share of Taylor Report linked funding (Football Trust). The national stadium problem was caused by the fact that the SFA didn't want to share with rugby.

Where government could make a massive difference is by properly funding community training facilities. Compared with the Nordic countries the lack of facilities in the UK & Ireland is ridiculous and Scotland is probably worst of the lot. England get away with it to a certain extent due to its greater population but smaller countries like Scotland have been left behind due to this. SFA and the clubs clearly don't have the resources to do anything about this now so the onus is on the state.

[offshorehibby]

What i would like to see is major investment at grass roots level. The new Dutch guy at the SFA trying to drag Scotland in to line with other European countries needs help to get this up and running.
More facilities like Toryglen should be built and stop closing down sports complexes and community centres.

I would like to see major investment in all sports in Scotland.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Ah ken aw that.

I was just thinking of Deeks statement about looking up the pitch at some grounds and seeing a shopping centre or houses. Players ( and fans ) like completed stadiums to go to ..... thats all


I agree theres lots of other things needing improved, but ground reconstruction is important too.

[Ross4356]

Given that a number of times politicians of every party have acknowledged the importance of the game in Scottish society, exactly what have they done in a practical sense to help professional football in Scotland?

Compared to the rest of the British Isles ( if you include the Republic ) we have by far the worst national stadium. Also, if you look at the grounds in the upcoming SPL season they are a pretty poor bunch.

Hibs ... Much better than any of the above .. but needs something substantial in the corners.



Couldn't agree more

Not Northern Ireland but yeah would love to see an Arriva style Hampden

Like the Reebok? I mean a hotel not filled in corners http://s7.postimage.org/xkeacajtj/564100_10151934819660367_366797172_n.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/xkeacajtj/)

[jgl07]

The national stadium problem was caused by the fact that the SFA didn't want to share with rugby.


Where did that one come from. I don't recall any serious attempts to build a combined National Stadium for Football and Rugby. Murrayfield was upgraded by the SRU while the Football authorities were still debating if they really needed a National Stadium. There is no way the SFA would have sanctioned in Edinburgh and little prospect of the SRU moving to brown field site on the wrong side of Glasgow.

There was talk of a collaboration between the SFA and Celtic to build a new ground in the final days of the 'old board' at Parkhead. This never happened because neither party had any money. In the end Jim Farry forced through the first stage of the Hampden upgrade and Fergus McCann started rebuilding Celtic Park.

Hampden is not the best ground in the world but it isn't the worst either. It has hosted two European finals in the last ten years. I much prefer it to Murrayfield.

However, I am not convinced that it was ever needed in the first place. Scottish Football did not need three 50,000 capacity stadiums in Glasgow. Most European Countries seem to manage without a National Stadium and use club grounds.

[Monts]

Where did that one come from. I don't recall any serious attempts to build a combined National Stadium for Football and Rugby. Murrayfield was upgraded by the SRU while the Football authorities were still debating if they really needed a National Stadium. There is no way the SFA would have sanctioned in Edinburgh and little prospect of the SRU moving to brown field site on the wrong side of Glasgow.

There was talk of a collaboration between the SFA and Celtic to build a new ground in the final days of the 'old board' at Parkhead. This never happened because neither party had any money. In the end Jim Farry forced through the first stage of the Hampden upgrade and Fergus McCann started rebuilding Celtic Park.

Hampden is not the best ground in the world but it isn't the worst either. It has hosted two European finals in the last ten years. I much prefer it to Murrayfield.

However, I am not convinced that it was ever needed in the first place. Scottish Football did not need three 50,000 capacity stadiums in Glasgow. Most European Countries seem to manage without a National Stadium and use club grounds.

Im not doubting any of that information, but if scotland did not have hampden, where would any old firm cup final have been played? Considering neither could play on their home turf, and no other stadium could get close to housing them?

[jgl07]

Im not doubting any of that information, but if scotland did not have hampden, where would any old firm cup final have been played? Considering neither could play on their home turf, and no other stadium could get close to housing them?

They can toss a coin for home advantage or play it at Murrayfield as far as I am concerned.

Building a 52,000 seater stadium to provided for the rare Ranger v Celtic Cup Finals is not a good use of resources. There have been around five OF finals in the last 40 years.

They coped without problems when Hampden was under construction. For example Hibs played Rangers at Celtic Park in the 1994 League Cup Final and Celtic played Raith Rovers at Ibrox in a League Cup Final.