Quote Originally Posted by .Sean. View Post
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Hampden's fine. We play there at the very max a couple times a year not every other week.

Theres nothing better than the early train through, few drinks and soaking up the atmosphere before a big semi/ final through there. Ibrox and Celtic Park wouldn't be the same plus sack giving Celtic or Rangers any more money.

Can you honestly imagine a Scottish Cup Final in some nondescript field on the outskirts of Perth or Stirling? Total pish.

Hampden is what it is, and the views from behind the goals are nowhere near as bad as some make out. Only in Scotland would you get supporters moaning about the view they need to 'endure' for all of 90 minutes while being lucky enough to watch their team in the latter stages of a national cup competition. Some supporters never get to see their teams play in finals and semi's yet you've got folk whining cause they're sitting twenty yards behind the byeline. Oh the hardship.
I agree with much of that. But I think the issue with Hampden is not even so much the state of it as the deal the SFA have with Hampden Park Ltd to rent it. As I've said before its a fact that Hampden is only still usable as a national stadium because the owners have been able to attract grants and sponsorship on the back of the SFA and SPFL using it, without football it would be little more than a rarely used concert venue and they would find it next to impossible to keep it maintained, far less pay for any upgrades.

This is why Hampden's future is now in doubt .... You can understand why the SFA and SPFL are at the point of asking 'why the hell are we paying so much to rent a stadium that only exists because of us?' and more to the point, why should Scottish football make any attempt to stay at the stadium under these circumstances, let alone spend time, money and effort on any project to give the stadium the revamp it so badly needs ... saying its bearable for 90 minutes a couple of times a year is fine, but that doesn't detract from the fact that its lagging miles behind its equivalents in England, Wales and Ireland and there are clubs around Europe who have and are building stadiums that make it look like a 1970s hovel in comparison.

Queens park have been taking the piss for years ...... They are a club engrained in the history of Scottish football but clearly have little interest in its wellbeing, even to the point where they screw up the pitch inside the stadium they haven't paid for because they are too up themselves to use lesser Hampden for their games which are attended by about 300 people.

Its time the SFA called their bluff and put it to them that they either enter into an agreement that gives the SFA control of the stadium or they bolt .... The SFA must know that without them the stadium is doomed and more to the point Queens Park must know it as well. There are three scenarios here:

The SFA / SPFL renew the current deal ....... The stadium remains a dump and nobody gains apart from Queens Park.

The SFA / SPFL withdraw altogether ...... within 20 years the stadium becomes a housing scheme.

The SFA /SPFL enter into an agreement that gives them control of the stadium ..... That not only gives them scope to investigate ways to revamp it, in the long run events like concerts will put money into the coffers of Scottish football rather than Hampden park Ltd.

I would love to see a breakdown of exactly how Hampden operates .... Does it make a profit and if it does where does that money go? How much of it is used to maintain the stadium and how much of it goes into folks pockets? It should be noted that 17 years ago the stadium was a baw hair from liquidation, which the owners blamed on failure to quickly reach an agreement with the SFA on a rental agreement ... nuff said !