It's Facts Rathern Than Rumours We Require Around Hampden's Future

THE feature does, I suppose, what it says on the can – so, when this morning's “Rumour Mill” on the online version of The Hootsmon leads with a piece suggesting the SFA is in talks to purchase Hampden Park, well, you can believe or disbelieve as you will.

Hampden Park - facts rather than rumours required

 

From my perspective, whether or not to purchase Hampden is one issue which ought to be parked until the new Chief Executive of the SFA has his feet under the desk and has truly recognised what an absolute bourach of bother he has landed in.

On the one hand,not that long ago – we were being told the SFA and the SPFL could not afford the supposed £3 million cost of having VAR or goal line technology installed at our top division ground. Well, pardon me, if they cannot afford £3 million, how the Hell are they going to afford to buy Hampden, bring it into the 21^st century an run it?

OK, I know, funding a Hampden make-over will be an easier job, if they can get the government etc. on-board, but, for a start, having had OBFA scuttled by the stupidity and self-interest of the Unionist parties, and the daft Greens, the SNP Government is going to play hard ball with the SFA.

I have never deviated from the idea – if we were doing the whole National Stadium thing correctly, we would take a brand new green field or brown field site, somewhere central, able to be easily linked to the rail and motorway system, and there we would build a 90,000/100,000 state of the art stadium to replace both Hampden and Murrayfield. It would cost £ billions, but, it would be worth it.

Unfortunately for the SFA and the SRU, such a stadium will not happen until at least a decade after Independence – some time in the 2030s at the earliest.

Here in the Sports Philosophy department at the School of Hard Knocks in the University of Life, we have never shied away from, indeed, we actively-encourage out of the box thinking, so, assuming my 21^st century stadium dream is a non-starter, how about this.

Cathkin Park - Could Be Brought Back To Life

• The SFA and Glasgow Life get together and bring Cathkin Park back to life, to be the home of Queen's Park. They could even re-name it “Second Hampden”, and put on that site, a compact 10,000-capacity stadium with a 4G surface which Queen's could share with the Glasgow Warriors rugby team. This would free-up Scotstoun for athletics and make a huge difference to Glasgow's sporting infrastructure.
• Taking the Spiders away from Hampden would allow the ground, and Lesser Hampden to be properly developed, bringing the stands behind the goals in closer to the goals, improving the raking of the seating and therefore the sight lines and even putting-on a roof.
• This would still be an expensive undertaking, but, would probably be cheaper than a total new National Stadium build. It would also preserve the historic and emotional ties to the site.

Well, the above is a start, it may only be a rumour just now, but, it is never too-early to talk.

I HAVE a lot of time for Stewart Gilmour, or, “The Fat Controller” as we called him when I was working the Love Street beat for the Paisley Daily Express and he was turning around the fortunes of a club which was on its way out under the previous management group.

Former St Mirren Chairman Stewart Gilmour

 

Mind you, as Stewart would happily confirm, he and I didn't always see eye-to-eye, but, he did a fantastic job for the Buddies, and I respect him for that. I did, however have to laugh, when I read of his disquiet at how, as he sees it, the big clubs are showing more than a tad of self-interest, at the expense of the smaller clubs.

You see, when the Buddies won the Millennium First Division Championship, to end their long exile from the top flight, Stewart was gushingly generous in his praise of how the Premier Division clubs then handled things, in contrast to the blatant self-interest of the lower league teams.

As far as I am concerned, while they are currently languishing in the Championship, St Mirren is one of Scotland's major clubs. For me, our top clubs, in descending order, regardless of current form, are: Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Aberdeen, Hibs, Kilmarnock, Dundee, Dundee United, Motherwell and St Mirren. These clubs, for me, have the largest fan bases, have been the most-regular competitors in the top division and set the standard for the rest.

Below them we have St Johnstone, Partick Thistle, Hamilton, Dunfermline Athletic, Falkirk, Raith Rovers, Ayr United, Airdrieonians, Inverness CT and Ross County. Add a further four clubs, say Queen of the South, Clyde, East Fife and Livingston, and you probably have the only 24 clubs worthy of “Senior” status.

The remaining 18 clubs, plus the Highland and Lowland League sides are, for my money, little better than glorified Junior clubs – part-time outfits with a part-time attitude.

Now Stewart, in his widely-reported piece today, has called for an amalgamation of the SFA and the SPFL into one unified governing body. Well, I hae ma doots about the merits of such a move. Better I feel to have the SFA as the overall umbrella body, looking after every aspect of Scottish football, from primary schools through to the national side, but, to leave the various levels of the game to run themselves.

The SRU is the single overall governing body for that code of football, and, right now, they are in deep doo-dah, because of the at times conflicting wants and needs between the two full-time professional teams, the ten Premiership teams, the National League sides from the next level down and the many amateur Regional League clubs which are the backbone of Scottish rugby.

I actually think the SFA system, where the Professional Game Board looks after “Senior” football and the Non-Professional Board controls the more community-based clubs is the right system. Any failings are probably down to the paucity of talent along the sixth floor corridor at Hampden.

And, the fact the SFA Congress meets during the season is considerably more democratic than rugby's system, which delegates such meetings to the Council, who only have to defend their actions, or inactions, at the annual meeting.