Was that Hampden's last hurrah?

[Worktheshaft]

According to BBC Gossip we'll e playing our games in Morocco so I'd say that's Hampden finished.

[HibeeJibee]

 

[jamamafegan]

I was sitting a few up from the first row when I was at the Saints game. The view wasn’t great but I’d still say it was as bad as, if not better than Hampden near the front row.

It is an absolute no brainier for me. Murrayfield is much bigger and when full for a big international the atmosphere would be sensational.

Only thing that needs sorting is the catering because, as someone else said, there’s nae pies. Fish and chips at a football match? f**k right off.

[Big Fifer]

There's a pretty huge glass building round the corner from Murrayfield that used to be rented by Cirrus Logic up until about a year ago, would surely be more than big enough for SFA offices.

[dogmc]

There's a pretty huge glass building round the corner from Murrayfield that used to be rented by Cirrus Logic up until about a year ago, would surely be more than big enough for SFA offices.

Unless they're going to rent it out for free the SFA would be leasing a stadium and an office instead of just a a stadium at a bargain price. Why would they want to massively increase their outgoings and lose the revenue from concerts etc?

[Big Fifer]

3 hours ago, dogmc said:

Unless they're going to rent it out for free the SFA would be leasing a stadium and an office instead of just a a stadium at a bargain price. Why would they want to massively increase their outgoings and lose the revenue from concerts etc?

I'm not advocating it, just someone a few posts up was discussing if there was office space close. I should've quoted.

[Raidernation]

Should just build a totally new stadium, somewhere neutral outside of Weegieland and Embra, say.....Kingsford?

[Chimter-boys]

2 hours ago, Raidernation said:

Should just build a totally new stadium, somewhere neutral outside of Weegieland and Embra, say.....Kingsford?

Out of interest do any other countries do something similar? I know some on here suggest Stirling as a place for a national arena

[qos_75]

On 06/11/2017 at 13:17, velo army said:

Just watched the highlights of the Hearts-Killie game (which looked superb by the way). The atmosphere in Murrayfield was excellent, despite being about a third full. It's a no-brainer for me, which means, of course, that the SFA won't go for it. I understand the thing about office space and the other things, but really from a fan's point of view the whole experience of going to the football will be much more enjoyable at Murrayfield. The transport links have been mentioned and are an obvious plus, the accoustics of Murrayfield are far superior to Hampden (you get that thing where you experience the sound bouncing off the walls when the old place is full and rocking), and it's within easy (and very, very pleasant) walking distance from the city centre of Edinburgh. 

Going back to the admin/office expenses side, I don't know what the solution to this would be, but other major football associations have their headquarters away from their national stadia (if there was no space for SFA offices at Murrayfield) so finding office space in Edinburgh (or Glasgow for that matter) shouldn't be hard. 

I've long felt it was ludicrous that a country of our size has two stadia for international sport when France (population 66.9m) has the Stade de France for both. Long term wouldn't it make much more financial sense than continuing with the status quo?

For me the major consideration is accoustics and atmosphere. Even a half full Murrayfield is louder than a mostly full Hampden. A full Murrayfield is a cauldron. It'll be great.

 

 

I agree. For me Murrayfield would be a great venue. You could use it for the bigger games and take the smaller matches on the road. 

As for office space. If they cannot find functional and affordable office space in Glasgow or the outskirts for that matter, something is very wrong. 

[JamesM82]

2 hours ago, Chimter-boys said:

Out of interest do any other countries do something similar? I know some on here suggest Stirling as a place for a national arena

No. Most don't have a dedicated national stadium. Those that do have it in the biggest and/or capital city (eg Warsaw national, Kyiv "olympic", Moscow Luzhniki, Brussels King Baudouin, Stade de France, Ernst Happel in Vienna). 

[HibeeJibee]

Most UEFA members have a national stadium, or a stadium they use almost exclusively i.e. Windsor Park or Cardiff City Stadium aren't "national stadiums" but they've become so for football purposes.

Bosnia-Herzegovina + Kosovo have 2 for political reasons.


Croatia, Czech Rep, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland + Turkey are itinerant/rotate.

[JamesM82]

7 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Most UEFA members have a national stadium, or a stadium they use almost exclusively i.e. Windsor Park or Cardiff City Stadium aren't "national stadiums" but they've become so for football purposes.

Bosnia-Herzegovina + Kosovo have 2 for political reasons.


Croatia, Czech Rep, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland + Turkey are itinerant/rotate.

That's why I said "dedicated".  Windsor Park is Linfield's home ground, CCS is Cardiffy City's, Friends Arena is AIK, etc.

What the poster above was suggesting was building some massive dedicated national football stadium in (say) Stirling, which presumably wouldn't have a club as an anchor tenant. That concept is a ridiculous waste of resources for a middle size country like Scotland.

[SpoonTon]

9 hours ago, qos_75 said:

I agree. For me Murrayfield would be a great venue. You could use it for the bigger games and take the smaller matches on the road. 

As for office space. If they cannot find functional and affordable office space in Glasgow or the outskirts for that matter, something is very wrong. 

By smaller matches, I assume you mean friendlies? There are no smaller stadiums big enough to hold competitive matches. This might change with the nations league, but it still only leaves the other two stadiums in Edinburgh and Pittodrie. 

[woof!]

1 hour ago, SpoonTon said:

By smaller matches, I assume you mean friendlies? There are no smaller stadiums big enough to hold competitive matches. This might change with the nations league, but it still only leaves the other two stadiums in Edinburgh and Pittodrie. 

Hampden is the second oldest international stadium in world football and the oldest one that is still recognisable. It should be our showpiece for that reason and the focal point of any bids for international tournaments. It would be madness to throw away such history in favour of some homogenised box in a provincial town.

[Sarto Mutiny]

5 minutes ago, woof! said:

Hampden is the second oldest international stadium in world football and the oldest one that is still recognisable. It should be our showpiece for that reason and the focal point of any bids for international tournaments. It would be madness to throw away such history in favour of some homogenised box in a provincial town.

PEDANTRY CORNER: Glasgow is provincial

[qos_75]

4 hours ago, SpoonTon said:

By smaller matches, I assume you mean friendlies? There are no smaller stadiums big enough to hold competitive matches. This might change with the nations league, but it still only leaves the other two stadiums in Edinburgh and Pittodrie. 

Not just friendlies. The likes of Gibraltar or Malta in a qualifier could be easily be accommodated at the likes of Tannadice or Fir Park on a Monday night.

Leaving Hampden does give us more options to tailor games to suit anticipated crowd demand. The same with domestic semi-finals and finals.

Over the last 10-20 years it is either feast or famine at Hampden with it looking full or half empty. 

Murrayfield, Tynecastle, Easter Road and Pittodrie could all feature at different times. The same with Ibrox and Parkhead. 

[JamesM82]

1 hour ago, qos_75 said:

Not just friendlies. The likes of Gibraltar or Malta in a qualifier could be easily be accommodated at the likes of Tannadice or Fir Park on a Monday night.

Leaving Hampden does give us more options to tailor games to suit anticipated crowd demand. The same with domestic semi-finals and finals.

Over the last 10-20 years it is either feast or famine at Hampden with it looking full or half empty. 

Murrayfield, Tynecastle, Easter Road and Pittodrie could all feature at different times. The same with Ibrox and Parkhead. 

Attendance v Gibraltar (March 2015): 34,255

Attendance v Malta (September 2017): 26,371

Fir Park and Tannadice put together might have held the Malta attendance, I suppose.

Edited November 9, 2017 by JamesM82

[forameus]

5 minutes ago, JamesM82 said:

Attendance v Gibraltar (March 2015): 34,255

Attendance v Malta (September 2017): 26,371

Fir Park and Tannadice put together might have held the Malta attendance, I suppose.

Gibraltar was at 5pm on a Sunday night though, not quite the same as a midweek evening kick-off.  You had a lot of kids and families attending that one, which wouldn't happen if it was later.

Still, would it be better to have a completely packed smaller stadium for a game like that generating - assumedly - better atmosphere or to have Hampden half full.  The Gibraltar game was a very, very odd atmosphere.

[SpoonTon]

It would be crazy to hold a qualifier away from a big stadium. It's not that common for less than 30,000 to turn up, and it would be difficult to gauge the interest in a game in advance. So if you already know that interest will definitely outstrip the capacity of Easter Road or Pittodrie, then it would be crazy to plan for a match there when the interest in a match might increase further due to the importance of the match or a particular feel-good factor. It doesn't make sense to lock fans out who have attended qualifiers for many, many years. What kind of way would that be to treat loyal supporters? 

(Not to mention doing yourself out of 5-10,000 ticket sales)

Edited November 9, 2017 by SpoonTon

[qos_75]

4 hours ago, SpoonTon said:

It would be crazy to hold a qualifier away from a big stadium. It's not that common for less than 30,000 to turn up, and it would be difficult to gauge the interest in a game in advance. So if you already know that interest will definitely outstrip the capacity of Easter Road or Pittodrie, then it would be crazy to plan for a match there when the interest in a match might increase further due to the importance of the match or a particular feel-good factor. It doesn't make sense to lock fans out who have attended qualifiers for many, many years. What kind of way would that be to treat loyal supporters? 

(Not to mention doing yourself out of 5-10,000 ticket sales)

Fair point.  

Ibrox, Parkhead and Murrayfield would cope with all our qualifiers. The smaller grounds can be used for friendlies, albeit they will be few and far between now given the League of Nations.