Stadiums for Scotland Games

[banana]

...is it too much to ask for punters to get in their seats in plenty of time for the national anthem instead of squeezing in another pint at 7.30.

This is Scotland we're talking about, for a large minority the football seemingly comes a distant 2nd to getting shitfaced. Embarrassing, really.

[jamamafegan]

Murrayfield is the best option for the big games. Bring football to the capital. Might get more people in Edinburgh interested in football, who knows. I imagine a full Murrayfield would produce a fantastic atmosphere.

The other option is to improve Hampden. Bring the stands closer to the pitch and remove the running track.

[ClydeNewcomer]

Murrayfield is the best option for the big games. Bring football to the capital. Might get more people in Edinburgh interested in football, who knows. I imagine a full Murrayfield would produce a fantastic atmosphere.

The other option is to improve Hampden. Bring the stands closer to the pitch and remove the running track.

10 thousand scottish football fans would make more noise than 68 thousand scottish rugby fans. Get some big scotland games at murrayfield.

[jamamafegan]

10 thousand scottish football fans would make more noise than 68 thousand scottish rugby fans. Get some big scotland games at murrayfield.

Absolutely, it would be a tremendous occasion. The night out in Edinburgh after would be a novelty and great fun.

[AberdeenBud]

Why should the SFA pay the egg chasers to stage a game when we have plenty of good football stadiums available? Makes no sense at all.

If we want to stage a game in the capital then a friendly/league of nations match at Tynecastle or Easter Rd would suffice.

[jamamafegan]

Why should the SFA pay the egg chasers to stage a game when we have plenty of good football stadiums available? Makes no sense at all.

If we want to stage a game in the capital then a friendly/league of nations match at Tynecastle or Easter Rd would suffice.

Because Murrayfield is the biggest stadium in Scotland and it would be great to bring a major footballing event to the capital. It would be a wonderful occasion in Edinburgh.

Also, do Celtic/Rangers make money from games being staged at their grounds? If so, I'd rather the money was going towards the rugby wankers.

A friendly at Tynie/ER would not have the same magnitude as a European Qualifier against Germany for example, watched by 67,000 fans. It would be tremendous.

[LongTimeLurker]

Hampden can maybe be kept for cup finals involving the OF, but no reason to be tied obsessively to it for internationals, if better more intimidating atmospheres can be provided elsewhere with better sight lines for the fans. Would include Murrayfield as part of the mix on that even if it means giving the egg chasers some money. The games shouldn't always be in Glasgow.

[Half Rice Half Chips]

The pitch is miles from the stand in Murrayfield too.

[La_Leyenda]

I wish we would play a qualifier at Murrayfield, so people can see it's not actually a great football stadium. I didn't hear many Celtic fans talking it up after their European games there.

It's been built up like mythical, magical place, and I think we all need to get in there and experience it so we can all leave saying "meh" and stop harping on about it.

For starters, I'm fairly sure due to the size of the pitch, the goals are just as far from the stands as they are at Hampden. I don't think the atmosphere would be as great as everyone thinks.

Would love to see Hampden redeveloped, but don't see how they fund it.

The only way I think we could justify it would be if there was a Great Britain bid for the World Cup or Euros, and therefore instead of mucking about with building 30,000 seater stadiums all over the place that would become white elephants, we say our two host cities are Glasgow and Edinburgh and spend the majority of the budget on Hampden.

It's more likely I'll win the euromillions and build it myself though.

[~~~]

Hampden can maybe be kept for cup finals involving the OF, but no reason to be tied obsessively to it for internationals, if better more intimidating atmospheres can be provided elsewhere with better sight lines for the fans. Would include Murrayfield as part of the mix on that even if it means giving the egg chasers some money. The games shouldn't always be in Glasgow.

Yeah i'm sure the SFA would happily pay for the upkeep of a stadium for potentially 2 games a year, while paying the SRU to use Murrayfield, also Murrayfield is terrible for football.

They're not.

[BerwickMad]

I went to Murrayfield last night and was pretty impressed with the place after reading so much negativity on here.

In Glasgow though, if Scotland have a big game where they want the crowd to help get them through, Ibrox or Parkhead should be used. Hampden isnt in the slightest bit intimidating for an opposition team.

[LongTimeLurker]

The intimidating atmosphere angle should be the main consideration in all of this. The old Rangers end terracing used to provide that but now the Hampden Roar has gone. The SFA badly botched the redevelopment by keeping the original bowl shape intact rather than going for a new rectangular format similar to Ibrox and Parkhead.

[DA Baracus]

People always talk about Murrayfield for Scotland football games, but when was the last time it happened? It's clearly never going to host a Scotland football international or else it would have done so in the recent past.

[iceblink]

if things go well in the next 2 matches, tickets for the Poland and Germany matches will be scarce. For the sake of allowing another 8000 to watch these games, they should be held at Celtic Park.

[Murray Mints]

Anyone that used the terms Celtic and Rangers ends, when describing the East and West stands at Hampden is a 5* fud.

[PauloPerth]

In Glasgow though, if Scotland have a big game where they want the crowd to help get them through, Ibrox or Parkhead should be used. Hampden isnt in the slightest bit intimidating for an opposition team.

I was at a game at euro04 qualifier at hampden in 2003 against World Cup runners up Germany. Scotland were 1 down and at half time when the players came back onto the pitch Loch Lomond was being belted out by the crowd. You could see the German players just looking about them as if thinking wtf is going on here. After the game ballack and a few other players all commented on how it was one of the most incredible atmospheres they'd ever known at a football match. These were players who'd played in the biggest leagues, champions league finals and a World Cup final.

I agree hampden behind the goals is terrible, and a long term plan to bring the end stands closer would be ideal, but you can't say there's a lack of atmosphere at the big games.

Was at a cup semi at Ibrox and final at celtic park last season and both were good views and atmospheres. But celtic and rangers do well enough out if scottish football without getting even more financial advantages from the sfa regularly hiring their stadiums.

[accies1874]

Why has it been that at Ibrox and Parkhead there has been a lot more folk standing? At Ibrox all of the Copland Road Lower and Upper were standing along with the Lower Govan Stand and a section of the Upper. On Friday, looking around, there wasn't one stand that didn't have pockets of people standing. I've stood at both but I'm not too bothered about it as I like standing but my grandpa sometimes goes as well so its not ideal for him.

Secondly, say for some reason we played Ireland at Ibrox, would we give them all of the Broomloan Stand like Rangers give to Celtic or would we extend the corner that Rangers usually give to away fans?

[ShawfieldAggro]

I don't really see what difference which ground home matches are played in, as long as the best interests (ie numbers are catered for and only odd games are moved) really should make. Going back a bit but Celtic and Rangers both moved European semi finals to Hampden in the 60s and 70s to accomodate both the volume of interest in the matches and to maximise the number of screaming lunatics the opposition would have to face. Slightly unrelated topic but they postponed both sides' league fixtures the week prior to the Italy qualifier in 07, to aid the national side....using one of their grounds to allow more to see the match and utilising any advantage possible is no different to that, in my opinion. Italy often designate powderkeg fixtures to Naples, Germany to Dortmund and Spain to Seville for the atmospheres and advantages those venues bring. If the players and management desire it, and unanimously pick one favoured venue for the most important fixture or two in the group, then it might be worth exploring.

[La_Leyenda]

I was at a game at euro04 qualifier at hampden in 2003 against World Cup runners up Germany. Scotland were 1 down and at half time when the players came back onto the pitch Loch Lomond was being belted out by the crowd. You could see the German players just looking about them as if thinking wtf is going on here. After the game ballack and a few other players all commented on how it was one of the most incredible atmospheres they'd ever known at a football match. These were players who'd played in the biggest leagues, champions league finals and a World Cup final.

I agree hampden behind the goals is terrible, and a long term plan to bring the end stands closer would be ideal, but you can't say there's a lack of atmosphere at the big games.

Was at a cup semi at Ibrox and final at celtic park last season and both were good views and atmospheres. But celtic and rangers do well enough out if scottish football without getting even more financial advantages from the sfa regularly hiring their stadiums.

Some good points. Two of the best atmospheres at games I've been to were France and Italy in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, and Holland a few years ago was also very good, so I don't buy into the notion that there's no atmosphere at Hampden.

My issue with Hampden is it is too small. The up and coming Old Firm game - apparently both sides can expect 17,500 tickets each. Considering the amount of tickets both could easily sell it's poor. Aberdeen would never have had the opportunity to sell 43,000 tickets had last season's final been at Hampden.

People say 80,000/90,000 would be too big, but Wembley is built in a way where the capacity can be capped at a certain level but not lose the atmosphere. I think it is 55,000 if you just use the lower decks there, so if there was a Scotland game not likely to sell out or a cup final between smaller sides, it would be fine. It'd be great to think 80,000 of us were heading to see Scotland v Germany or to a cup final.

Problem is, like I said above, how do you fund it? You're maybe looking at 200 - 300 million pound for a brand spanking new stadium.

Could do it on the cheap. They already have the main stand in place with all the 5 star facilities, so rest of the stadium just needs large steep stands rather than anything overly impressive within it, but "cheap" is probably still outwith the Scottish FA's price range.

[La_Leyenda]

Anyone that used the terms Celtic and Rangers ends, when describing the East and West stands at Hampden is a 5* fud.

I'm presuming you're under the age of 30.

Anyone older than that is probably just used to it, that's how it was described.

It's never bothered me - was just one of those things, you knew if you were going to Hampden you were going to be massively outnumbered by a support packed into what was essentially their end, and it just made the challenge that wee bit more daunting. Not these days, even if you're outnumbered it's only by a few thousand.

These days it's different as both ends are a carbon copy of each other, and "jock stein terracing" is now simply "east stand" etc.