Hampden Park has it had its Day ?

[The_Kincardine]

Ever you ask? Fewer than 8000 for a Home International against N.Ireland in the late 60s despite Denis Law playing for us and George Best for them.

 

Capacity at the time was still around 150,000

I persuaded my uncle to take me to that since I'd never seen Geo Best.

 

8,000 of us huddled together at The Rangers end (the only cover) still felt like a big crowd.

[10menwent2mow]

The SFA/SPFL should really come to some sort of agreement in advance with regard to semi-finals. To my way of thinking the only semi-finals that should be held at Hampden would be Celtic v Rangers, everything else, would be better at another neutral venue. Between Murrayfield, Ibrox, Parkhead, Easter Rd, Tynecastle and Pittodrie we have more than enough stadia to cater for a multitude of scenarios regarding both geographical considerations and the number of supporters that any given two clubs would take to a semi. The only caveat I'd have on that is that everyone wanting a ticket should be able to go. Although the atmosphere at the Aberdeen v St J league cup semi was outstanding as a sell-out at Tynie, there were probably a few people disappointed in that regard.

 

A common point made is that we have nothing between 20,000 and 50,000, I think we do. Surely there are stadium configurations at Ibrox and Parkhead that would allow for segregation to be maintained and any capacity required to be satisfied.

 

[Big Fifer]

I think Murrayfield would be a lot better for us. The travel constraints aren't much of an issue with Hampden until the game's sold out and you have to get the train to Mount Florida way earlier than you'd want to from Central. I remember for the Poland game nipping round at 1830 and the queue was the longest I'd ever seen, miles longer than anything I'd seen at Disneyland   A few of our mates waited it out but we just hiked it and made it for kick off, they missed the first ten minutes. The local Glasgow services are also the auldest tinkiest trains ScotRail have on their fleet. 

 

If it's at Murrayfield you'd have 6 car services leaving from both low level and high level Queen Street and Central every 5-10 minutes. Everyone gets off at Haymarket and it's a 15 minute jaunt down to Murrayfield, or longer if you take the Gorgie route with hunners of pubs available right up until kick off. Regular trams right outside the station to Murrayfield's front door and with the 22/30 buses stopping just across the road every 5 minutes. Trying to get a bevvy before the game in Glasgow is always a difficult decision especially when you're working as by the time you get near the stadium 2 hours beforehand you've no chance of getting into the pubs, and if you sit in the city centre you risk not getting up to the game in time!

 

The only issue I'd see is the capabilities of Haymarket station to cope with the load of people heading back to Glasgow/elsewhere after the game as the concourse isn't that big. Queen St has coped with it because of that massive car park at the side but Haymarket doesn't have that. At least from Edinburgh folk can get back to Dundee/Fife a lot easier.

Edited May 4, 2016 by Big Fifer

[Clayhole Blue]

I think Murrayfield would be a lot better for us. The travel constraints aren't much of an issue with Hampden until the game's sold out and you have to get the train to Mount Florida way earlier than you'd want to from Central. I remember for the Poland game nipping round at 1830 and the queue was the longest I'd ever seen, miles longer than anything I'd seen at Disneyland   A few of our mates waited it out but we just hiked it and made it for kick off, they missed the first ten minutes.

 

 

What way did you go? 90 minutes to walk from Central to Hampden?*!?

[Enigma]

SFA should buy a stake in Murrayfield when the lease is up. It's a better stadium, in a better location, with better transport links and facilities. The national stadium should be in the Capital.

[jamamafegan]

Get the games in Murryfield and redevelop Hampden. A packed Murryfield full of Scotland fans would be a sight to behold. It might invigorate some interest in football amongst Edinburgh's rugby wankers.

[SpoonTon]

Aye, the atmosphere in Murrayfield would be immense. Right on top of the park, steep stands, exactly what you want. Looks great too. By far the best stadium in Scotland and completely wasted.

Ever seen football played at Murrayfield? It's a long way from being right on top of the pitch. It looks really fucking stupid with a bit moat of grass around the pitch.

[gannonball]

Murrayfield pisses all over Hampden in every single way possible.

With Edinburgh rugby now back at their old ground this should be a good opportunity for negotiation with the SRU.

Its common sense to have one national stadium sharing the upkeep.

Sentiment is the only thing that would want you to keep it at Hampden.

[banana]

75,000 stadium with retractable roof and heated seats on the B9134 between Forfar and Brechin. Problem solved.

[RedLichtie86]

In light of recent events, Hampden needs to be redeveloped.

1.A 5m wide moat must encircle the pitch to ensure no fan gets on to the pitch.

2. Each section must be enclosed in a cage to stop fans escaping to the pitch.

3. Corner flags will be replaced with sentry towers to keep fans in check.

4. Armed gaurds will escort fans in chains to and from their sections to the toilet.

5. Oh and dont forget about the attack dogs that will be set loose on sight of any fan trouble. Evan a violent sneeze will be seen as threatening.

[oldbitterandgrumpy]

On 4/4/2016 at 13:12, Marr1 said:

The top tier could be closed for semi-finals (such as Hibs vs United) were a crowd of less than 35,000 is expected.

We're expecting crowds of less than 35,000. So why, exactly, do we need a national stadium? 

Playing semi-finals by default at Hampden is just stupid. Why is a half empty Hampden  a better choice than a full Easter Road or Tynecastle? 

And I totally get the politics of playing at Ibrox or Parkhead, but why pump money into Hampden? We've moved on from the 135.000 that used to turn up for Scotland v England so why pump money into a stadium that could, at best, hold  60/70 thousand? 

It's Scotland we're talking about. Let's be realistic. How big are we ever going to be to justify a National Stadium? 

[PrestersKTID]

On 7/17/2016 at 23:05, oldbitterandgrumpy said:

 

 

We're expecting crowds of less than 35,000. So why, exactly, do we need a national stadium? 

 

Playing semi-finals by default at Hampden is just stupid. Why is a half empty Hampden  a better choice than a full Easter Road or Tynecastle? 

 

And I totally get the politics of playing at Ibrox or Parkhead, but why pump money into Hampden? We've moved on from the 135.000 that used to turn up for Scotland v England so why pump money into a stadium that could, at best, hold  60/70 thousand? 

 

It's Scotland we're talking about. Let's be realistic. How big are we ever going to be to justify a National Stadium? 

In Scotland game terms It's been said already, we have 30000 supporters club members, in order to accommodate them plus any general sales then we need a stadium with enough capacity. Easter Road, Tynecastle, Pittodrie are around 18-22000. England game and games of importance are always sellouts, most qualifiers draw more than 25000 fans.

If semi finals are between certain teams with smaller fanbases then theres a case for playing them at smaller grounds but you're robbing the teams of a chance to play at the national stadium.

I agree with others and would have a complete rebuild with the stands closer to the pitch and 2 steep tiers on all four sides. 65000 capacity, one tier 35000 and the other 30000. Close the top tier when crowds are going to be low.

  

[oldbitterandgrumpy]

On 7/19/2016 at 09:39, PrestersKTID said:

In Scotland game terms It's been said already, we have 30000 supporters club members, in order to accommodate them plus any general sales then we need a stadium with enough capacity. Easter Road, Tynecastle, Pittodrie are around 18-22000. England game and games of importance are always sellouts, most qualifiers draw more than 25000 fans.

If semi finals are between certain teams with smaller fanbases then theres a case for playing them at smaller grounds but you're robbing the teams of a chance to play at the national stadium.

I agree with others and would have a complete rebuild with the stands closer to the pitch and 2 steep tiers on all four sides. 65000 capacity, one tier 35000 and the other 30000. Close the top tier when crowds are going to be low.

  

Yeah, fair enough. Suppose I didn't think it through. Still seems a bit of a luxury though having a new state of the art stadium that wouldn't get filled. As for robbing teams of a chance of playing there, shouldn't these teams 'earn' the right to play there? By actually getting to the final? 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2016 by oldbitterandgrumpy

[Hampden Diehard]

This pish just keeps getting rehashed.  If we had a stadium outwith Glasgow with a capacity of 25000, then it'd get a reasonable number of games.  But we don't.

If we had a squillion quid, then we could do all the stuff mentioned here at Hampden or somewhere else, but we don't.

If local authorities and the Scottish Government had money to spend on infrastructure to service a stadium somewhere that people in Stirling, Fife etc would find easier to get to, then that would be great too, but there is no political will to spend money on linking our airports, so fitba stadia links just won't be happening.

What happened when the Commonwealth Games came to Glasgow?  Was a spanking new stadium built like in Manchester, or like in London for the Olympics?  No; we just tarted up Hampden, and that's what we do up here.  We don't invest in sports centrally, so all this nonsense about building this and building that is just fanciful dreaming.

 

[banana]

Surely to f**k we're due a massive wad of cash for a national stadium, like Wembley & Olympic Stadium.

[invergowrie arab]

On 7/20/2016 at 11:16, banana said:

Surely to f**k we're due a massive wad of cash for a national stadium, like Wembley & Olympic Stadium.

The UK Govt could pay for it then rent it to the SFA for 1 million a year.

[HibeeJibee]

Tbf, the Commonwealth Games thing was completely sensible. Look at the white elephant that Meadowbank became, and it was on a much smaller scale. It made complete sense to temporarily alter Hampden (and it justified having kept the 'rounded' ends) than build an athletics stadium somewhere on the outskirts of Glasgow.

[Arch Stanton]

On 5/16/2016 at 03:06, Bairnardo said:

 It should have always been a purpose built arena somewhere with good train and motorway links.

Whit/? It's a 2 minute drive from J1A of the M74 and has half a dozen train stations within a ten minute walk.

[banana]

4 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

The UK Govt could pay for it then rent it to the SFA for 1 million a year.

Hmmm... How much are Tottenham paying? How much are Queens Park paid?

[BallochSonsFan]

Hampden is a terrible stadium. Fans are far too far away from the park. Its a terrible place to watch football.

Scotland has far too many big grounds. Edinburgh has Murrayfield (67,000) and Glasgow has Hampden (52,000), Ibrox (51,000) and Celtic Park (61,000). Between the 4 grounds you've got a combined capacity of 231,000. Murrayfield only sells out for the Six Nations. Hampden only sells out for cup finals, and even then it's not a guarantee. We have enough stadiums in Scotland that are capable of hosting any number of lower grade international matches - Easter Road, Rugby Park, Pittodrie or the 2 club grounds in Glasgow.

Scotland needs a single national stadium that can be used for football and rugby. The Welsh managed it with the Millenium stadium. We don't need ageing white elephants that offer poor value to their respective sports. Take the national team on tour for smaller games - a packed Easter Road, Rugby Park or Pittodrie would create a great atmosphere and would allow the national team a far greater reach than having fans from all over Scotland travel to Glasgow.

We need a single national stadium to be built in a central location - I'd go for Stirling because of it's road and rail access to most of the country.