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Was that Hampden's last hurrah?


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1 hour ago, Lurkst said:

As mentioned previously the alleged maintenance costs at Hampden are similar to Regan's salary. Hmmmmm.....

 

I'd missed that. The maintenance costs must be lower than I thought or Regan is a gre..   :rolleyes:  The Ugly Sisters and the SRU would be wanting big fees for using their stadia. 

How much would it cost to build new stands behind the goals? Hearts new main stand cost around £15 million so would £25-30 million be a reasonable guess. Safe standing could reduce the costs too. 

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I was coming back from the Raith v Ayr game the day Hearts were playing Aberdeen at Murrayfield and to be honest Haymarket did not cope well with the number of Aberdeen fans trying to get home. I would rather stay at Hampden to be frank but I imagine it will go to Edinburgh, it's about time the West End of Edinburgh experienced a Celtic v Rangers fun day out.

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1 hour ago, Bishop Briggs said:

How much would it cost to build new stands behind the goals? Hearts new main stand cost around £15 million so would £25-30 million be a reasonable guess. Safe standing could reduce the costs too. 

Given that leaving the stadium is being discussed due to maintenance costs of a fraction of those figures, I can't see where funding for such rebuilding work could come from.

If UEFA relaxed the ban on standing at internationals, safe standing would be a relatively straightforward alteration to make to the East and West Stands. Would improve the atmosphere and capacity, if not the view.

 

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35 minutes ago, Lurkst said:

Given that leaving the stadium is being discussed due to maintenance costs of a fraction of those figures, I can't see where funding for such rebuilding work could come from.

If UEFA relaxed the ban on standing at internationals, safe standing would be a relatively straightforward alteration to make to the East and West Stands. Would improve the atmosphere and capacity, if not the view.

 

Government or the National Lottery as part of bigger redevelopment? 

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If there's £30M going begging in the public purse or the lottery fund - which is really a rhetorical question: they're both under big pressure - there are better things to spend it on.

Indeed even within football there'd be more justification to (say) build several regional training centres, or transform youth coaching, than rebuild some seats closer to a pitch.

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Honestly think people's opinion of Murrayfield would change if they actually saw a football match there. Yes Hampden is shite but at least it's football's shite. Move to Murrayfield, which is also shite for football, realise it's shite and have no option of having our own stadium to redevelop would be a shite decision.

Change for changes sake isn't a good idea. Keep Hampden and when funds become available redevelop and improve.


I’d be interested to see a big international game moved to Murrayfield as a trial.
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Agreed, but the problem is you've only got the Costa Rica game before they decide.

 

In which case, they are struggling. Can’t see them filling Murrayfield with a Costa Rica friendly game.

 

I was at the Australia friendly game at Easter Road back around 2011/2012 and the place was only half full.

 

It would have to be a qualifier and probably against a half decent side to get a full house.

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8 hours ago, come on shire said:

I'd imagine the footy fans would like it for the far easier transport links with buses and trams readily available and a short walk to Haymarket.  Also, to watch national football in your country's capital will be nice too I'd imagine. 

It'd also be nice to hold it in a city where the majority of football fans actually supported their own national team.

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Perhaps they could alternate Hampden and Murrayfield for the Nations League and the Euros.  Maybe a cup final  and semi- final too. 

That would give everyone an opportunity to try Murrayfield out before either ruling it out, or going all in for it. 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, qos_75 said:

Perhaps they could alternate Hampden and Murrayfield for the Nations League and the Euros.  Maybe a cup final  and semi- final too. 

That would give everyone an opportunity to try Murrayfield out before either ruling it out, or going all in for it. 

That would suggest the SFA gave a toss about the fans which of course they don't.

That they haven't scheduled any internationals for Murrayfield prior to making their decision also indicates that they don't have any intention of leaving Hampden. 

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In which case, they are struggling. Can’t see them filling Murrayfield with a Costa Rica friendly game.
 
I was at the Australia friendly game at Easter Road back around 2011/2012 and the place was only half full.
 
It would have to be a qualifier and probably against a half decent side to get a full house.

At least with Murrayfield you have the option of just opening the bottom tier so it doesn't look dreadful on TV. Novelty could be enough to get a decent crowd in there
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15 minutes ago, Tulloch Gorum said:

I can see good reasons for supporting both options, but knowing how much it would annoy the good people of  the West End of Edinburgh tips it in favour of Murrayfield for me.

That’d the only positive for me. My whole basis for internationals staying at Hampden is that I can be tanning cans on the couch and be at my seat in the stadium within 10 minutes of standing up from said couch. I’d quite happily do a power point presentation for the SFA board.

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2 hours ago, paul-r-cfc said:


At least with Murrayfield you have the option of just opening the bottom tier so it doesn't look dreadful on TV. Novelty could be enough to get a decent crowd in there

I never get the fascination with having the ground look good for tv. I'd rather sit up the back with a good view. Hate it when they close the top tiers.

 

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I never get the fascination with having the ground look good for tv. I'd rather sit up the back with a good view. Hate it when they close the top tiers.
 

Not just from a TV point of view. Atmosphere would be better if everyone isn't spread out and is closer to the pitch
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14 hours ago, qos_75 said:

Perhaps they could alternate Hampden and Murrayfield for the Nations League and the Euros.  Maybe a cup final  and semi- final too. 

That would give everyone an opportunity to try Murrayfield out before either ruling it out, or going all in for it.

Glasgow District Council made a proposal that the lease should be extended for 5 years to allow all interested parties (other than the SRU obviously) to seek sponsors (e.g. rebranding) and discuss joint funding for a Hampden re-vamp (rather than re-tart). If that option were given serious consideration it would be fair to both Hampden and Murrayfield with the former receiving a potential stay of execution with a view to putting sufficient funds in place for a major upgrade, and the latter being given every opportunity to demonstrate whether it really is the better option (including putting an Old firm final there as an experiment to determine its true feasability from all perspectives).

That should be a win win scenario for everybody to ensure that the right decision is reached, because as things stand it's more of a gamble to choose Murrayfield because Hampden will disappear in that scenario.

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9 hours ago, paul-r-cfc said:


Not just from a TV point of view. Atmosphere would be better if everyone isn't spread out and is closer to the pitch

Murrayfield is miles away from the pitch behind the goals as well. We’re also even less likely to fill it than Hampden. There’s also the likliehood of rugby fans and their posh ways to tag along. Nothing good can come of this.

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Murrayfield is miles away from the pitch behind the goals as well. We’re also even less likely to fill it than Hampden. There’s also the likliehood of rugby fans and their posh ways to tag along. Nothing good can come of this.

I want to stay at Hampden, just feel a test run of murrayfield wouldn't go amiss. Moving there is a huge gamble so any opportunity to try it out should be taken
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In what way does a 67,000 seater stadium suit our needs? I've seen some people talk up the atmosphere at Murrayfield, but that's when it's full. It would certainly do for big games - for an important qualifier or a competitive match against one of the big nations we could probably fill it. But for the majority of competitive matches, where attendances are usually between 30,000 and 45,000, where's the benefit of playing in a half empty stadium? Closing the top tier of a stadium makes for a really eerie atmosphere. I don't think that there's any benefit in that if you're looking to improve the atmosphere. And there aren't any smaller stadiums in the country big enough to host competitive matches. 

In terms of domestic cup semi-finals and finals, Murrayfield could possibly be filled for an Old Firm final - if you want that many OF fans travelling through to Edinburgh. Otherwise, what's the benefit in terms of the stadium? There are already complaints that Hampden is too big. So then we leave ourselves with stadiums of about 20,000 and 67,000 (all in Edinburgh unless two teams are travelling to a stadium in a field in the middle of Aberdeenshire). 

Then there's still the big gap between the stand and the pitch on three sides at Murrayfield. You could utilise the top tier at Murrayfield behind the goals for a better view, but there's still really only a benefit there if the crowd is near to capacity. 

In terms of travel, it's easier for people in the east of Scotland to get to Murrayfield, but not for people living in the west. I don't think there's any discernible benefit to any sort of majority of the population to move to Edinburgh (and has already been pointed out, would take all national games and cup semi-finals and finals to the east coast). 

Staying at Hampden would at least allow us to try to create a new longer-term vision for the national stadium. 

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