Was that Hampden's last hurrah?

[dogmc]

Makes sense. Sell the land for property development like Highbury but on a larger scale in what is a marketable area in Glasgow and invest the money in grass roots football. Hampden is shite as an all-seater.

Its not the sfas to sell though is it?? Thought Queens park owned it n the SFA pays all the costs via the lease? Is that wrong?

[bairney]

Right enough, QP do own it. I'm not sure if they have sold Lesser Hampden for property development/bus park or if they still play there. Must be a ghost town if they play at Hampden in the league. At least the FA 'own' Wembley although it cost a fortune (probably with the help of us taxpayers as it ran over budget and timescale) to revamp. 

Edited October 6, 2017 by bairney

[Diamonds are Forever]

Can't see where the money would come from to redevelop/rebuild it, especially when there is no pressing need to. It's a rubbish view from behind the goals, but is it that bad to justify spending probably 10s/100s of millions of pounds on it when you think what else that could be spent on? Absolutely not.

Equally, if the plan is to just let the lease run out and just rent out Ibrox and Celtic Park indefinitely then I see no logic in that either. I'd say the only possible realistic option would be to sell the land and start over again on some cheap, city-edge site (although still very doubtful that would cover the cost).

The mistake was made in the mid 90s when they redeveloped it using the same layout. I fear we're now stuck with the legacy of that for decades to come.

 

Edited October 6, 2017 by Diamonds are Forever

[dogmc]

Presumably if the lease is run out then as well as leasing stadia for games they will also need to source office space for all the staff. That won't be cheap either. No idea how QP would fund the upkeep of Hampden either. On that basis alone I'd be pretty shocked if the lease isn't renewed. As said earlier that decision in the nineties was very poor.

[Cnoc Moire]

I love Hampden.
Sadly not had many opportunities to see my club there, but have been watching Scotland at Hampden for over 30 years. Nights like last night, the place was rocking.
Having watched Scotland at both Ibrox and Parkhead, they just can't compare (OK ROI game was decent). On these occasions necessity demanded moving the matches. The idea however of playing there on a more permanent basis and thereby financially supporting these odious institutions does not attract me at all.

[RandomGuy.]

I like Hampden, what would folk want in a stadium instead?

The dream is probably a 70,000 version of Tynecastle, imagine the atmosphere in that stadium

[Diamonds are Forever]

1 minute ago, RandomGuy. said:

I like Hampden, what would folk want in a stadium instead?

The dream is probably a 70,000 version of Tynecastle, imagine the atmosphere in that stadium

 

If Celtic Park got rid of their main stand and replaced it with another 2 tiers so they had that all the way round that would be the perfect stadium. Would be close to 70,000, but for the games with 25/30k attendances you could just open the bottom tier and it would still create a decent atmosphere.

[accies1874]

I don’t buy the lack of atmosphere in Hampden argument; if we’re playing a big game then it’ll be a great atmosphere, and if we’re playing a smaller game then it’ll be a shite atmosphere.
The gap behind the goal is obviously an issue that I’d like fixed, but the costs wouldn’t result in any financial reward, I reckon.
It’d benefit the fans, sure but when have the SFA shown that they give one jot about us?

[Sarto Mutiny]

I hate Hampden. It's a shithole.

Carry on

[HibeeJibee]

1 hour ago, dogmc said:

Its not the sfas to sell though is it?? Thought Queens park owned it n the SFA pays all the costs via the lease? Is that wrong?

Queen's Park own it, and are still repaying some of the debt taken on to rebuild it IIRC.

Lease is held by Hampden Park Ltd, who maintain it.

SFA own Hampden Park Ltd, and keep income from internationals, cup Finals/SFs, concerts, etc.

[CLANCY2KTID]

Last night at full time the atmosphere in the old shitehole was absolutely rocking. It's a strange shape but we've survived the way it is for generations now.

 

Don't see the desperate  need to change it really, be different if the money was easily available. 

[LiviLion]

I'm in the "I love Hampden" camp, but I've not been behind the goals so that might be why. 

I've also never been to a game Scotland have lost so that probably helps too 

Edited October 6, 2017 by LiviLion

[Glens lad]

I've also never been to a game Scotland have lost so that probably helps too 

Yeah! You don’t get out much do you [emoji23][emoji23]

[buchan30]

Hampden is alright on nights when it’s jumping. But i think a tynecastle style, right on top of the pitch (minus the running track) with steeper stands would be better.
The only thing that pisses me off about hampden is getting in/out, travelling from fife, it’s a bit of a nightmare, sometimes you are given no prior warning of roadworks on the journey into glasgow and you are about an hour to get out onto the motorway again, makes for a long night. (Although i do accept that is a personal thing) i know there are buses back to the city centre etc which is helpful to people staying local, but its tough because its in such a compact area.

[Enigma]

Hampden is a pig sty. We should move the national stadium to the capital. Murrayfield is much better transport wise, capacity, parking, facilities etc and has superior views, especially behind the goals. I would never attended an international match at Ibrox or Celtic Park. Those two milk our game enough already.

[Jambomo]

I really like Hampden and I never recognise any of the things that people moan about in it. I’ve watched games in all the stands bar the south one and the view is fine, better than many grounds (and I include Celtic Park in that but we were up with the gods for that game). I admit it’s not the easiest to get to but it’s far from the end of the world to wander back to town.

I definitely don’t understand anyone that states Hampden is a dump and moots Ibrox as an alternative. That’s an absolute hole, it’s in a much worse state than Hampden.

We all know that moving it around won’t happen. After a few token games it’ll become a permanent fixture at either Ibrox or Celtic Park with various reasons given for this and none of them either true or even plausible.

[HibeeJibee]

They'd never give it permanently to one of Rangers or Celtic, IMO... they'd scrupulously alternate between both (as when Hampden was shut for Commonwealth Games). However, without a will to use Murrayfield - which is often ruled out as 'football won't subsidise rugby', or as it's in Edinburgh, or due to transport and segregation issues - the alternating would account for every big game. None of the stadiums in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee or Kilmarnock are anything like big enough. Just like now, the odd friendly and the occasional League Cup SF could be all that went on the road?

Let's also remember that - according to press reports - Celtic made more from 2014's Scottish Cup Final than either of the finalists.

EDIT: Plus of course the SF between Rangers and Dundee Utd that year was held at Ibrox, after it was claimed waiting until QFs had been played wasn't enough notice...

Edited October 6, 2017 by HibeeJibee

[djchapsticks]

I'm firmly in the camp of 'burn it to the ground and rebuild it'.

In reality, the main stand doesn't require a whole lot done to it, it's a bit shallow but the rest of the stadium is just an awful venue to watch football in.

A big fuckoff Tynecastle with the corners filled in, please. Steep, imposing, loud.

[velo army]

It seems we have a choice. We continue to play our football at a stadium which is fairly obsolete, but to which a lot of us have a sentimental attachment, or we accept a deal with the devil and play our football at Celtic Park (I could give a f**k about Ibrox, frankly, it's a terrible ground) as it is ideal in terms of acoustics and atmosphere. 

I'd love a new stadium, something modelled on Seattle Seahawks' Century Link ground, which was designed to maximise crowd noise. The facts are, however, that we don't have the money. I'd like to see the SFA break with tradition entirely and allow private capital to pump money into a new stadium in return for naming rights, seat sponsorship and other branding. I want the best ground we can get, one which gives the national team a distinct advantage in terms of crowd noise and atmosphere. I don't care if it's called Hampden Park or the Tesla Arena. A removable pitch would be a plus too, meaning you could have concerts without fucking it all up.

I won't be holding my breath for the blazers to truly embrace the modern era and we'll still be playing home games at the old ground...

[Dunning1874]

4 hours ago, Enigma said:

Hampden is a pig sty. We should move the national stadium to the capital. Murrayfield is much better transport wise, capacity, parking, facilities etc and has superior views, especially behind the goals. I would never attended an international match at Ibrox or Celtic Park. Those two milk our game enough already.

When Murrayfield's set up for football and you're behind the goal you're far, far further away from the pitch than you are behind the goal at Hampden.

I'm firmly in the camp that if you were building a stadium from scratch in an ideal world you'd just have a bigger version of Tynecastle with steep stands right on top of the pitch, but I still think people vastly overstate how bad Hampden is. Unless you're directly behind the goal the view is fine: the vast majority of seats in the East and West stands provide an excellent view of the whole pitch. While a full Parkhead has a better atmosphere and a good seat at Ibrox gives an excellent view, those stadiums both have far more seats with a crap view than Hampden does. Murrayfield is a non-starter due to the segregation issue before taking into account the distance from the football pitch with the rugby end zones taken in,  the SFA's reluctance to plough money into the SRU and the SRU not wanting to let their precious sport be tainted by footballing luddites on a permanent basis.

If someone can propose a better idea than Hampden and a feasible way to redo it financially I'm all ears, but none of Parkhead, Ibrox and Murrayfield are a better option.