Stadium and pitch investment

[PrestersKTID]

Back from the game and great to see an opening victory for a change.

However every time I’m at hampden I just feel the stadium could be so much better. It’s still very capable of making a serious noise but Sitting in the east stand behind the goals today was an atrocious view for anything that traveled over the half way line. 
it’s mentioned all the time but it needs a rebuild imo to bring the end stands closer to the pitch and steeper like Stuttgarts stadium. 

then there’s the pitch which was visibly cut up and looked worse when watching the highlights back. Without Queens Park it’s getting used maybe 10-15 times a season with Scotland games and semi/finals, it can’t be in that state, really bad when your own players slating it.

With a likely to be sell out campaign plus an another sell out against England you’re looking at £5million plus. ssc membership is another sizeable chunk of cash, merchandising clearly doing well.
Quick look at Sfa accounts they made an~ 2.5mil profit 21/22. I’d imagine that will jump for this year.

now i know they’ve just bought the ground from Queen’s Park but 
Surely nows the time to get some serious investment into the infrastructure, make it a proper stadium. 

[Jambomo]

The pitch isn’t usually like that, in fact I think it’s the first game I’ve seen it look heavy and cut up a bit.

We had tons of rain beforehand though, so I am not sure how much they can help that.

[gannonball]

2 hours ago, Jambomo said:

The pitch isn’t usually like that, in fact I think it’s the first game I’ve seen it look heavy and cut up a bit.

We had tons of rain beforehand though, so I am not sure how much they can help that.

It was shite for the semi finals of the league cup too this season iirc. It's been crap plenty times but usually QP games used to get the blame for that but they can't now. I assume poor drainage doesn't help with as there is a river apparently flowing underneath part of the stadium but really the pitch being used every few months there's little excuse now really.

Because it's been bought sadly we are stuck with Hampden now, the poor gradient of all the stands and the distanced loop at either end of the goal make it terrible for creating atmosphere.  An absolutely terrible design.

 

 

[Binos]

13 minutes ago, gannonball said:

It was shite for the semi finals of the league cup too this season iirc. It's been crap plenty times but usually QP games used to get the blame for that but they can't now. I assume poor drainage doesn't help with as there is a river apparently flowing underneath part of the stadium but really the pitch being used every few months there's little excuse now really.

Because it's been bought sadly we are stuck with Hampden now, the poor gradient of all the stands and the distanced loop at either end of the goal make it terrible for creating atmosphere.  An absolutely terrible design.

 

 

They flattened and rebuilt the stadio del alpi for same view reasons

Only seems in Scotland we end up stuck with things like that 

[Binos]

The 'design' is 100 years old

[BazMac]

I live right here next to the Olympic park where West Ham play and they did an amazing job renovating that by bringing the behind the goals closer.

[Molotov]

I think it would really would cost the SFA too much money to completely redevelop Hampden now.

The SFA had plenty of opportunities to properly redevelop or build elsewhere down the years.

I really think we are stuck with this layout for the next 20 years or more. 

Shame really.

The distance from pitch to stands is way too big. Just look at the size of the technical area in front of the main stand as well as the wasted space behind each goal. 

Are there not restrictions due to housing behind the North Stand that impact how high the stands could be?

Out of interest was the old North Stand  higher than the current one?

I’ve been going to Hampden since early 70s and the views are still as poor.

Difference was back then my eyesight was better. 

 

[Monkey Tennis]

13 minutes ago, gannonball said:

 the poor gradient of all the stands and the distanced loop at either end of the goal make it terrible for creating atmosphere.  An absolutely terrible design.

The issue is that it's basically a 19th Century design.  The fact that we could only afford to bolt seats onto what already existed while replacing the main stand, is what's responsible for the shape of the place.

There can't be many left like it unless they are athletics stadiums.

[Binos]

3 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

The issue is that it's basically a 19th Century design.  The fact that we could only afford to bolt seats onto what already existed while replacing the main stand, is what's responsible for the shape of the place.

There can't be many left like it unless they are athletics stadiums.

Zero i can think of

And all stadia were like it at one time,  all now redeveloped,  ibrox, parkhead for instance 

It's a relic and part of the problem I think is the sfa blazers like it like that 

[BazMac]

I find it interesting that a lot of these Serbian/ Turkish venues that people associate with huge intimidating atmospheres have running tracks around them

Edited March 26, 2023 by BazMac
Typo

[Lex]

Yep i can’t see it being redeveloped any time soon, which is a great shame. 

Its an awful stadium by modern European standards, and the pitch is a disgrace. Anyone know why the surface is so bad? Plenty of pitches all over west central Scotland, which have seen much more football played on them, are in better nick than our national stadium. Weird.

 

[Molotov]

2 minutes ago, Binos said:

They flattened and rebuilt the stadio del alpi for same view reasons

Only seems in Scotland we end up stuck with things like that 

I was at the Scotland Brazil 1990 game. Pished down all day. It was just like playing at Hampden.

The views were arguably worse. And that stadium had been specifically built for that WC to be shared by Juventus and Torino. 




Now demolished and owned exclusively by Juventus.

The best for atmosphere was Stadio comunale Luigi Ferraris in Genoa which was just like being at Ibrox without the hatred and bile.

So basically fcuk running tracks. 

[Binos]

3 minutes ago, Lex said:

Yep i can’t see it being redeveloped any time soon, which is a great shame. 

Its an awful stadium by modern European standards, and the pitch is a disgrace. Anyone know why the surface is so bad? Plenty of pitches all over west central Scotland, which have seen much more football played on them, are in better nick than our national stadium. Weird.

 

John Souter used to say not enough worms

So maybe not enough worms

He was the sports pitches guru back in the day,  not current crock

[Molotov]

 

 

8 minutes ago, BazMac said:

I find it interesting that a lot of these Serbian/ Turkish venues treat people associate with huge intimidating atmospheres have running tracks around them

Turkey planned to rebuild their national stadium and remove the running track if they won the 2024 EURO bid and build a separate athletics venue.

They also know that an athletics track in a football stadium is a problem. 
 

 

[Scary Bear]

I’ve always sat in the South Stand since the stadium was redeveloped. The view from there - both upper and lower - is perfect. However, I am watching the Spain game from the bottom of the East Stand so I’ll get to see the problem for myself shortly.

It’s been reported the West of Scotland is getting a lot more rainfall these days, due to climate change. Maybe that isn’t helping the pitch at times?

[Crawford Bridge]

Hampdump. 

[Molotov]

1 minute ago, Crawford Bridge said:

Hampdump. 

It’s not just the stadium design though is it?

The infrastructure is crap.

If you compare it to many other national stadiums there are limited fast access rail/underground/road transport options never mind hotels or onsite stadium bar and restaurant facilities. 

I walk back into Glasgow after games at Hampden and arrive at Central while trains are still loading at Mt Florida.

[The Moonster]

42 minutes ago, Binos said:

John Souter used to say not enough worms

So maybe not enough worms

 

[Molotov]

9 minutes ago, Scary Bear said:It’s been reported the West of Scotland is getting a lot more rainfall these days, due to climate change. Maybe that isn’t helping the pitch at times?

St Mirren’s pitch is outstanding compared to Hampden with much limited investment and many more game’s compared to Hampden.

 

[Scary Bear]

1 minute ago, Molotov said:

St Mirren’s pitch is outstanding compared to Hampden with much limited investment and many more game’s compared to Hampden.

 

Maybe St Mirren’s pitch has a better drainage system?