Stadium and pitch investment

[TxRover]

3 hours ago, velo army said:

Words can't adequately express how much I want a pair of those shorts.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802961819565.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt&_randl_shipto=US
 

Ship to U.S., but I bet you can find a way…hell, you promise to post it on P&B and I cross ship it to you!

[Fuctifano]

I don't know how easy it would be to extend the platforms at Mount Florida or the other stations on the Cathcart Circle to allow for bigger trains to be run, given it is a circle line you'd think it would be more feasible to run additional football (or concert) trains and have them go round the "long" way to / from Central if need be. However there's a zero chance I'm the first person to think of this so guessing the costs outweigh the benefits.

Dortmund is probably the least bad of the big stadia I've been to for getting away, it does benefit from the U-bahn stop at the stadium being at the end of the line so they just have train upon train queued up waiting to take folk back to the centre after the game. However unless you leave a bit before FT you've still got a bit of a wait, and getting out would be a massive hassle if you're trying to get on at any of the intermediate stops between the central station at the stadium.

That said, I've actually just googled Dortmund and it's only 3km from the stadium to the city centre, so it wouldn't be that much extra time to walk it. It feels like about 10 miles when you're on the U-bahn.

[Donathan]

4 minutes ago, Fuctifano said:

I don't know how easy it would be to extend the platforms at Mount Florida or the other stations on the Cathcart Circle to allow for bigger trains to be run, given it is a circle line you'd think it would be more feasible to run additional football (or concert) trains and have them go round the "long" way to / from Central if need be. However there's a zero chance I'm the first person to think of this so guessing the costs outweigh the benefits.

Dortmund is probably the least bad of the big stadia I've been to for getting away, it does benefit from the U-bahn stop at the stadium being at the end of the line so they just have train upon train queued up waiting to take folk back to the centre after the game. However unless you leave a bit before FT you've still got a bit of a wait, and getting out would be a massive hassle if you're trying to get on at any of the intermediate stops between the central station at the stadium.

That said, I've actually just googled Dortmund and it's only 3km from the stadium to the city centre, so it wouldn't be that much extra time to walk it. It feels like about 10 miles when you're on the U-bahn.

Wembley is absolutely horrendous for getting away from. I went along to a couple of FA Cup semi finals as a neutral a year or two before the pandemic and I’ve also been to the NFL before and you’re basically stuck in a queue on Wembley way for almost an hour to even get into the tube station. 

[lubo_blaha]

7 hours ago, Merkie84 said:

Is there scope to shift the pitch closer to the South stand or is the rake designed for viewing the pitch in its current position only? 
 

Rebuilding the North with the pitch in its current position would be difficult as not a lot of room there. 

The South Stand curves in towards the corner flags to match the rest of the ground. You’d probably need to chop off the bottom corners of the stand if you moved the pitch any closer.

15 minutes ago, Fuctifano said:

I don't know how easy it would be to extend the platforms at Mount Florida or the other stations on the Cathcart Circle to allow for bigger trains to be run, given it is a circle line you'd think it would be more feasible to run additional football (or concert) trains and have them go round the "long" way to / from Central if need be. However there's a zero chance I'm the first person to think of this so guessing the costs outweigh the benefits.

They’ve run trains going the long way round before (without stopping at every station). I’ve been on them a couple of times before going to/from Hampden.

[Fuctifano]

3 minutes ago, lubo_blaha said:

 

They’ve run trains going the long way round before (without stopping at every station). I’ve been on them a couple of times before going to/from Hampden.

Fair enough, the only times I've ever got a train to Hampden for a football game was various QP vs Thistle games (not this season obvs) when passenger numbers are just a touch lower than for Scotland games. For Scotland games I normally make my way over to a pub on South Side via bus or taxi a few hours early and then either do reverse on way back or just walk it all the way in to centre.

[CM.]

On 31/03/2023 at 08:05, KirkieRR said:

I've walked back to the city from Hampden when kick-off has been at a decent time. But for evening games I'd be in danger of missing my last bus hame.

 

In European cities they would have extended a matchdays-only branch from Mount Florida Station to the stadium or extended the Subway to actually go somewhere (like Hampden).

Do you still stay in Kirky? You can get a bus right up till midnight from the bus station.

[BB_Bino]

 

On 31/03/2023 at 20:49, Rhys McCabe Hype Train said:

Watching La Liga tonight and Real Mallorca are in the process of reprofiling the Son Moix, or to give it its official name the Visit Mallorca Estadi. Originally built as a mixed use stadium, it now has had its running track removed, with stands behind the goals being rebuilt and the touchline stands reprofiled to be closer to the pitch. It looks night and day if the artists impressions are to be believed.

So if a club that’s bouncing around between La Liga & La Liga Smartbank can undertake such work, why can’t a national association do it?

For reference, the before and predicted afters:

 

Really need to try and get to a game next I’m on holiday. 

I was there with my son in the summer and they are doing some job. It was still in the early stages but it was impressive. Some security guard let us in pitch side. We'll head back at some point later in the year and try and catch a game there. You are right though, if a club like Mallorca can do it then why can't the SFA?? Get that it wouldn't be cheap but it is still doable. The chat on "bring in the running track" has been going on for 20 odd years now.

[invergowrie arab]

On 01/04/2023 at 09:18, Donathan said:

Wembley is absolutely horrendous for getting away from. I went along to a couple of FA Cup semi finals as a neutral a year or two before the pandemic and I’ve also been to the NFL before and you’re basically stuck in a queue on Wembley way for almost an hour to even get into the tube station. 

Do you mean almost an hour from stadium seat to train seat cos that's my experience.

Wembley is lined up with express trains on about 6 platforms. Been half a dozen times and never had to wait long to get on a train. Its certainly not horrendous for emptying 90,000 people.

Other modern stadiums I have been to are significantly worse than Hampden.

Spurs is about 2 mile walk to Seven Sisters and then all the same problems as queuing at Mt Florida.

The Aviva is a 3 mile walk from anywhere and both times I have been they actually close Landsdowne and adjacent  stations because they can't cope with numbers.

 

[Skyline Drifter]

On 26/03/2023 at 13:26, NickMcG said:

It's a better stadium and has better transport links being a 20-minute walk from Haymarket. Not great transport links but better than Hampden.

It's a far better stadium for sure, and it may well be better to access by train, but it's massively more difficult to access by car than Hampden is. Plus, as much as I like it, I fail to see why Scottish football should bankroll Scottish Rugby.

[Skyline Drifter]

On 27/03/2023 at 10:52, Donathan said:

Across UEFA’s 55 member nations, some have a national stadium (e.g., France, Norway, Denmark, England, Wales, Scotland, Austria), whereas others like Spain/Italy/Germany travel around the different club ground.

The key point though is that countries which do use a national stadium, it’s nearly always located in the capital. The only counterexample I can find (apart from Hampden) is Malta who play in Ta’Qali rather than Valletta.

I fail to see why this is in any meaningful way "key"?

[DA Baracus]

Hampden is regularly full or close to it. Fans buy overpriced shirts all the time. They have tens of thousands of members who pay a fee each year on top on tickets, shirts and merchandise.

Where exactly is the issue for the SFA? From their point of view (pun not intended), things are going fine, so why should they spend cash on changing anything?

[Todd_is_God]

On 26/03/2023 at 12:55, Lurkst said:

It's literally a mile from the national motorway network and there's half a dozen train stations within a 20 minute walk.

Apologies if it's been said already, but the problem with Hampden could be massively eased by increasing the frequency of trains from Mount Florida on event days.

The Cathcart Circle being a circular line could be used to its advantage too.

Edited April 4, 2023 by Todd_is_God

[Molotov]

1 hour ago, Todd_is_God said:

Apologies if it's been said already, but the problem with Hampden could be massively eased by increasing the frequency of trains from Mount Florida on event days.

The Cathcart Circle being a circular line could be used to its advantage too.

Would you not still experience bottlenecks at the entrance/exit gates, stairs and platform at Mt Florida? 

A bit of an update to the infrastructure there is surely required. I’m surprised it was not upgraded before the Commonwealth games. 

I do take the train on the way up to Hampden but I just walk back to Central regardless of the weather and there are trains just arriving from Mt Florida as I enter the station.

[FK1Bairn]

3 minutes ago, Molotov said:

I do take the train on the way up to Hampden but I just walk back to Central regardless of the weather and there are trains just arriving from Mt Florida as I enter the station.

I've only ever gone to Hampden by train and waited in the queues for the train back. How long does the walk back take?

[Todd_is_God]

8 minutes ago, Molotov said:

Would you not still experience bottlenecks at the entrance/exit gates, stairs and platform at Mt Florida? 

A bit of an update to the infrastructure there is surely required. I’m surprised it was not upgraded before the Commonwealth games. 

I do take the train on the way up to Hampden but I just walk back to Central regardless of the weather and there are trains just arriving from Mt Florida as I enter the station.

Probably, but a bit of policing etc combined with trains queued up to load and go would go a long way to smoothing that.

[Todd_is_God]

4 minutes ago, FK1Bairn said:

I've only ever gone to Hampden by train and waited in the queues for the train back. How long does the walk back take?

About 45 minutes

[Molotov]

8 minutes ago, FK1Bairn said:

I've only ever gone to Hampden by train and waited in the queues for the train back. How long does the walk back take?

It’s worth doing. As @Todd_is_God says it’s only around 45minutes. Plus you get the exercise! Win win! 

[Lurkst]

16 minutes ago, Molotov said:

It’s worth doing. As @Todd_is_God says it’s only around 45minutes. Plus you get the exercise! Win win! 

Or you could pursue my idea of a win win and go to the pub for an hour til the trains get quieter 

 

 

[realmadrid]

On 01/04/2023 at 02:04, Merkie84 said:

Is there scope to shift the pitch closer to the South stand or is the rake designed for viewing the pitch in its current position only? 
 

Rebuilding the North with the pitch in its current position would be difficult as not a lot of room there. 

 

On 01/04/2023 at 09:32, lubo_blaha said:

The South Stand curves in towards the corner flags to match the rest of the ground. You’d probably need to chop off the bottom corners of the stand if you moved the pitch any closer.

There is a lot of scope to move the pitch across, i was in the fortunate position to be track side at both our cup wins in 2021 and even in the corners there is still a bit of the track before the grass.

i've debenture seats and at the Cyprus game i did think of this again and from the 3rd back row i can see all of the grass up to the track no issue so in the middle that would give you 5m or so which might not seem a lot but there is as big a gap on the North stand side as well

I wonder however how much it would cost to purchase the row of homes behind the North stand as then hight would not be so much of an issue.

 

[realmadrid]

On 28/03/2023 at 12:27, Jamie_Beatson said:

That said, many of the issues people complain about re: Hampden can easily be avoided by just actually planning ahead a little bit. "It takes too long to get away in the car"... Well park somewhere sensible and plan your route away from the ground - don't just join the queue pointing at the M74. There are plenty stations nearby other than Mount Florida if you don't want to stand in a monumental queue for a train. Its not like there are no queues at other big stadiums' nearby stations before/after games. That's just a fact of life if you've got tens of thousands of people entering/leaving the same place at the same time.

There are obviously some issues with turnstiles - though a lot of that is caused by people a) not leaving the pub til 1.30pm at the earliest and b) not being to operate their QR codes for whatever reason - but how much of that would be fixed at another stadium in reality if people are still turning up half cut 20 minutes before kick off without having downloaded their tickets yet or pitching up at the wrong gate?

Situations such as the infrastructure in central Scotland need looked at. 

Due to some of our group not being able to get away from work until close to 5 we left Perth just after 5 last Tuesday and got into Hampden around 10 minutes into the game. The traffic was just horrendous with a queue from Denny to Castlecary and then the obvious queues as we got close to Hampden. The trains at that time would not have got us to the game either.

There are not enough turnstiles and even with SPFL printed tickets at the league cup final id say 1 in every 10 was not working and the stewards then had to take people to the main door to get them in.

The system they use for serving food is a joke and its the same in all parts of the group. I used my Debenture for the league cup final and Cyprus game and that used to be very quick but they only use half the space available and now try and prepare drinks in advance which somehow makes it slower. You have 3 people trying to serve you and at the league cup final we ended up with extra pies but drinks that were all wrong. To try and correct it you have to join the back of the queue.  Cyprus took over 25 minutes at half time and one of our group in the West stand was the same time away at the Spain game.