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Something witty, gnomic, and in "Scotch"*

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    Something witty, gnomic, and in "Scotch"*

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45333600

    wtf?

    “The Scottish FA's board will meet on Wednesday to determine where Scotland will play their fixtures from 2020.

    Proposals were submitted last month by Queen's Park - the amateur League Two club who own Hampden - and by Scottish Rugby, which wants to lure the matches from Glasgow to Edinburgh once the existing lease expires.”


    (* any help gratefully received)

    #2
    Fags, Mags and Bags?
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bgg1q1

    Comment


      #3
      Perfect!

      Build a new stadium in Lenzie instead!

      Comment


        #4
        As the article suggests, the SFA's contract to use Hampden expires in 2 years time.

        The initial bidding was between 4 stadia - Hampden, Murrayfield, Ibrox and Parkhead (because hoovering up 90% of the cash available in Scottish football isn't enough, they want all of it, dammit!) but fortunately the SFA realised that picking one of those two would have alienated absolutely everyone else apart from the successful bidder; whichever of RFC or CFC was rejected would have screamed bias, and the rest of the Scottish game would have kicked off at yet more money going to the Old Firm.

        So we find ourselves with 2 choices. Both stadia are well-served* by public transport, and both generate a cracking atmosphere when full. But the working-class Scottish lad in me balks at the idea of giving our cash to Murrayfield and by extension the egg-chasers, especially when rugby in Scotland outside of a small region in the borders is played entirely by public schools rather than state schools.

        *well-served by Scottish standards that is, not actually well-served.

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          #5
          I missed the announcement about Hampden being sold by Queens Park which, although I can see the logic behind it, is a real shame. It was always one of those wonderful quirks of the amateur origins of football still remaining. Went to Hampden a few years ago and really enjoyed the experience (perhaps because of an, at the time, rare Welsh win). It is, like many stadia, too far away from the centre of town but, from what I saw earlier in the year, so is Murrayfield. Obviously, Ibrox or Parkhead would have been a ridiculous idea.

          I have to say that I was initially surprised by the staunch views taken by the Houses of Parliament until I realised that it was Kris Commons that was being referred to in the headline, "Commons not impressed with Hampden or Murrayfield"

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            #6
            http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/1...-with-hampden/

            Decisive as ever from Park Gardens.

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              #7
              Hampden is only about 10 mins from Central station by (overcrowded) rail, not sure it’s that far out of town. Murrayfield does have the tram stop but and is fairly close to Haymarket at least. Biggest problem with Hampden is folk trying to get trains back to the east coast from queen street after an evening kick off. Pretty much have to miss much of the second half to make the last train.

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                #8
                Biggest problem with Murrayfield would be the ugly sisters sharing train carriages to an old firm final.

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                  #9
                  They should build a stadium on some of the eternal gap sites west of the SECC.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                    Hampden is only about 10 mins from Central station by (overcrowded) rail, not sure it’s that far out of town. Murrayfield does have the tram stop but and is fairly close to Haymarket at least. Biggest problem with Hampden is folk trying to get trains back to the east coast from queen street after an evening kick off. Pretty much have to miss much of the second half to make the last train.
                    I meant by foot, which is pretty much always the way you have to travel when thousands of people are coming out at the same time.

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                      #11
                      Yeah, it is a pisser post match. My few months living in Mount Florida werent fun at cup final days.

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                        #12
                        Yeah, the family and I stayed within walking distance of Hampden (just on the other side of Queen’s Park itself) when we did every evening of the Commonwealths Athletics there after my experiences getting away from football games prior.

                        Though I’ve done plenty of Six Nations games at Murrayfield and found it no more accessible than Hampden by public transport.

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                          #13
                          BBC Sport reporting that they understand the announcement at 3pm will be that the SFA are staying at Hampden.

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                            #14
                            Now confirmed, good to see that Queens Park will stay at Lesser Hampden - hadn't seen that made explicit before.

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                              #15
                              Hampden isnt a great place to watch football. The refurb was botched and resulted in a large number of seats with terrible views. The biggest issue is behind the goals. The stands are just too shallow and too far away from the pitch so that anybody towards the rear of those stands would need binoculars to see the other end penalty box.

                              If it has to be Hampden (and thats been decided now) then it needs a major renovation. I'm also not entirely sure how the rest of the lower leagues will react to Queens Park suddenly getting a big cash injection? Even if they spend a good whack refurbishing Lesser Hampden, the kind of money they'll have is money that the likes of my club (Dumbarton) can only dream of.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Welcome Balloch.

                                Queen's Park have always had money. Their 'expenses' have to be seen to be believed*.

                                *Admittedly this is donkeys ago, but it was certainly a fuckload more than travel hither and thither. Which I always found strange, as there always seemed to be more comp ticket holders than actual paying punters.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                                  Biggest problem with Murrayfield would be the ugly sisters sharing train carriages to an old firm final.
                                  Any decision shouldn't be based on the behaviour of those two's supporters.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Hampden is a terrible venue. Murrayfield is a rugby ground.

                                    A fairer decision would be to build a new stadium near Stirling, very accessible to all teams. However that makes too much sense and the SFA would never move the venue out of Glasgow. Not a chance!

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                                      #19
                                      Stirling might be in the centre of the central belt but you’d need to build a shitload of infrastructure around a town smaller than Kirkcaldy or Dunfermline. Motorway and rail connections would need upgraded. Hotels by the bucketload as well, if it were to have a chance of hosting a Euro final. Add a very nimby population and I doubt it’d ever get built.

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                                        #20
                                        Knock down behind the goals at Hampden, bring them close to the pitch like Parkhead and you’ve a half decent venue I reckon.

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                                          #21
                                          Even if they spend a good whack refurbishing Lesser Hampden, the kind of money they'll have is money that the likes of my club (Dumbarton) can only dream of.

                                          They can't spend it on wages though, which is what every other club who lucked into that kind of money would do. We're not going to see Gretna or Franchise-style financial doping from an amateur team.

                                          Scotrail do need to be booted up the arse and obliged to put on more peak demand trains to Mount Florida, King's Park and Crosshill though to make Hampden more accessible. If they can do it for the rugger buggers during the 6 nations, they can do it for Scotland internationals too.

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                                            #22
                                            When I went to the 2012 Olympics football at Hampden (including the famous match where the North Korean women's team failed to appear as someone had edited the South Korean flag into their 'video intros'), there were free trains to and from Mount Florida/Glasgow Central...and free buses IIRC

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                                              #23
                                              Yeah, that was the case for all/most Olympic venues. All the tickets for London events came with a free travelcard for that day.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
                                                Now confirmed, good to see that Queens Park will stay at Lesser Hampden - hadn't seen that made explicit before.
                                                I never knew anything about Lesser Hampden before. That looks fantastic. I wonder if they will fix and open the dressing rooms.

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                                                  #25
                                                  The dressing rooms and the old farmhouse structure were all refurbed when they built the new Queens Park offices/Pavillion on the site. All they need now is a decent amount of covered seating and it’ll be a tidy wee ground.

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