Time for a new Hampden

If we're going to have a national stadium, at least make it right size, right place

Fergus McCann was right. The refurbishment and reconstruction of Hampden was a waste of public funds. It was a waste of public and Scottish football funds to create the third-best stadium with the third-biggest capacity in Glasgow. The logic behind the redevelopment 25 years ago was that the national team needed a neutral location away from club affiliations, to draw fans of all denominations to support the international side. But for the bulk of the 30 years since Celtic Park was rebuilt and Hampden was rebuilt, those attending Scotland games had been limited. Also increasingly those attending Scotland games come from throughout Scotland.

The other argument behind the necessity of Hampden is the necessity of a neutral location for the two big Glasgow teams to exchange blows in the never-ending quest for supremacy of Scottish football. It couldn't have been known at the time, but that was also a falsehood as one club claimed trophy after trophy, as the other went bust. But even in the event that this requirement for a neutral location for Glasgow Derby Cup finals and Cup semi-finals were true, then what would be the point in building a neutral venue to host these two clubs that has a capacity smaller than the home grounds of either and incapable of satisfying the demand for tickets? Yes. Fergus McCann was right.

Imagine if the money had been spent in a different way. Imagine if the facility at Mount Florida had been sold and the funds put together with public monies and Scottish football monies to create stadiums across the country for the national team (When appropriate Cup finals and Cup semi-finals) to tour.

Imagine if the Edinburgh clubs had been approached to sell both their grounds to housing developers, take an equal value of each purse and add monies from the Hampden Fund to create a single stadium, half green, half maroon on the site of, for example, Medowbank Stadium with a capacity of 30,000 to host these two Edinburgh clubs, not burden them down with the debt that they would incur building their own grounds, so rebuilding their own homes and redistributing the wealth of Scottish football for those Cup semi-finals that are appropriate to be held in a smaller ground for Scotland games.

Imagine the benefit of Scottish football if this Edinburgh Stadium had be augmented by a similar 20,000 capacity ground in Dundee. If additional funds have been given to Aberdeen to speed up the process of their creation of a 25,000 capacity ground in Aberdeen. If similar funds have been directed towards Kilmarnock for the creation of our sub 20,000 stadium in Ayrshire. Finally, if Scotland games have been played turnabout when necessary between Celtic Park and Ibrox, and if Cup Finals and Cup semi-finals had been determined by an initial toss of the coin thereafter on to alternating between both grounds, with capacity is split 50/50.

Imagine those funds that were sunk into the refurbishment of Ruby Park, Pittodrie, Dens Park, Tannadice, Easter Road, and Tynecastle had been augmented by additional funds to create a handful of high-quality stadia across Scotland for the national team and for Cup semi-finals and finals where appropriate. In short, imagine a better Scottish football.

Fast-forward to post-construction and over £60million spent on a new main stand at Hampden and the debate raged again a couple of years ago with money being required to be spent on Hampden while it retained its position as home of Queen's Park. Whilst the debate was probably not real, there was still a discussion as to whether the national team should start playing games at Murrayfield or Hampden.

Murrayfield or Hampden was always the wrong debate. Edinburgh is the home of the odd-shaped ball and Glasgow is the home of the round ball. It should never a be debate about Murrayfield or Hampden. It should have been a debate about whether it was Hampden or somewhere more appropriate in Glasgow.

If you're going to necessitate a neutral venue for the national side and for Club Cup finals and semi-finals, you have to create a stadium which has a sufficient capacity and is of a sufficient standard for the 21st century. It has to be a stadium that generates income on more than 10 or 12 match days a year. In a modern environment that would suggest it has to be a stadium that could host some of the mega-concerts which now tour around the world.

Over the last couple of years, an increasing number of these mega-concerts have been enticed to Murrayfield. Hampden, with its poor vistas and squeezed in location, with challenging transport links, is proving less and less attractive. The economic impact of Taylor Swift in Edinburgh was not missed by our city fathers and there is increasing concern about the major concerts being in the east and not the west.

When the debate was Murrayfield or Hampden, it should have been Hampden or somewhere else in Glasgow - the obvious location would've been somewhere in and around the campus of the SEC.

By finding the ground next to the Clyde around the SEC campus, you'd be moving Hampden to somewhere with better transport links. A railway line passes right past the Hydro and it could have been used as an opportunity to build a proper station the likes we see around event destinations in London. The campus already has a burgeoning volume of hotel accommodation. It has quick access to the Clydeside Expressway, the motorway, multi-story car parks, bus routes, and transport, and train links, and is a short distance from the nightlife of the finest end of Argyle Street. By moving Hampden to that location, it would've also added further gravitas to the SEC hub by having a scaling of concert facilities from the 2,000 of the Armadillo to the 12,000 of the Hydro, up to a 60,000 capacity stadium. I also understand that Live Nation, (the company behind Ticketmaster) would give funds upfront to assist generate the necessary revenues for this project. I appreciate in these challenging financial times, seeking government assistance would be difficult, but the medium and long term economic boosts to the city of Glasgow would surely be worth it.

The old site at Hampden is approximately 25 acres and worth, perhaps, in the region of £8m to £10m. Obviously not sufficient to build a new ground, but if we are looking over the next 50 years, the current one is not fit for purpose and some bold, innovative thinking is required. The home of football has moved multiple times across the city of Glasgow, with the first international starting at Partick before football was moved across to the south side. Maybe it's time for it to go back across the north and west of the city and find space for it in the entertainment campus of the SEC.