Scotland bid for Euro 2016

[CambriaFan]

The SNP has recently commisioned an investigation into a possible bid. It was originally thought a joint bid with Ireland or Wales may go ahead but the SNP has hinted we would go it alone.

Unfortunately, 3 of Scotland's major stadiums are in one city which would be seen as a drawback. UEFA likes as many venues as possible in different cities. If 3 in glasgow and 3 in edinburgh were utilised, at least 10/11 grounds would be needed and possibly 12/13 if the competition was expanded to 24 teams.
Here's a summary of possible venues:

1) Hampden Park, Glasgow - obviously, home of Scottish football. Capacity 52,000 but plans to expand to 72,000


2) Celtic Park, Glasgow - home of Celtic FC, currently biggest football ground in Scotland. Capacity 60,000


3) Ibrox, Glasgow - home of Rangers FC, UEFA 5-star stadium. Capacity 51,000 but planned increase to 57,000


4) Murrayfield, Edinburgh - home of Scottish rugby, biggest stadium in Scotland. Capacity 68,000


5) (New) Pittodrie, Aberdeen - possible development or new build for Aberdeen FC. Current ground capacity 23,000 - new would be 32,000 with retractable roof


6) Rugby Park, Kilmarnock - development of Kilmarnock FC's ground. Capacity 18,000 would increase to 31,000


7) Tynecastle, Edinburgh - home of Heart of Midlothian. Capacity 17,000 soon to be 23,000 but could be increased further


8) Easter Road, Edinburgh - Hibernian's ground - unlikely to be expanded as well as Tynecastle. Capacity 17,000 soon to be 21,000 but could be increased further.


9) City of Dundee Stadium, Dundee - probable new home for Dundee and Dundee United. Capacity would originally be 30,000 but would be reduced to 20,000 after tournament.


10) Inverness - new home for Inverness CT and major shinty matches.

11) Multi-purpose Stadium, Stirling - will probably be constructed whether we bid or not. Will host Scottish athletics, Scottish rugby league and Stirling Albion's games. Capacity 30,000

12) Final stadium will be built in any of the following cities who have all expressed interest: Motherwell, Paisley, Dunfermline, Perth or Greenock

So what does everyone think - bid or no bid?

P.S. Sorry about ridiculous length of post and so many images.

[Andygers]

I think we have a small chance but the problem is, Aberdeen will not fill up their new stadium (they cannot fill their current capacity) and this problem will continue.

[CambriaFan]

^^ Yeah I agree. As a small nation we wouldn't really use the extra capacity for stadiums afterwards - although Pittodrie, Easter Road and Tynecastle could easily be scaled down. The costs would not be a problem as the tourism brought would cover any costs. Definately something to think about...

[Andygers]

^ Yeah it would be great to see the competition over here and it means we will qualify...without playing France or Italy

Merging Dundee United and Dundee is a great idea because surprisingly they do not hate each other as most rival fans do.

[CambriaFan]

^^ Yeah I saw a programme where the two clubs share a firm of hooligans who do not fight against each other but instead, if for example Dundee don't have a game some of their fans go to Dundee Utd to help fight their opposition
Could you imagine Rangers and Celtic doing the same?

[Andygers]

^ lol was that programme called football factories because I saw that as well.

@ ur question. I would rather defend Iran than them!!! Ko

[CambriaFan]

^ lol was that programme called football factories because I saw that as well.

@ ur question. I would rather defend Iran than them!!! Ko

Lol A Celtic fan was chased through McDonalds and beaten up by a gang of 15 men. The police asked a passer-by why he didn't step in and help. "I thought 15 was enough"

Yeah - the programme was football factories. Have you seen the international version? - some of the guys in Eastern Europe and South America are insane

[shevafan]

it would be hard to pull it off as an alone bid. one problem would be that you could only have 2 stadiums in the bid from glasgow and edinburgh. I would go with hampden park and ibrox stadium cause they're both 5-Star. In Edinburgh you would go with Murrayfield (you could obviously adjust it to a football stadium) and Tynecastle. That's four. Pittodrie and Dundee Stadium makes 6. And we basically need 2 more. This is where I would go with help from Wales. Obviously Millennium Stadium would be one, and maybe they could also provide a 30k Ninian Park. The 2 reserve stadiums would be Celtic Park and Easter Road. Scotland would qualify automatically but you would still have to make Wales go though the qualifying round. You could also possibly make it easier for them by making them face the worst record team that finished second in their qualifying group. The final would be at Millenium Stadium and semis would be at Hampden and Ibrox. This bid could work.

[Andygers]

I disagree why should the Final be in Wales if most of the stadiums will be in Scotland and most of the money be generated from Scotland.

[shevafan]

I disagree why should the Final be in Wales if most of the stadiums will be in Scotland and most of the money be generated from Scotland.

Because Scotland will have 90% of the matches, Wales will not attracted to the bid unless they get something like the final. Think about it. With two stadiums Wales will get at most 6 matches. Its not really worth the try. If they do get the final its a different story. Even then scotland gets most of the important matches like the opening match, two semis and like 3 quarters. By "sacrificing" the final you will get a much better chance of winning the bid rather than doing it alone.

[ulster21]

Lol A Celtic fan was chased through McDonalds and beaten up by a gang of 15 men. The police asked a passer-by why he didn't step in and help. "I thought 15 was enough"

[ulster21]

I think the main thing Scotland has going for them is that they have three 5 star stadiums yet they are all in the same city.

[shevafan]

I think the main thing Scotland has going for them is that they have three 5 star stadiums yet they are all in the same city.

they have 2 5-star stadiums. celtic park is I think a four star

[Andygers]

Celtic are upgrading to a 5-star stadium pretty soon.

[Banlegendfjh]

Please, lets just forget this ridiculous idea! Why have it in Scotland when England can do it bigger and better in every way?

In fact that is a great idea. At least then we won't have to pre qualify.