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Reluctant Hero

Scots to bid for Euro 2016?

At least we will qualify Very Happy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7109057.stm

Quote:
Salmond in Scots Euro 2016 study

First Minister Alex Salmond has revealed that a feasibility study will take place regarding the possibility of Scotland hosting Euro 2016.
Salmond said that initial talks had taken place with the SFA but these were only exploratory at this stage.

"I talked about this with the SFA and we will have a feasibility study," he told The Scotsman.

"There are a number of factors to be considered, such as the number of teams which will be in the tournament."

Scotland would require new or significantly upgraded stadia to meet Uefa's requirements for the tournament, and if the number of teams involved rises from the current 16 that could pose difficulties.

A joint bid with the Republic of Ireland to stage Euro 2008 failed, and Salmond has previously stressed that any push to stage Euro 2016 should see Scotland look to stage the tournament independently.


SLG

Still can't see how this can happen - we just don't have the stadia nor the geographic spread of the stadia that we do have nor the money to rectify the situation. Think it really has to be a joint bid to have a hope.
sgmillerton

SLG wrote:
Still can't see how this can happen - we just don't have the stadia nor the geographic spread of the stadia that we do have nor the money to rectify the situation. Think it really has to be a joint bid to have a hope.


yep, nothing is new from the last laughable bid. nothing more than posturing.
SLG

sgmillerton wrote:
SLG wrote:
Still can't see how this can happen - we just don't have the stadia nor the geographic spread of the stadia that we do have nor the money to rectify the situation. Think it really has to be a joint bid to have a hope.


yep, nothing is new from the last laughable bid. nothing more than posturing.

Well yes, something is new, it looks like the feasibility study is into whether Scotland should bit to host the competition alone. Last time it was a joint bid, and it was very much the Irish who let the bit down.
Tartan Tam

Irish didnt let us down, they were McConnell's scapegoats to ensure the Euro2008 bid failed. Union Jack couldnt have us getting Euro2008 and risking a Scottish feelgood factor so he had to sabotage the bid.
His predecessor Henry McLeish was all in favour of a solo bid and that was proved feasible, its was Union Jack who turned it into a Joint bid and doomed it to failure.
SLG

Fair enough, McConnell should have seen it coming.  I'm still not convinced that a solo bid is feasible though.  Have UEFA ever made the decision to reduce the number of teams involved?
Tartan Tam

Decision about the number of Teams is not made till next year I think, but I had a word with Mr Platini earlier this month to plead with him to leave it at 16 teams.
Good news is he is not actually in favour of increasing to 24 as he doesnt see the value in a tournament where 1 in every 2 teams qualifies.
Cymro

I'm sure you could look at using the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. Cardiff City are also in the proccess of developing a new stadium in the city. Swansea have built a new one and Wrexhams ground was used for the 1999 Rugby World Cup and is regarded as one of the best grounds outside the English Prem (well the Championship anyway, with the likes of Southampton having new stadia along with the likes of Sheff Weds and Leeds now being in the lower leagues). Also Wrexhams training facilities are regarded as one of the best in the English Football League with the England team training on it when the play in Northern England. Lots of European teams coming over to play Man Ure, Liverpool etc have also been using it.

Might also enable us to qualify for a tournament for the first time since 1958!
Corby Boy

There are worse ideas than that Cymro. But then I live in Cheshire so I am gonna be all for it.

Happy Xmas all!
SLG

Even with a 16 team competition, we'd need a lot of work done to get enough stadia up to scratch.  Too much IMO.

Here's the stadia being used in Switzerland/Austria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008...pean_Football_Championship#Venues

Eight stadia in eight cities all with over 30k seats.  At the moment, we have four, although three are in Glasgow, I don't think we'd be able to use more than two in the same city.  So that leaves us with three stadia.  A new Aberdeen stadium is doable, just requiring a bit of a modification on plans being taken forward anyway.  Beyond that, a shared Dundee stadium and upgrading Rugby Park and Easter Road/Tyncasle are possible but would require a lot of money.

I think we'd need at least two stadia to come from outside Scotland.  In Wales, only the Millennium Stadium would meet the criteria, Wrecsam and Swansea might have fine stadia, but they'd need expanding before they could be used.
Cymro

Wrecsam are looking at some more redevelopments in the near future. The newest stand is built in a way which would allow expanding to be done at a reletively low cost, the same goes for Swansea. In fact given the fact that Swansea's ground has a load of space around it, it would be even easier.

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