Alex Salmond today backed calls for a Scottish bid to host the 2016 European football championships.

The new First Minister said we should go it alone when putting proposals to Uefa - and added that preparations should begin right away.

Today's call follows the superb atmosphere that was created throughout the city - and at Hampden itself - for Wednesday's Uefa Cup final.

advertisementIn the wake of that match, Uefa President Michel Platini said Euro 2016 was a different matter, but he added: "For Uefa, it means Scotland is capable of staging this kind of event."

Although the European Championships would be a far bigger competition, Mr Salmond believes Scotland is capable of hosting the event.

He said: "I see no reason why we shouldn't put forward a credible bid.

"And of course the preparations have to be made now, so I think we should get this in motion.

"I think we have got the capability in Scotland to make a bid for these championships, just as we are bidding for the 2014 Commonwealth Games."

Scotland lost out when a joint bid with the Republic of Ireland for Euro 2008 was defeated by the joint effort from Austria and Switzerland.

The 2012 competition will again be a joint venture, involving Poland and the Ukraine.

Scots football chiefs first outlined plans to bid for Euro 2016 last year.

They want a solo bid from Scotland, although the Welsh are keen to play a part.

The European Championships are considered the biggest tournament in football outside of the World Cup.

A record 7.9billion viewers watched Euro 2004 in Portugal, with an estimated 279 million people tuning into watch the final.

From the BBC

Alex Salmond says he would support a Scottish bid to host the European football championships in 2016.
The new first minister believes that planning should start now, and that any application should be a solo Scottish bid rather than a joint one.

He told BBC Sportsound: "There's no reason why Scotland can't submit a bid, and any preparations need to be made now, and a single bid would be best.

"It's time Scotland got involved and clearly the SFA would play a key part."

Scotland failed in a bid to host Euro 2008, which would have been held jointly with the Republic of Ireland, with the showpiece event going to Austria and Switzerland instead.

Salmond attended the Uefa Cup final at Hampden Park, and spoke to Uefa president, Michel Platini.

And he added: "I told him all about how good the atmosphere was at Hampden and he agreed.

"He knows all about the passion of Scottish football fans, even though he surprisingly never got to play for France at Hampden in his own career.

"I will always be behind any Scottish sports side, and hopefully Glasgow's bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games will be successful as well.

"Sport in Scotland will be high on the agenda of the new Government."

A similar story did the rounds last month when the host for Euro2012 was announced in cardiff, following loads of Uefa meetings etc in the city.

It seems the FA Wales are keen on a joint bid with Scotland for Euro2016, and this was encouraged by uefa apparently. Obviously I'd prefer a joint bid, rather than a solo Scottish bid, but I think people in Scotland should also. I think Scotland would struggle to get 8/10 stadia of at least 30,000, and remember that never before has more than two been in the same city, so you can probably rule out one of Celtic park, Ibrox or Hampden.

Anyway, I hope the Welsh (whoever the hell its gonna be) and Scottish governments will work together on this, because I think we'd have a very good chance together.

A similar story did the rounds last month when the host for Euro2012 was announced in cardiff, following loads of Uefa meetings etc in the city.

It seems the FA Wales are keen on a joint bid with Scotland for Euro2016, and this was encouraged by uefa apparently. Obviously I'd prefer a joint bid, rather than a solo Scottish bid, but I think people in Scotland should also. I think Scotland would struggle to get 8/10 stadia of at least 30,000, and remember that never before has more than two been in the same city, so you can probably rule out one of Celtic park, Ibrox or Hampden.

Anyway, I hope the Welsh (whoever the hell its gonna be) and Scottish governments will work together on this, because I think we'd have a very good chance together.

Well apart from the three main stadiums in Glasgow, Scotland doesnt have any other top quality stadiums, Murryfield is for egg chasing.

I know what big Alex was up to scrapping the Edinburgh trams and EARL! He's gathering the money for the euro bid! How many stadiums? Eight is do-able, ten unlikely. Two in Glasgow, two in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Cardiff, Swansea. Then an argument about where the final should be.

I would be dissapointed if Scotland went with a joint bid with Wales. We are more than capable of pulling this off by ourselfs and getting the full economic benifit. We tried a similar bid with the Irish which was a farce, we should have been more brave then too and went on our own.

Aberdeen have plans for a 30,000 seater stadium to be built on the edge of the city and work starts very soon on the new 40,000 Tynecastle.

Current Scottish Stadia -

Murryfield- 67,500
Parkhead- 60,000
Hampden- 52,000
Ibrox- 51,500 Increasing to 57,500 in next couple of seasons
Tynecastle- 18,000 Increasing to 40,000
Pittodrie- 22,000 New 30,000 stadium planned.

I think theres a ruling that a maximum of two stadia can be located in one city. That makes a single bid difficult unless you were to enlarge two from Caley's ground, Rugby Park or maybe Falkirk's ground ( I dont know if Motherwell would be classed as too near Glasgow? ). Could somewhere like Kilmarnock realistically host a number of group matches?

And how would you choose two out of the three stadiums in Glasgow? Any choice would cause uproar...

Choose the two five star stadia. Hampden and Ibrox.

Choose the two five star stadia. Hampden and Ibrox.

And congratulations, you have controversy...

No, we use the two best stadia in the city. We would have controversy if they were all five star. You put your best cards on the table.

Hampden and Ibrox, Hampden and Celtic Park - I'm not arsed, I want whats best for the country. What real relevance or impact would it have on the nay-sayers lives? They'd get the hump and moan a bit about their stadium not being chosen. Can you imagine if Scotland couldn't proceed with a bid because of this issue? What would it say about Glasgow in the 21st century? It would be pretty fucking sad.

Exactly its that Old Firm Glasgow mindset again. Who cares what they think!!! The fairest way IMO is to pick the best venues for the job and at present UEFA states that Hampden and Ibrox are the two best venues.....

Cant dispute that. Ibrox is considered by UEFA to have the better facilities. Hampden and Ibrox currently makes sense.

Celtic Park is not 5 stars just now, but at the rate it's deteriorating at, there won't be a Celtic Park come 2016.

Parkhead will be a five star stadium long before 2016 for this very reason, and thus the controversy would continue. However, if it is not accredited with 5 stars by the point of the competition, it makes perfect logical sense to use Hampden and Ibrox.



I don't see why Glasgow shouldn't use all 3 grounds, regardless of status. It's an absurd rule that only lends to bidding countries spending more on stadiums that will never be filled to capacity after the competition ends.

And just think of the extreme atmosphere in Glasgow if there were 6 games a day in the city. It would be absolutely crammed full of supporters from all over Europe, and would quite literally become a giant festival city for the duration of the competition. The experience would be unbelievable.

Plus, it means far less traveling about to games around the country, keeping organisation and costs simpler and lower.



I'd be up for a 2016 Competition, but I'm not sure if Scottish Football's current climate is up to the job of maintaining use of any new stadia after they would be renovated or rebuilt.

Fuck the controversy. If come 2016 Celtic Park is 5 star with a larger capacity than Ibrox then I'd go for Celtic Park and Hampden. Six games a day? That would be extreme indeed.

Being a fan of neither of the Old Firm, and having been to each of the three, Celtic Park and Ibrox would be BY FAR the best option. The missing-out-on-five-star thing at Parkhead is based on the size of the changing rooms, but in every other regard, Celtic Park is better than Hampden. It gives me no pleasure to say that, as it's our national stadium (see my rant about Hampden compared to the Millenium Stadium/City of Manchester stadium, etc in the other thread), but as far as atmosphere is concerned, Celtic Park is one of the best grounds I've ever been to.

But anyway: should we be so concerned about whether there have been 3 in one city before? Should if not be put to UEFA that perhaps a fresh approach is required? They themselves have said that they have taken a fresh look at the notion of peripheral, smaller nations bidding, and sharing the responsibilities of doing so. Well, maybe a part of that is that they will have to admit that such smaller nation do not have the variety and range of cities that can support bigger teams and thus stadiums?
I say fuck it: bid with all three Glasgow stadiums and Murrayfield. Aberdeen are looking to have a 20-25,000 seater community stadium in place anyway, so with a bit of intervention funding-wise, maybethis could be increased a little.
Hearts.. well, who knows what that mentalist Romanov has planned. That could be a problem.
Annoyingly, Hibs recently spent money adding to Easter Road. My personal preference would be to redevelop Meadowbank into something great, and let Hibs use it afterwards. I don't like the idea of sticking a new stadium out in Wester Hailes - I like where Meadowbank is.

Dundee would certainly deserve a new stadium, and possibly ground-sharing for the two teams there would be the way to go afterwards. They live on top of each other anyway.

Thoughts?

... and, unfortunately, potentially a nightmare to police. That's the main reason for the two stadia per city rule.

I reckon Celtic Park will be enlarged in time for the Commonwealth Games - to 70-75,000 capacity. If the Euros were also lined up, there's no doubt the stadium would be "completed". It would also, certainly, meet the UEFA five star ratings. In that case, there would be no contest.

I don't like the idea of sticking a new stadium out in Wester Hailes

Neither does the new council. Redevelopment of Meadowbank is looking more likely, but I can't see it being that ambitious a project.

Hampden Park must stage the final if succesfull no question or there is no point in it existing. It must be redeveloped if this bid is successfull to increase the capacity. This was once the biggest stadium in the world for over 30 years and holds all sorts of attendance records. It is only right and proper that money is spent on the Grand Old Lady of Scottish Football to make it the premier sporting venue in this country.

You could get away with useing the three Glasgow Stadiums, just as long as its on diffrent day. Is it not genaraly spread out acrros a country so that the econimic boost is shared out amoungst the poulation were as most of scotlands poulation stay in the central belt? Also think if we won this and get the comenwealth games Hampden will be flated and rebuilt! ala Germanys 2006 bid stadia and the ones eventaly used, this would be better for both events as you could leave the ends or one end of Hampden open for the runing track then build a square stadium instead of oval for football like manchester did.

I would use these stadiums

Ibrox
Hampden
Murryfield
Tynecastle
Aberdeen (new one)
Dundee (new city stadium)
Falkirk Tempory expanded
ICT Tempory expanded
parkhead
Rugby park if needed.

Temporary stands are the best option for the likes of Dundee, Inverness etc.

It would also be a good excuse to upgrade Hampden. Hampden should be in the bid as UEFA love the place.

Ibrox should be used as it is five star but if Parkhead gets 5 stars and is larger then that should be used. Both would be great if possible.

Murrayfield is obvious, aswell as the redeveloped Tynecastle and Pittodrie.

The thing is: why can Poland and Ukraine build massive, fancy, expensive stadium when we would most likely get shit. Pushing the EU for funding is a must!

The bid show include all 3 of Glasgow's stadiums, there aren't many cities in the world where football is so important, hence the 3 large stadiums, and we should use that as a possitive in any application to the host the games. The rules can be bent/overlooked if we produce a good enough bid. Building larger stadiums in parts of the country that can't sustain them is crazy.

Yes, but the problem is due to safety/security issues.

Only Glasgow or Edinburgh could cope with England and Scotland and they would have to be separated. Germany would bring a massive following over here. France, Spain and Italy would also bring over substantial supports.

The English, German and Dutch fans would be high risk and would need to be separated.

Scotland's problem is that we only have two real cities. Scotland would end up with a high risk country (in terms of trouble) sharing a city with another large support - e.g. England and Italy sharing Glasgow, throw another small country in the mix and you've got a recipe for some real trouble.

Even the airports could be problematic, with the vast majority of fans from all countries coming through GLA and EDI.

I would imagine the safest possible match configuration in Scotland would be significantly higher risk than it would be with many other countries/bids.

Typical Salmond pie-in-the-sky stuff if you ask me.

Apparently this was supposed to be a joint bid with Wales The Times reports.

Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/scotland/article1680424.ece)

SFA dampens speculation of joint Euro 2016 bid with Wales

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) yesterday sought to dampen speculation that Scotland are ready to join forces with Wales to make a joint bid to host the European Championships in 2016. One top official from the Football Association of Welsh (FAW) had said the idea of a Celtic partnership was being floated with in Scotland but that claim was rejected by the SFA.

We stand a much stronger chance with Wales. I wonder if Euro 2008 would have been different if we'd tried to persuade Wales rather than the Republc?

Possiblity of four stadia from Wales. All in all a much more rounded plausible bid that I think could possibly gain favour from UEFA.



Wales eye joint Scotland Euro bid

FAW secretary David Collins hopes to gain support from Scotland
The Football Association of Wales will hold talks with Scotland on a joint bid to host the 2016 Euro Championships.
Uefa, European football's governing body, had encouraged Wales to enter a joint bid with Scotland and Ireland.

Former Scottish FA chief executive David Taylor had ruled out a triple bid from the Celtic nations, but a proposal with one partner may yet be considered.

FAW secretary David Collins said: "At this moment in time we are floating the idea with Scotland."

Wales are encouraged by Wednesday's decision to give the Euro 2012 tournament to Poland and the Ukraine at a meeting which was held in Cardiff.

"It's raised the issue for us that there's the possibility of Wales and Scotland getting together to make a joint bid," Collins told BBC Wales.

"We will start talking with the Scottish FA to see if they feel they could join with us and hopefully in the next few months we will have a clearer idea.

"Then we could get the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly government to see if we could move forward to put a bid together."

Collins has been considering a potential joint bid with Scotland for some time, after telling told BBC Sport last December that he was exploring such a move and then outlining further plans last month.

A bid to host the 2008 European Championship finals was abandoned in 2002 when Scotland instead chose to partner the Republic of Ireland, only to be unsuccessful.

All bids must have eight stadiums with at least 30,000 seats and Wales were hampered by having just one stadium that met Uefa's guidelines - the 74,500-seater Millennium Stadium.

That could change with the planned new stadium for Cardiff City, and Collins says the FAW will look into the possibility of developing Swansea's Liberty Stadium and Wrexham's Racecourse Ground.

That would give Wales the necessary four stadia to pull their weight with the Scots, who boast a number of top grounds including Hampden Park, Celtic Park, Ibrox and Murrayfield.

However, Uefa is looking at the possibility of expanding the finals to include 24 rather than the current 16 teams, which could require further stadia.

Taylor ended his spell as the SFA chief at the beginning of April to take up the post of Uefa general secretary.

An SFA spokesman responded to Collins' comments by saying: "We have had no formal approach from the Welsh FA."

By the way, the big guns are looking lively in the bid to host Euro 2016. France has already officially declared they are bidding and there is strong interest from Italy ( who lost out in this weeks decision - cant see a footballing super power thats previously held the world cup and is one of Europe's biggies being knocked back time after time ), then theres Spain and England giving it serious thought. Russia are also interested.

Russia are also interested

Russia in Europe????

European Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Russia)

They play in the European sections of the Euro and World Cup qualifiers ( as do far flung places like Armenia, Azerbaijan other former Soviet republics - even Kazakhstan! ) and play in the European club competitions. I was just thinking that if Russia bid and decided to include Vladivostock as a host city whether it would be allowed.

They play in the European sections of the Euro and World Cup qualifiers ( as do far flung places like Armenia, Azerbaijan other former Soviet republics - even Kazakhstan! ) and play in the European club competitions. I was just thinking that if Russia bid and decided to include Vladivostock as a host city whether it would be allowed.

Yes, it would. Russia is a member of UEFA. That is the only criteria.

Israel is also a member of UEFA.

Good points about the security problems.. The thing is that these problems will be the same for any small nation/joint bid of small nations. They'll either have to address these issues as best as possible and hope for the best, or accept that smaller countries are never going to get the opportunity to host..

Smaller countries can only really do joint bids.

Central/eastern European countries also have a slight advantage in terms of travel because they usually have lots of land borders around them. That means that travellers have lots of options can get into countries like Belgium and Holland via France and Germany. Likewise you can easily get to Austria and Switzerland via Germany and Italy etc.

A "Celtic" bid would be VERY strong, and could genuinely rival the big countries in its own right.

Glasgow (2 great stadia... well three, but only two would be used), Edinburgh (1 great, 1 decent stadia), Cardiff (1 great, 1 good stadium), Dublin (2 great stadia) and Belfast - plus Swansea, Aberdeen, Dundee etc. This would be a cracking bid, with the fans spread out and a transport infrastructure that could easily cope. In fact, a Celtic bid could be in with a shout of hosting the World Cup.

Is there not the difficulty though that host nations automatically qualify? I don't know if they'd want to admit 3 countries that way..

Nae chance of more than two countries jointly bidding.

Some of the present and previous figures from the city seems certainly be able for the security point of view.

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/7982/securityjq2.jpg

Is there not the difficulty though that host nations automatically qualify? I don't know if they'd want to admit 3 countries that way..

Four countries, and good point.

Although for the European Championships there is a suggestion that it will expand from 16 teams to 24 at some point. This would almost certainly need to be implemented for such a bid to work.

The World Cup has 32 teams in it with no suggestion of that budging. Giving four automatic places to pish teams like Scotland, Ireland, NI and Wales would probably scupper any hope of a successful bid.

SFA in talks over bid for Euro 2016 (http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1411271.0.0.php)

The Scottish Football Association is to hold talks with the Scottish Executive after it backed Scotland making a solo bid to host the 2016 European Championships.

A spokesman for the SFA said it was "absolutely delighted" at winning support for a potential bid, although officials said it was too early to say if the nation would seek to stage the tournament.

Plans to launch a solo Scottish bid to host the 2008 championships were ditched because of the lack of suitable stadiums in the country.

If Scotland are planning a solo bid then they might as well not bother. They are unlikely to be allowed three stadiums in Glasgow and living in Kilmarnock I know the place simply isn't capable of being the home base for a couple of teams, the hotel provision simply isn't here. Joint bid with Wales is the only viable option.

If Scotland are planning a solo bid then they might as well not bother. They are unlikely to be allowed three stadiums in Glasgow and living in Kilmarnock I know the place simply isn't capable of being the home base for a couple of teams, the hotel provision simply isn't here. Joint bid with Wales is the only viable option.

That is absolute rubbish:

The following should be the bid proposal 1:

Ibrox and Hampden (Unless Parkhead is upgraded and then it would be Celtic Park and Hampden and Hampden should have the North Stand Upgraded to be the same as the south Stand)
Murrayfield and Redeveloped Hibs (Tynecastle is too close to Murrayfield)
Dundee (New Stadium for both teams)
Aberdeen (New Stadium that will be used for Football matches and international rugby matches, like the ones noone in Edinburgh wants to go to)
Inverness (New Multi Purpose Facility that is regional centre of sporting excellence, also has all of the Aviemore hotels for fans to stay in)
Kilmarnock (Remember that Ayr is nearby with the hotels that service Troon and Turnberry for the Open)

Games spread throughout the country

QF in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen
SF in Glasgow Edinburgh
F in Glasgow at a 60000 all seater Hampden that has the North Stand redeveloped.

If the following is unsuitable because UEFA insist on not allowing more than one city to have two staid then the following should happen:

Bulldoze both Hampden (after Commonwealth games) and Murrayfield, sell the land to developers and build a stadium ALBA (80000, covered stadium) beneath Stirling Castle, which becomes the official sport campus for Scotland, housing ALL elite sports facilities for Scotland, including:

• 80000 all seater for both Rugby and Football (and a world athletics championships bid)
• 50 metre swimming pool (for world swimming championships)
• Hockey, Curling, Cycling, Shinty and Diving facilities

So then you have:

Stadium Alba (Stirling)
Ibrox
Parkhead
Dundee – New Stadium
Aberdeen – New Stadiium
Hibs or Hearts (Whichever one is bigger at the time)
Inverness (New Multi Purpose Facility that is regional centre of sporting excellence, also has all of the Aviemore hotels for fans to stay in)
Kilmarnock (Remember that Ayr is nearby with the hotels that service Troon and Turnberry for the Open)

Games spread throughout the country

QF in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Aberdeen
SF in Glasgow Edinburgh
F in Stirling

Eight stadia, Scotland’s sporting infrastructure secure for the next 100 years and a reason for us to be proud of the nation we are!

I reckon the above would cost about a billion to build (no expensive Wembley overruns as the land in Stirling would be cheap)

The Scottish Executive should build new stadia in Wick (30,000), Oban (60,000), Fort William (40,000), St. Andrews (80,000) and Peebles (35,000), plus we would have the two Glasgow stadiums (upgraded to 85,000) and Murrayfield (upgraded to 750,000... oops an extra zero... ach it there now, might as well leave it).

They might as well build an international air hub in Fort William while they're at it to get all the supporters into the country.

So there we have it. Supporters spread throughout the country, and if they bulldoze the Scottish Parliament, Glasgow City Chambers and Edinburgh Castle and sell the land they should be able to pay for it no bother.

That is absolute rubbish:

The following should be the bid proposal 1:

Ibrox and Hampden (Unless Parkhead is upgraded and then it would be Celtic Park and Hampden and Hampden should have the North Stand Upgraded to be the same as the south Stand)
Murrayfield and Redeveloped Hibs (Tynecastle is too close to Murrayfield)
Dundee (New Stadium for both teams)
Aberdeen (New Stadium that will be used for Football matches and international rugby matches, like the ones noone in Edinburgh wants to go to)
Inverness (New Multi Purpose Facility that is regional centre of sporting excellence, also has all of the Aviemore hotels for fans to stay in)
Kilmarnock (Remember that Ayr is nearby with the hotels that service Troon and Turnberry for the Open)

Games spread throughout the country

QF in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen
SF in Glasgow Edinburgh
F in Glasgow at a 60000 all seater Hampden that has the North Stand redeveloped.

If the following is unsuitable because UEFA insist on not allowing more than one city to have two staid then the following should happen:

Bulldoze both Hampden (after Commonwealth games) and Murrayfield, sell the land to developers and build a stadium ALBA (80000, covered stadium) beneath Stirling Castle, which becomes the official sport campus for Scotland, housing ALL elite sports facilities for Scotland, including:

• 80000 all seater for both Rugby and Football (and a world athletics championships bid)
• 50 metre swimming pool (for world swimming championships)
• Hockey, Curling, Cycling, Shinty and Diving facilities

So then you have:

Stadium Alba (Stirling)
Ibrox
Parkhead
Dundee – New Stadium
Aberdeen – New Stadiium
Hibs or Hearts (Whichever one is bigger at the time)
Inverness (New Multi Purpose Facility that is regional centre of sporting excellence, also has all of the Aviemore hotels for fans to stay in)
Kilmarnock (Remember that Ayr is nearby with the hotels that service Troon and Turnberry for the Open)

Games spread throughout the country

QF in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Aberdeen
SF in Glasgow Edinburgh
F in Stirling

Eight stadia, Scotland’s sporting infrastructure secure for the next 100 years and a reason for us to be proud of the nation we are!

I reckon the above would cost about a billion to build (no expensive Wembley overruns as the land in Stirling would be cheap)


That is absolute rubbish :

You start using small towns in the bid like Kilmarnock and Inverness ( where you could fit 75% of the bloody towns population in the stadium ) and you will lose the bid. UEFA looks at each town and its importance in relation to the bid. Do you think two towns of around 45'000 people are going to look good next to the rival cities in France and possibly Italy, Spain and England? UEFA favours and marks up towns who can provide adequate hotel provision within 10km of the host town/city - again Kilmarnock will score very badly against rival cities. You say you want the quarter finals spread evenly and to include Aberdeen and Dundee - so are the stadia in these two towns each going to be over 40,000 seat stadia? As thats the minimum capacity for a quarter final venue ( and as a general rule its a 40,000 net capacity which is defined as 90% of the stadiums total capacity, so in theory the stadia will need to hold just over 44,400 spectators each - In Aberdeen and Dundee! Aye right ). As for your second case scenario, I hope you were joking.

I'm afraid I have to agree. The idea of expecting fans to come to Scotland, make their way to Aviemore to stay in the skanky hotels there, and use that town as their base to see games in Inverness is madness.

Also, I'm the first to admit to Hampden's failings, but moving it out of Glasgow isn't the solution. The city is the home of international football - I don't think we should turn our back on that.

Glasgow is the home off football so moving Hampden, a world famous stadium out of Glasgow would just be crazy.

Final in Stirling....you are kidding right? The final would be at Hampden without a doubt.

Is Glasgow still European Capital of Sport or does that change every year?

It has changed. Glasgow is the European capital of pies this year.

Better be some sort of mince. Can't have Weegies be seen eating macaroni while out on the nightly stab.

Sorry :(

--

Where is this 40,000 figure coming from? It can't be right as only two of Swit/Aust will be over that. The rest will be 30,000 or 32,000 capacity.

UEFA document detailng bid criteria for the 2012 tournament.

Here would be my idea for a bid using the Celtic Nations for a 24 team tournament.

Celtic Park
Would first create second tier on south stand - New capacity 70000+.

Hampden Park
After Commonwealth Games, dig down into running track and make pitch deeper. Then, fill the area around pitch with seats. Also extend roof. New capacity 60000+.

Murrayfield
66000

Tynecastle
Romanov wants to expand stadium. Maybe looking at 25000+

Pittodrie
Maybe new 30000 seater? At the moment, 22000

Rugby Park
Upgrade to 20000+

Croke Park
80000

New Lansdowne Road
55000-60000

Limerick Gaelic Grounds
55000

Millennium Stadium
70000+

Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Add 5000 temporary seats

Liberty Stadium, Swansea
20000+

R16 - Rugby Park, Racecourse Ground, Liberty Stadium, LGG
QF - Lansdowne Road, Murrayfield, Pittodrie, Tynecastle
SF - Croke Park, Celtic Park
3rd Place - Millennium Stadium
F - Hampden

Tynecastle
Romanov wants to expand stadium. Maybe looking at 25000+


More chance of Tynecastle becoming a 25,000 space car park than a 25,000 seater stadium.

If we HAVE to have a joint bid then it should b as follows:

1) Hampden - Expanded to sixty thousand (North Stand to mirror South stand)
2)ParkHead and Ibrox (both, just use them on different days)
3) Murrayfield
4) Dundee, new stadium (temporary 30000, reduced to 20000 afterwards)
5) Aberdeen new Stadium (temporary 40000, reduced to 25000 afterwards)
6) Cardiff Millenium Stadium
7) Liberty Stadium Swansea

Group 1 - West (Glasgow)
Group 2 - East (Edinburgh)
Group 3 - North East (Aberdeen and Dundee)
Group 4 - Wales (Cardiff and Swansea)

QF - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Aberdeen (four biggest cities)
SF - Edinburgh and Cardiff
3rd place - Cardiff
Final - Glasgow

There should never be a three way bid, Ireland had their chance and we see what happened with that bid! Also all these stadia are in place with the exception of Aberdeen and Dundee.

I think it is stupid that, if the tounrament is expanded, we may need further stadia. It's not as if they are all getting used on the one day. It only hampers smaller nations chances of hosting.

Btw, how is hotel accomodation in Scotland. Surely there is plenty!

Dont think Scotland will have any problems on the hotel front.

I think we may have missed the boat on the Euro Champs through missing out on Euro 2008 ( due to our ill-fated decision to team up with the Republic ) and then not bidding on Euro 2012. My reasoning - 2000 tournament - Netherlands/Belgium, joint bid, two fairly small nations. Euro 2004 - Portugal, small nation. 2008 - Austria/Switzerland, joint bid, two small nations. Euro 2012 - Poland/Ukraine - another joint bid. By 2016 it will have been twenty years since one of the large nations of Europe held the tournament on its own. Law of averages would suggest that one of the major players such as Italy, France or Spain ( and it looks there bidding ) will be awarded it. Just a thought.