QUEEN’S TO PAY £10M IF SFA QUIT HAMPDEN
FROM BACK PAGE a payment of £24.2m was made to the Spiders in 1995 to assist with the redevelopment of Hampden. However, it came with stringent caveats if the spiritual home of Scottish football was ever moved from the southside of Glasgow.
A spokesperson said: “The grant conditions include requirements to repay some or part of the grant where elements of the project are not delivered or change significantly.
“Should Hampden Park cease to be the home of Scottish football we would work with Queen’s Park FC to address that situation.
“We are, of course, aware of the ongoing discussions between Queen’s Park and the SFA about the future of Hampden.
“We are working with Queen’s Park as our grantholder to help them understand likely options and impacts.”
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understands the clawback would be in excess of £10m and with no revenue from big Scottish matches it would effectively sound a death knell for Scotland’s oldest club.
Committee members at Queen’s Park held a board meeting on Thursday night but they are now between a rock and a hard place as the SFA deliberates on the future home of the Scottish game.
They are also in talks with Murrayfield bosses, still reeling from criticism about how they are running the Scottish Rugby Union, about a move to Edinburgh when the current lease on Hampden expires in 2020.
Former SRU director of domestic rugby Keith Russell recently won a case for unfair dismissal in which Murrayfield leaders were painted as dominating and dictatorial, working above a clique of subservient senior staff.
The SFA are keen for Queen’s Park to hand over its prized asset for a peppercorn sum, maybe even as low as £2m, as it has little value outside a sporting and events venue.
Queen’s Park would no longer control the right to play in the National Stadium, much to their annoyance, but the SFA have promised to safeguard the club’s future with further redevelopment of Lesser Hampden.
Senior SFA sources are adamant even if all conditions are met with Queen’s Park on Monday over a transfer of the iconic venue, they could still forge ahead with a move to Murrayfield if it makes better financial sense.
Queen’s Park declined to comment.