Hopes rise of Tartan Army at Hampden

SCOTLAND fans have been given encouragement after Nicola Sturgeon declared optimism that there would be a “reasonably good number” of supporters for Euro 2020 matches at Hampden.

Uefa has asked the 12 host cities – including Glasgow, Dublin and London – for their proposals on how many fans they expect to be able to accommodate by today.

While the UK Government has announced plans for a number of test events – including a 21,000 crowd for the FA Cup Final on May 15 – with a view to having Wembley full for at least some European Championship games, the Scottish Government has been more circumspect.

There is no date set for fans to return in Scotland but provisional proposals will be handed to Uefa this week.

Ms Sturgeon would not go into details but she gave fans hope they could be in Hampden for games against Czech Republic on June 14 and Croatia eight days later.

The first minister said at her daily briefing: “We have to put our proposals in to Uefa, they have to then assess those and it will be for them to set out the proposals in due course.

“We are well aware of the deadline and while these are not final decisions for us, I am optimistic we will have matches played here in Scotland with a number of spectators, a reasonably good number of spectators in Hampden for them.

“But obviously these are discussions and deliberations and decisions that have to be made by the appropriate authorities.”

Ms Sturgeon added: “I have said this before and I am not alone here, there are many people who will feel it even more strongly than I do, I desperately want to have these matches played here in Scotland at Hampden, not least because we will have the ability to cheer on Scotland in a couple of those matches.

“So it is really important for sports fans but also, just the idea that will be possible come June, I think gives us all a lift and a belief that things might be getting back to normal.