A happy future at Hampden with a World Cup bonus?

BUY Hampden. With a little help from a wealthy and generous friend. Throw everything you can muster at that joint bid to co-host the 2030 World Cup. And then use the investment that follows a successful Home Nations bid to carry out a proper rebuild of the stadium. Okay, so it might all seem a little distant at the moment. If the SFA make the right decisions over the coming years, however, they may just do the impossible — and please almost everybody. With Lord Haughey offering millions to help secure Hampden, it already looks as if it will remain the home of Scottish football. As both the UK and Scottish governments have let it be known that they would support any World Cup bid, meanwhile, there is bound to be money available to turn the site into a fully-modernised arena holding 60,000 or more. Then we can stop arguing. And put an end to the nasty edge that has crept into this debate. To those who repeatedly argue that journalists can’t possibly comment on the Hampden experience because we sit in the ‘posh seats’, for instance, a rejoinder. You’re making some big assumptions. Mainly in believing that the only time any of us go to games is when we’re working. Most of us have, over the years, sat or stood in just about every section of the ground. We understand how uncomfortable it can be. It’s just that some of us have also spent enough days at Murrayfield to be wary of all of the Scottish Rugby hype. Fortunately, it looks as if the SRU attempt to ‘steal’ football has failed. No hard feelings, gents. Actually, would it be rude for the SFA to ask the rugby lads, clever politicians to a man, for advice on handling FIFA when they launch their 2030 vision?