WHAT A SAVE!
Lord Haughey reveals Sportsmail inspired his plan to team up with Sir Tom Hunter and rescue Hampden Park
LORD Willie Haughey put up the money to save Hampden after reading Sportsmail’s revelations on the national stadium’s plight.
The SFA finally ended months of speculation over a move to Murrayfield by paying Queen’s Park £5million to buy the famous old ground.
And Lord Haughey, one of Scotland’s wealthiest men, will be joined by close friend Sir Tom Hunter in putting up half the cash after we revealed last month that there was a stalemate in negotiations over a sale. Lord Haughey said: ‘I read four or five articles where I feared it looked as if it was heading towards Murrayfield. ‘But it was when I read an article in the Daily
Mail about the financial gap between the SFA and Queen’s Park’s valuations that I reached the tipping point.
‘I thought: “Well if that is the tipping point holding things up, then let’s step in and offer to bridge the gap”. That’s what I did.’
With Queen’s Park holding out for £6m, the SFA were reluctant to increase their initial offer of £2m. Lifting the phone to assist,
Haughey has now engaged another of Scotland’s top business brains to help with the rescue and future redevelopment of the historic arena.
‘After my interest became public, I received a phone call from my good friend Sir Tom Hunter saying: “Willie, whatever you’re doing you can count on me for support. Whether it’s half or whatever, count me in.”
‘It’s fantastic to have somebody like Sir Tom involved with me. Tom has great business acumen and is a football fan. He is a big supporter of the national team. He would like to see Scotland return to European Championships and World Cups and — like me — he wants to use Hampden as the base to get there.’
Chairman of City Refrigeration Holdings, Lord Haughey insisted he wants no return for his donation of £1.25m. SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell described the Hampden decision as a ‘monumental’ day for the national game and Haughey admitted his involvement might not be over yet.
Offering to help the SFA conjure up a vision to make Hampden a 21st Century arena, Haughey (below) said: ‘I would like to think that, in a few months, myself and Sir Tom can lend our knowledge and experience to Hampden.
‘I don’t have a piece of paper telling me I’m getting anything back for my money. There are no caveats or legal documents or conditions or repayments.
‘I don’t want a stand named after me, I don’t want any of that. It is unconditional.
‘Hopefully it will help the SFA get to where they need to be. But, in terms of financial return, there is not a penny coming back. Not a thing.
‘If anything, this will end up costing me more money.’ Haughey grew up in the shadow of Hampden in nearby Toryglen and is a former non-executive director of Celtic. He made his first visit to Hampden for a major game when Jock Stein won his first trophy as manager in the 1965 Scottish Cup final. After playing for Queen’s Park Boys Club, he remains an honorary member of the club after funding renovation work on Lesser Hampden. ‘It was important to me that things have worked out for Queen’s Park as well,’ he added. ‘It was important Queen’s Park were happy with the deal. ‘If this was Kelvingrove Museum being sold to America, there would be a huge outcry and there would be people clamouring to save it. ‘Glasgow does not need to lose any iconic buildings. ‘I was born in the Gorbals, but brought up in Toryglen in the shadow of Hampden Park. So, Hampden is right up there for me. ‘Not only for Scottish football, but for Glasgow. ‘The SFA had to remain at the heart of Scottish football.’ Urging the governing body to speak to private and public sector stakeholders to build a vision for the stadium’s future, Lord Haughey admitted the matchday experience has to improve. ‘We need to ask: “What can we do to make the fan experience better?”,’ he said. ‘We need to generate revenue to pump that money back into the grassroots and give (performance director) Malky Mackay money to work with. ‘The SFA should speak to everybody now. They should welcome anybody and everybody who wants to make things better for the national team. ‘Some of the criticism of Hampden is justified. ‘Maybe now that the SFA own it, with forward-thinking people helping them, we can make the experience better. ‘Hampden can be better — and I do not think anyone disagrees with that.’