No need for SFA to waste money on a World Cup bid
STARTING A family holiday in London on the day of the Euro 2020 final was always a lousy idea. Leaving Euston Station at 4 o’clock that Sunday afternoon, there was real menace in the air. The city of London was bladdered. And bolting the hotel door for the rest of the night at 5pm always seemed like the wise course. All of which raises the question. If families walking the streets of the capital four hours before kick-off could see trouble coming, where on earth were the Metropolitan Police looking?
Ugly — and predictable — scenes preceded the final at Wembley, with some ticketless supporters forcing their way through security cordons and gaining entry to the stadium. There were 51 arrests connected to the final — 26 of those while policing events at the stadium, with another 25 in central London. Nineteen police officers were injured. UEFA opened disciplinary proceedings and the Football Assocation have now been ordered to play their next Nations League match behind closed doors.
Anyone who thinks this only impacts England is kidding themselves. The knock-on for Scottish football is obvious. The cost of making Hampden a stadium fit for the 21st Century is likely to exceed £250million. That kind of money can only come from the UK Government. And it’s contingent on the success of a joint UK and Ireland bid for the 2030 World Cup Finals. In an interview with The Times last month, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin played down fears that the Wembley disorder might impact on a UK and Ireland bid to host 2030. But earlier this year, the government pledged £2.8m for a study examining the feasibility of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland bidding for the World Cup finals in nine years’ time. The five football associations are expected to chip in the rest and, given the glaring credibility issues facing Wembley now, the SFA might be better off keeping the money in their pocket. They’ll need it for another half-baked patch-up job on Hampden.