New SFA chief says he’s neutral on Hampden v Murrayfield
● New SFA chief says being an ex-queen’s Park player won’t affect board’s decision
New Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell insists his personal affinity with Queen’s Park will not influence the imminent decision on whether Hampden remains the home of Scottish football.
One of the first major issues facing Maxwell, who took up the role on Monday, is the future of the stadium, which faces an aggressive rival bid from Murrayfield to play host to Scotland internationals and major domestic cup finals.
Hampden’s current lease expires in 2020 and the Scottish FA board is due to make a decision no later than August.
Scottish Rugby has lobbied hard for a move along the M8 to Edinburgh, while a possible sale of Hampden to the SFA by owners Queen’s Park could be key to retaining the status quo.
Maxwell, who succeeds stewart Reg an at the SFA, played 173 games for Queen’s Park from 1993 to 1998 but is adamant sentiment will be put aside. He said: “It absolutely can’t be a case of my heart ruling my head. That’s not in the best interests of Scottish football. It’s not what my heart thinks, it’s what my head thinks.
“Murrayfield have gone through the process and engaged as much as Queen’s Park. They’ve made no secret of the fact they would love us to go there and we have to look at every aspect – operational, financial or strategic – that you would look at when you are making that sort of decision and make the best one.
“Obviously I played at Queen’s Park and started my career there. Hampden means a lot to me. I’ve got a lot of fondness for Queen’s Park but my job is now to make a decision based on the full membership and for the benefit of Scottish football, it’s not about me wanting Queen’s Park to do well or us to stay at Hampden.
“The board will make the right decision at the right time. I was on the SFA board and I got a bit of detail at that point.
“When I came off the board, in order to apply for this job, I’ve missed a lot of that and I’m in the process of catching up with quite a lot. We’ll see how the decision goes at the time.”
Also high on Maxwell’s agenda will be trying to replace two major deals which expire next month – Vauxhall’s backing of the Scotland national team and Sky Sports’ coverage of the Scottish Cup.
“It’s urgent,” admitted the former Partick Thistle managing director. “Any time you get to the end of a sponsorship contract and you don’t have a renewal, then it’s urgent. It’s an opportunity as well. There is a real feeling of freshness around it. We have the Nations League coming up. The commercial income is massively affected by performance on the pitch, because that drives a lot of the football business. So there are opportunities there to tweak things and do things slightly differently and look at how we bring it in, what we bring in, why we bring it in and ways we can supplement that.
“We obviously have challenges in terms of sponsorship, TV deals – all that. Part of my remit is to increase that, drive that and make sure that we are maximising those commercial opportunities as much as we possibly can.”
“I’ve a lot of fondness for Queen’s Park but my job is now to make a decision for the benefit of Scottish football”