Stuttgart model appeals to Scottish FA
then we can come up with a longer term plan to address the rest.
“Stuttgart is a really good model and we are committed to investigating that. They had a very similar stadium to what we have at the moment and they managed to bring the ends in.
“It’s going to be a chunky numberthatwillberequired to get us to that point but that’s not something to be scared of. We need to try and address that, have conversations with as many people as we can, whether it’s private funders, government – I don’t suppose Glasgow City Council will or can pay for it
“I wouldn’t like to stick a number on it. Depending on who you ask, there are different ways to do it and we have to find out the best way for us to do it.”
Maxwell said debate around Hampden was heated among his fellow Scottish FA board members – president Alan Mcrae, vice-president Rod Petrie, pictured, SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster, Alloa chairman Mike Mulraney, Scottish Amateur FA secretary Thomas Mckeown and independent non-executive director Ana Stewart.
“Listen, the board all agreed this was the best thing to do,” said Maxwell. “I don’t like getting into whether it was unanimous. Boards are allowed to make decisions that are not unanimous. But this was a decision in the best interests of Scottish football.
“It’s a monumental day for Scottish football, let’s not make any bones about that. We now own a national stadium which is a worldrenowned asset.”
Asked if the Scottish FA would have chosen the Murrayfield option if Lord Haughey had not made his financial intervention last week, Maxwell was noncommittal. “It didn’t get to that point,” he replied. “That’s hypothetical, you can’t answer that question. All I know is that Willie was instrumental in getting the deal done with Queen’s Park.
“To be honest, it wouldn’t have bothered me to push the button to leave Hampden if I thought it was the right decision for Scottish football. People might say that’s easy to say now because I’m not pushing that button but I could have sat here and made just as compelling a case to go to Murrayfield, because of the way they put their case forward and the different opportunities that would have given us.
“It was a negotiation. It was a commercial deal and was always going to be like that. You need to get to the point where everyone is happy and we got to that with Queen’s Park.”