Time to get the ball rolling on Murrayfield

IT looks like Murrayfield, or Scottish Gas Murrayfield to give it its commercial title, will be getting its own luxury hotel when it is given a long overdue multi- million- pound face- lift.

Although there is no timescale for the project or redevelopment plans yet made public, Scottish Rugby chief executive Mark Dodson – who leaves the organisation in the summer – said at the governing body’s AGM in November that the Murrayfield campus needed a major revamp.

Those within the Murrayfield corridors of power insist rumours that have been sweeping Scottish Rugby that they will sell the land for megabucks and build a new stadium on the west side of the city are not true.

A big indication they are staying put comes from the appointment of Chris Stewart as a new independent non- executive director of Scottish Rugby. They insist he has been brought on to the board because of his all- round business acumen but a look at his impressive CV and you can see the area of his expertise.

Stewart is an award- winning Edinburgh- based property investor, real estate developer and hotelier. The luxury Grand Hotel on St Andrew’s Square in Edinburgh is listed as one of his greatest achievements so he clearly knows what he is doing.

Having a property developer and hotel expert on the board is a good move by Scottish Rugby.

It is now up to the man with the power, Scottish Rugby President John McGuigan, to get the ball rolling by signing off redevelopment plans for the famous stadium that was first opened in 1925.