Village reveals Broad Street’ s flaws

Sir, – Aberdeen City Council has announced its details of the forthcoming Christmas Village, which will again be centred on Broad Street.

Included in this year’s attractions will be a bigger ice rink, more rides, a new Santa’s grotto and a suitably attired festive train borrowed from Stonehaven.

The council has set aside £150,000 to cover the cost of the village. Admittedly more thought and effort has gone into the planning of this year’s event, but the decision to double its size has necessitated the need to extend it along Upperkirkgate.

Unfortunately this only serves as an admission that Broad Street is not large enough for this or indeed any

individuals no longer accept that there should be any entitlement in Scottish football based on a club’s size.

Regarding our neutral venue for cup finals, our national stadium Hampden – when it is openly accepted by the SPFL and SFA that the stadium is split into the “Rangers end” and the “Celtic end”.

It is common practice that any opponents of either Rangers or Celtic when playing at Hampden are just assigned the opposite end, without the use of a tossed coin.

It should be clear to anyone that this set-up damages the neutrality of the venue, turning it into a “home” venue for either Celtic or Rangers.

Further, it fosters a sense of entitlement among these two clubs that they have more rights than the rest of the league teams because of their size.

This is unacceptable to today’s Scottish football fans.

Its time both the SPFL and the SFA got their house in order or face other event. This, together with ongoing controversy concerning the pedestrian prioritisation of Broad Street (at a cost of £3.2 million) makes the whole venture look ill-advised and wasteful.

Not only is Broad Street being closed to buses but Upperkirkgate will be closed to all vehicles. This won’t be too welcome to the travelling public at the busiest time of the year. Perhaps in future years the long-awaited upgrading of Union Terrace Gardens will provide a more acceptable location in the true centre of the city, or will this beleaguered council attempt to save face with a Broad Street which is not up to the task ?

becoming the next high-profile ethical embarrassment to our beautiful game.

Photograph by Kenny Elrick FESTIVE FUN: Last year’s Christmas Village in Broad Street.