It really was very odd that many (not all, to be fair) fans on the east coast felt they 'deserved' a centrally-located stadium. That's a lot more than just a new stadium - you're talking transport links, infrastructure, catering/hotels, training facilities, the lot. The government generally stays out of professional sports funding*. How is the SFA supposed to pay for this? And moreover why should they when they have a chance to buy their historic and spirtiual home, in the near-middle of a top-tier (by UK standards) city, with several train stations, bus stops, and parking options nearby, a motorway junction just down the road, and all manner of dining and drinking options? So a few mountain men from Arbroath can save 20 minutes on the charabanc? The ****ing brass neck of it.
*as they should. Living over here it boils my blood that team owners get to hold cities to ransom. "Build me a new stadium for my privately-owned, profit-making football team or I'll take it to another city." And the cities almost always grab their ankles and do it. The Cowboys here in DFW are particularly brazen about this. Texas Stadium in Irving was admittedly falling apart, so they wanted a new ground. Being a hugely profitable enterprise, with the biggest fanbase in the US, apparently wasn't enough for the owner to buy his own facility, so he actually lobbied the city of Irving to cancel all public transport to pay for it. To their credit, Irving told him to get bent, so he went ten miles down the road to Arlington, where they implemented a new sales tax to build what is admittedly a fantastic facility, but one that the city had absolutely no business funding when they have very little stake in its future or its profits.
San Diego is the latest to tell them to **** off, and their owner then took the team "back" to Los Angeles, where they played one season around 300 years ago, and they now piss about in front of a half-dozen fans while they wait for the superstadium at Inglewood to be built. They'll maybe get a dozen when that's done. Hell mend them.
Anyway, point is, I'm glad Scotland doesn't habitually do the same thing. Inasmuch as sports are a matter of public policy, it should be about grassroots involvement, encouraging healthy living and social contact at all ages, and of course physical education for the kids.
Edited by TRVMP, 11 September 2018 - 09:25 PM.