Euro 2008

[macqueen]

www.scotland2008.org

hello lads i like the look of the site this was the only site i could find that was similar to the tartan armys site and there has been much talk on our board regarding scotland/irelands euro2008 bid if you visit our site you will see that we are really trying to push this and me and other members of the tartan army message board where wondering what you lads think of the bid if you are behind it it would be good to hear some input from yourselves we could maybe set up links between the two sites i am not a board admistrator so i am not the man to do this but i can contact them. I know the world cup is on at the moment and you are all concentrating on that ya lucky dogs wish scotland was there but i also wish you boys well but at some point it will be good to get in contact anybody who wants to contact me direct by email can and i can pass any info onto my troops but it would be better if you visited site / maybe your admin could sort out section for discussions on euro 2008

yours for scotland
Scot Robert Bruce MacQueen
Alba/eire

[pete]

Personally i'm not too pushed about the bid at all. This has nothing to do with a joint bid but mainly because usually a country has a reason for hosting a championship.

I think the SFA are keen to use the championship to get some cash to upgrade their club stadia & give the local game a boost. The irish part of the bid IMO is mainly being pushed by our Taoiseachs (Prime Minister) ego. Holding a few euro 2008 games in Ireland will do absolutely nothing for irish football at the moment. We may be ready for it in the future but 2008 is too soon.

I'm sure some of the irish stadia controversy news has been making scotland & you may be aware its 2 from 3 stadia.
- Croke Park owned by the GAA & unlikely to be given over.
- Lansdowne Rd put down for redevelopment in the bif before the government even asked the rugby authorities.
- National Stadium not even built mainly due to enormous projected cost.

Good luck to Scotland in their bid but because ireland is part of i'd personally prefer it not suceed at this time.

[macqueen]

http://www.scotland2008.org
we can do it together

in response to above first of all i to be truthfull when the joint bid was announced the TA (tartan army) was up in arms we had been pushing our very own single bid for months as did the sfa want this but unfortunatly the first minister of scotland has no balls what you say about having a few games will have no impact on irish football i dont agree with hampden park in glasgow hosted champions league final this year and it was great for glasgow and done a lot of good for euro 2008 i was there and the atmosphere in glasgow was brilliant with traveling fans all the pubs and clubs where full to capacity on a wednesday night and of course hotels and b&bs good cash injection for scottish economy

the bid will also force your goverments hand to upgrade and build new stadiums something i am sure ireland needs and wants

it will mean that both ireland and scotland will get automatic qualification for a major tournament something we cant take lightly although ireland are doing well at the moment but how good will you be in 6 years in last four we have plumeted down fifa rankings

it also gives our two nations the oppurtunity to become closer i believe myself and i dont speak for TA as a whole that scotland will gain independence in the near future within 20 years and it will be good to renew our old alliance as you will know scotland and irelands history,s are intertwined

i have viewed the other bids and think that the scotland/ ireland is the best and we dont know who we will be up against in future if ireland has stadium problems now they wont go away and who else could you host it with . our two countries have to grab this oppurtunity now when we have it or it may never come round again

we have the two best sets of supporters in the world join with us in backing this tournament and show the whole of europe celtic hospitality


yours for scotland
scot macqueen

[Jonny]

I agree with macqueen. Seeing as both the Scottish parliament and now Ahern are fully behind the bid, I think that it will be a realistically achievable huge boost to both our countries. The Champions League final in Glasgow was a great success and it would be magic for Scotland and Ireland to host this.

No doubt you guys have other things on your mind just now (gaun yersels!) but after the WC has finished, even, would it not be a good idea to establish a Euro2008 bid forum on this board and maybe tie it into the one we've got?
Our one is under Scotland & Eire 2008 on the messageboard at www.tartanarmyboard.co.uk

Check out www.euro2008bid.com to see how it's progressing so far.
Anyway, when/if you get a moment away from yer celebrations, gies some opinions.

Slainte

Jonny

[pete]

I accept automatic qualification good, be a boost in tourism (not so so big for us as only 1 group being held here).

the bid will also force your goverments hand to upgrade and build new stadiums something i am sure ireland needs and wants

While that is certainly true of the scottish side of the bid aside from the proposed National stadium it will make little or no difference to irish domestric football. Some argue the National Stadium may be used to as a base for a future Dublin Dons type venture which would virtually kill domestic football overnight.

The SFA/FAI bid has in its favour great fans & poitentially bigger stadia. probably the biggest competition comes from Switzerland/Austria which apparently is very advanced in its organisation but wouldn't have as big stadia.

You should not underestimnate the ineptidude of the irish half of the bid. The negotiations in the days up to the deadline in March or April did not even invlove the IRFU (irish rugby officials) dispite the inclusion of the possible redevelopment of the ground they own. IMO a scottish bid on its own would have suceeded (only 1 automatic qualifier) but you have your own political problems to blame for that.

btw the irish minority part of the bid would involve the first time no games being played in club grounds.

I would have preferred the FAI co-hosting 50:50 with the IFA sometime in the future which would have hugely positive political contributions.

[Casegrande]

link below to the summary bid document :

http://www.euro2008bid.com/pdf.html

[macqueen]

www.scotland2008.org


the fact is that the bid for euro2008 is not entirely what scottish fans and irish fans would wish for but on the other hand we have a great bid and have a great chance of hosting it all i am saying that is the irish and scots support should unite as one to bring these championships to our countries it will be a good thing and we dont know what strong bids we could be up against in the future we must take this oppurtunity NOW the scots are backing it 100%

[Mattigol]

It's a bit scabby that Scotland get the opening match and the final. Ireland should get the opening ceremony and game like S. Korea an Belgium have gotten.

[macqueen]

http://www.scotland2008.org

yeah well the two championships you refer two there was nearly a 50 50 split with games etc ireland has no infrastructure to support this you dont even have 1 stadium thats fit under eufa rules i know maybe you could feel that this is unfair but look at it from our point of view only a few months ago we had dreams of our own baby and i am 100% certain it would have been succesful as a single bid that we found out we had to share our baby with yourselves but we have a bid we have a dream we have a good bid its not scotlands only chance but it could be irelands i dont know a lot about the state of yer countrys stadia etc but from what i understand you will never be able to host this championship yourselves and any future bids from scotand will be lone ventures join with the tartan army in supporting this bid and enjoy the party it will bring

[Jonny]

Splitting the games fairly was always going to be a problem due to the 75:25 split. Basically, Ireland has got a semi-final instead of the opening ceremony. I don't know why it was decided this way, mibbe the FAI still wanted to have involvement after the QF stages so opted for the semi instead, but I see what yer saying.

[Neil]

Scotland and Ireland's joint bid to stage the Euro 2008 football tournament will finally be handed over to UEFA on Wednesday.

Representatives from both countries will submit their finals plans to host the tournament to UEFA bosses at a meeting in Switzerland this afternoon.

Officials from both countries say they believe their bid stands "a great chance" of being picked.

Seven bids will be presented to UEFA at a special ceremony at the House of Football in Nyon.

Simon Lyons, marketing director for the Scotland and Ireland bid, said he and Scottish Football Association chief David Taylor and bid manager John Henderson were delighted to have the chance to discuss the merits of their proposal in person.

"This is a terrific chance for us to go into detail about this bid in front of UEFA officials and the media in Switzerland," Mr Lyons said.

"We are still very confident about it and believe it stands a great chance."

Mr Lyons said he believed Ireland's success in the World Cup coupled with the smooth-running of the Champions League final held in Glasgow last month would help the bid.

"We are pleased with the timing of this visit and will use every opportunity given to us to promote our bid," Mr Lyons said.

"This is not just a football tournament, it is about festival and fiesta and creating a carnival atmosphere.

"The Irish fans showed they are experts at that over in Japan and South Korea and the Scots demonstrated that at the Champions League final last month, but anyway both nations have a reputation as fun-loving football countries."

Only two of the seven bids are from single associations, the remaining are based on joint bids from between two and four countries.

Ireland and Scotland face competition from the joint bids of the Scandinavian countries, Turkey and Greece, Bosnia and Croatia, Switzerland and Austria and single bids from Hungary and Russia.

Mr Lyons said another positive factor about the Celtic bid was the fact it offered 1.7million seats at the eight stadia which would be used.

He added: "The media are saying that our nearest rival is the Scandinavian bid, and they can only offer 1.2million seats."

UEFA officials are due to visit all the prospective host countries in September and a decision will be made in December.

By Natalie Walker, PA News
www.sportinglife.com

[Swanny]

Firstly can I say great effort in the WC and also that this is a top site.

As you are aware from previous posts we are keen to gauge the support for the 2008 posting. I'd just like to put my say in the matter in.

A couple of years ago I went to Dublin on one of my first Tartan Army tours and what a time we had. It was magic. Scotland and Ireland have an understanding and this is what makes me think the 2008 could be one of the best tournaments. If you forget about all the political arguements about 'Bertie Bowl' etc and get down to what is important i.e. football we could have a magic time.

I think from Scotalnds point of view it would prove a much needed boost to national morale, but I also think that while Irish football is on a huge high which it deserves, the news of co hosting an event like that would do no harm what so ever.

[MikeW]

There's a few things I don't like about this bid:

firstly we're very much a tack-on to a Scottish bid for the tournament, the junior partners if you like. Don't get me wrong, its not Scotlands fault, its our own for having rubbish facilities. I'd much prefer a 50:50 split if we were to co-host the tournament (obviously not possible until we get some decent stadiums).

Secondly, all three stadiums put forward on this side are in Dublin, making this a Scotland-Dublin rather than a Scotland-Ireland bid. My main problem here is that they're proposing to rebuild lansdowne as the second stadium, presumably with government money. What is the point of this if Stadium ireland is being built? Lansdowne would never be used afterwards, better to spend the same money on a new stadium in one of the regions than waste it rebuilding Lansdowne Road which isn't needed. A stadium in Cork (for example) could be used more often than a rebuilt Lansdowne Road which is patently unnecessary, i.e. a couple of Rugby and football friendlies a year, big Munster games, even the GAA could use it since they wouldn't own the place it wouldn't conflict with their rules, and Pairc ui Chaoimh is a kip anyway.

And thirdly, the Scots want to use three stadiums in Glasgow (I think) Murrayfield, Ibrox and Celtic Park. Has this ever been done before? Three stadiums in the same city is asking for trouble because you'd have several groups based around there, which means loads of fans from different countries all mixing in the same city centre. I remember Paris had two stadiums in 1998 but Paris is a far bigger city than Glasgow, and they still only used two stadiums. Also, English hooligans haven't been a problem recently because the worst of them can be banned from travelling, since there's no border with Scotland there'd be no problem for these scumbags to get there (provided england qualify). That last point is englands problem not Scotlands though and shouldn't be used to knock the bid.

I know this sounds like a bit of a whinge-fest, but i think they're mostly valid points. I'd like to point out that I'm not against this bid at all, I'm just not an ardent supporter of it either. I'd like to know what others have to add to this.

[patsh]

My only issue with the whole thing is where are our stadiums?
We would get 8 games (is this correct?) which would all be played in Dublin, I presume. Surely a 35.000 seater in Cork would be in order ?

[pete]

The inability (don't believe they suddenly going to learn) of the guards to deal with even the most minor of crowd trouble on the streets (hippies on dame st) or stadia (english at lansdowne) but have to bring into question the sanity of.

[Schumi]

Originally posted by MikeW
Lansdowne would never be used afterwards

The IRFU would still use it for medium games: AIL finals, big Leinster ERC games, friendlies; pretty much everything they do now bar the 6 nations games. Any football friendlies would be there too, it hasn't been full for any of the WC warm-up games.

Personally I'd rather a 60k+ Lansdowne to the Bertie Bowl for location and history reasons.

And thirdly, the Scots want to use three stadiums in Glasgow (I think) Murrayfield, Ibrox and Celtic Park.

Murrayfield is in Edinburgh but Hamden Park in Glasgow is also being used.

[MikeW]

Yeah, you're right Hampden is in Glasgow not Murrayfield. Still, it means three stadiums in the same city.

On the Lansdowne issue, I'll need a lot of persuading that rebuilding Lansdowne is actually necessary if Stadium Ireland goes ahead . Fair enough if the IRFU are paying for it, then thats their business, but if its government money being used (and it almost certainly will be) then it shouldn't happen. We need to have a stadium outside Dublin to make this a national bid, its complete crap that everything is being held in Dublin. The more I think about it, the more I feel this bid is a complete nonsense.

Wouldn't it be better to have some of these friendlies that are supposed to happen at Lansdowne in somewhere other than Dublin? I mean, let non-Dubliners see international matches (whether Football or Rugby) without having to travel miles for the privelege. When was the last time a senior international of either code was held outside of Dublin? It'd be completely ridiculous to have three stadiums in Dublin and none in the rest of the country.

I have no grudge against Dublin (the national stadium has to be there), but this Lansdowne thing would happen at the expense of the rest of the country and I don't think thats fair. If this Lansdowne proposal goes ahead instead of a regional stadium, I'll be quite annoyed. Quite annoyed indeed. I wonder who's pushing the current plan - Bertie Ahern anyone? Someone should tell him there's more to the country than just Dublin.

[Jonny]

Apparently (on the issue of 3 stadiums in Glasgow) the Stratchclye Polis have said this is not a problem, they can handle it. This has also been said by the Garda about playing the last 2 group games simultaneously in Dublin (whatever the stadiums might be) - apparently they can handle it.

On yer point about only Dublin getting the games, I agree - it would be much better if Cork was a venue with a new 30000+ all seater stadium or even if Cork City's ground or Pairc ui Chaoimh got upgraded. Similar problem in Scotland aswell with Glasgow having 3 stadiums and mibbe Edinburgh 2. I would have liked to see Inverness as a venue aswell as Aberdeen and Dundee but the bidmakers went with the option of doing as little as possible (ie. on the cheap) to satisfy the stadium conditions. (compare that to Japan and SK).

Lastly, yer point about english hoolies, if the english police know who they are, they could make them report to their local station each day to stop them travelling. Hopefully it won't be an issue then, hopefully by 2008, taking their passports away will be enough to not let them over the border .

[pete]

Originally posted by Jonny
Lastly, yer point about english hoolies, if the english police know who they are, they could make them report to their local station each day to stop them travelling. Hopefully it won't be an issue then, hopefully by 2008, taking their passports away will be enough to not let them over the border .

Theres virtually no need for passports to travel around europe now & by 2008 i'd expect there to be no need at all. It would appear only reason english police have some success restricting the hooigans is cos of the huge police effort & expense towards the problem. Take my word for it the gardai (police) here have trouble with 20 or 30 kids protesting let alone a couple of hundred Combat 18 types.

[Cove_Sheep]

The proposed Scottish stadia will be:

3 in Glasgow - Parkhead, Ibrox, Hampden
1 in Edinburgh - Murrayfield

and 2 of 3 possible other new venues

new stadium in Dundee
new stadium in Aberdeen
redeveloped Easter Road in Edinburgh

Final will be at Hampden despite Murrayfield holding about 20,000 seats more.