Will the final be played at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch?

By: Craig | December 13th, 2006

Like the man on the left, we haven’t had a number one finish in ages. Indeed, for us Scots, any chance to qualify for a major tournament these days will be grabbed with both hands. In a case of dejá vu, we may be about to try a familiar route.

Scotland ain’t half made the football world sit up and take notice during the Euro 2008 qualifiers to date, but it needn’t have been thus. A few years ago, the SFA decided to go ahead with a bid for the tournament. With four 50,000+ stadiums in place already, Scotland would have made quite a fist of it. But, as ever, politics got in the way, and the government said it wouldn’t stump up the cash unless we bid with Ireland - at that time, home to an over-sized shed (aka Lansdowne Road). Unsurprisingly, Uefa weren’t all that impressed and the perfectly capable - though thoroughly apathetic - Austria and Switzerland were the benefactors.

Scotland’s problem is that while it has four venues of calibre and an enthusiasm for the game unrivalled in the world, it is also home to lots of smaller, older football grounds, none of which would come up to championship standards, though Aberdeen’s Pittodrie at least has the capacity. Upgrading a further four stadia (the minimum is eight) to 20,000+ in a country where few games outside Glasgow sell out is unthinkable.

However, today a far more realistic solution emerged for a Euro 2016 bid - namely, the Welsh. Quality stadia are springing up all over the valleys, with two appropriately-sized stadia having opened in recent days. Not to mention Britain’s finest sporting venue - until next May at least - Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

A few tweaks to somewhere like Pittodrie, and you have your eight stadiums and more than enough football nutters to fill in empty seats.

Only problem is, in a sensational piece of bad timing, the SFA are lobbying Uefa to get the EC up to 24 teams in time for 2012, which, one imagines, would require more than eight venues.