Lord Haughey insists no strings were attached to Hampden donation

Glasgow businessman Lord Willie Haughey, a former non-executive director at Celtic, has maintained that he sought nothing other than assurances as he pledged more than ?£2 million of personal money to keep the SFA based at Hampden.

Hampden Park's place as the home of Scottish football was assured last September after a £2.5m gift from Lord Willie Haughey. Picture: SNS

Four years were spent wrangling over the future of Scottish football’s HQ before it was announced back in September that Hampden would remain the base, a decision that came after a protracted move from Scottish Rugby to steer the SFA to 
BT Murrayfield in Edinburgh.

It was Haughey’s private intervention, as he gifted £2.5m to bridge the gap between the SFA’s offer to buy the stadium and the £5m valuation put on it by Queen’s Park, that swung the move to remain in Mount Florida. However, the philanthropist has had nothing more to do with the decision since chief executive Ian Maxwell confirmed the SFA would stay in Glasgow.

Haughey joked that a pie stand named in his honour would suffice for the gift, a gift that without which it is thought the SFA would have been forced into a move east.

“To be honest with you my input is finished,” he said. “I made the offer for the money and what they do after is up to them.

“After that there’s nothing for me. I’ll maybe get a pie stall named after me!”

“For me it was all about making sure Glasgow is the home of Scottish football, it wasn’t about bailing out the SFA or anyone else. Obviously, I have got an affinity with Queen’s Park because I was born and brought up in the area and played all my football there. I grew up in Toryglen.

“People don’t believe me. There were no caveats, it was just a case of making sure it stayed at Hampden. I picked up the paper a few weeks leading up to it and I realised that it could end up at Murrayfield and that was something I didn’t want to live with, so I made the offer to the SFA.

“I said to them if it was all about the deficit between what you believe the value is and what Queen’s Park think, then I will meet the deficit.”

It is understood the SFA will study the SRU’s developments to make Murrayfield into a major sports venue while there have also been early and informal chats about launching a joint bid with England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the UK to host the 2030 World Cup finals.

The more pressing conversation, however, for the SFA at the minute is who will succeed Alex McLeish in the vacant managerial post. And while Haughey was willing to stump up the cash to guarantee Hampden as the home of Scottish football, he has laughed off any further involvement when it comes to matters on the park.

“I would like a good quality manager in so we can push on again but I will leave that to the SFA and maybe the new president when he comes in this summer,” he said.