SFA cash in on Scotland's World Cup qualification as 'big-bang' Hampden objectives addressed

Although only by those who didn’t notice the vapour trail left by a quick-thinking member of the Hampden commercial team at the end of Scotland’s World Cup qualifying win over Denmark last November.

Distraction was understandable. After all, Kenny McLean had just banged one in from the half-way line to confirm Scotland were heading back to the World Cup for the first time this millennium. Hampden was in ferment. Even the SFA president’s mind was “fizzing and popping”, to use Mike Mulraney’s own colourful phrase, as McLean’s almighty hoof reached the back of the net to signal bedlam in the national stadium. One person, however, was on the ball – literally.

“I watched my commercial director run onto the pitch to get the ball from the fourth goal, because he knew I would want it sold,” recalled Mulraney. “I saw him steaming on and rugby tackling the ball and then run off and put it away. That’s because we want to do these things! We know and understand that we have to harness these moments.”

Mulraney quickly came to his senses too. The pound signs were flashing in his eyes. There wasn’t a moment to waste, as underlined by the ball grabbing exercise. It was eventually sold at auction for £3,409 having been augmented by McLean’s signature.

“I did allow myself three seconds to celebrate and then I (started to) think about the money, because that is my job,” he said. “I am the president. I understand that we can only drive the game forward if we put in place what turns this into a machine that makes money.”

“I believe that everything, business, sport, everything has an inevitable inertia about it and momentum about it,” he added. “And it's obvious you've got to make hay when the sun shines. Right now, the sun is shining on Scottish football.”

It certainly is if you’re fortunate enough to be in Florida, where the Scotland World Cup party are currently based as they seek to get used to the North American heat prior to group games against Haiti, Morocco and Brazil. As for the officials, woe betide anyone who mentions anything about blazers or jollies. Mulraney won't arrive until just before the opening match in Boston. There's too much to do.

If every player has the president's self-belief and energy, then Scotland will do OK. He is giddy at the news football has recently become the No. 1 participation sport for women and girls in Scotland.

“Trust me, those who have experienced me know I have a track record of making things happen when we say they are going to happen, regardless of what people think,” he said.

The Pitching In initiative can be presented as evidence. A joint campaign between the SFA and the Scottish Football Partnership Trust, the initial target was to raise £50 million by 2030 to invest in pitches and training facilities to help increase participation at grassroots level. Mulraney had some good news to impart at last week’s SFA agm.

“Obviously, people thought that would be a significant challenge," he said. "Many people told me it was going to be impossible. Well, we were pleased to be able to tell the members that not only is it not impossible to achieve that by 2030, we've already done it.

“I've reset that target for Scottish football to £100 million. So, by the end of 2030, we want to see £100 million spent on our infrastructure as our absolute minimum now.”

His job and that of chief executive Ian Maxwell as well as Clarke is to “make the sun shine for as long as possible” and ensure the good times continue. “Qualifying takes you out of fourth gear and into sixth gear,” he said. “The pace of change is fundamentally altered when our national men's team do well. That's the big generator for us.”

Although Mulraney isn’t spending money for the sake of spending it. A charter plane has just deposited the World Cup squad on the other side of the Atlantic but according to the president, it’s not a case of living high on the hog. “The (World Cup) costs are significant but a lot less than so many European countries,” he said. “We understand in Scotland the cost and value of a shilling.

“While we’ll make sure our team has everything spent on them that they need spent on them to excel - this is the new Scottish FA. Not a penny will be wasted because that penny can go to Pitching In and put towards a girls’ changing room for girls who can’t get changed.

“This is the SFA 2026 model," he added. "All of those pounds get wrapped up and they build pitches, floodlights and changing rooms."

‘Hampden is magificent - but it’s got to better’

Not necessarily at Hampden, however. While Mulraney is committed to improving the national stadium with Euro 2028 just around the corner, it doesn’t sound as if such once mooted plans as bringing the stands behind the goals closer to the pitch a la Stuttgart’s MHPArena in Germany are being entertained for the time being.

“What we’ve got here is a situation where we are proud of our stadium,” said Mulraney. “We think it is magnificent. But it’s got to be better.

“But that better can’t come at the expense of a six-year-old girl from Kirkwall not even being able to kick a ball.

“Or a ten-year-old boy from Kirkcaldy not being able to get on a pitch. Or a 75-year-old man from Annan not being able to take part in sport. My responsibility is to now figure out a way of doing this too and not instead of. It can never be instead of. And the challenge for us is to figure out in a medium-term strategic timeframe how we continue to improve our national stadium as well.”

“It will be viewed as a big-bang objective to rebuild this stadium, of course,” he added.

“But, like everything, that’s a process of improvement that the nation need to undertake and work together and put pressure on people (to realise) how important this stadium is to the identity our nation has.

“It’s the people’s stadium. It’s not the SFA’s stadium. It’s the nation’s stadium.”