| After announcing that the SFA would
bid for Euro 2008, First Minister, Henry McLeish expressed astonishment at the speedy
response of Aberdeen and Dundee in applying for funds to redevelop stadia in the two
cities. "I'd just finished reading the statement at 3pm and by
quarter past the place was hotching with east coasters looking for 'free money' as they
called it."
Council officials in Dundee confirmed to the JT that the city had acted quickly:
"We've developed a sophisticated early warning system that listens in to public
pronouncements by politicians. If a statement conjoins the words "free" and
"money" we can be there, hand outstretched, inside an hour."
To meet the 30k-seater criteria demanded by Euro
bosses, Dundee and United plan to launch a joint bid to build a new stadium on waste land
adjacent to Tannadice Street. |
A council spokesclootie explained
"It would mean clearing most of the city centre and leaving it an echoing, soulless
lunar landscape bereft of life - not that much of a change to be honest when I think about
it..." City fathers in Aberdeen also welcomed the chance to move AFC
from the club's existing Pittodrie ground. A spokesboot told the JT: "If the SFA want
to come to Aberdeen to review our plans they'd receive a very warm, hospitable welcome,
typically Aberdonian in fact," he said without any apparent sense of irony.
Meanwhile, both Hibs and Hearts have rejected SFA interest in helping the clubs
upgrade their grounds. Instead, both Edinburgh clubs intend going off to IKEA together to
buy some really nice lamps. |
