London Olympics chiefs fear a Hampden no show with nine out of 10 football tickets unsold

Apr 19 2012 By Gordon Parks

Hampden

OLYMPIC organisers have urged Scottish fans to make sure Hampden is not a ghost town when the London 2012 football tournament comes to Glasgow.

With just under 100 days to go before the competition kicks off, a massive 90 per cent of tickets for the games at Scotland’s national stadium remain unsold.

Hampden will host eight matches over a five-day period but as yet there has been very little local interest in the event.

The tournament is predicted to bring a much-needed economic boost to the city and London 2012 board member Sir Craig Reedie hopes fans turn out in large numbers for what he insists is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

He said: “We should care because the Games won’t be back in this country during our lifetime, that’s for sure.

“This is as close as the Olympics will ever be.”

Cameroon, Namibia, the Virgin Islands and Zambia will all train in Scotland prior to the Olympics and Scott Taylor of Glasgow City’s marketing Bureau is adamant we are already feeling the benefit.

He said: “One of the economic benefits of the Olympics coming to Glasgow is around the £6million mark so we are seeing that kind of level of spend being committed to the city.”

Taylor also emphasised that Glasgow could end up playing host to some of football’s leading nations.

He added: “We may get Brazil playing here or we could get Spain.

“But the real treat for us is that about 1.6billion people will be watching the football taking place – so Glasgow will be on a global stage.”