IT is to be hoped that training in the shadow of Hampden Park this week proves to be inspirational for members of the Scotland squad.
The national side will get their bid to each the Euro 2024 finals in Germany next year underway this afternoon when they take on Cyprus in their opening Group A match.
It is crucial that Andy Robertson and his team mates hit peak form straight away and record a comfortable and morale-boosting triumph over their Pot Five opponents.
A draw or even, God forbid, a defeat will leave them facing an uphill task to finish in the top two in their section and qualify automatically.
A win, meanwhile, will put Steve Clarke’s charges in a confident mood going into their meeting with Spain, the 10th placed country in the FIFA World Rankings, in Mount Florida on Tuesday.
Scotland have moved their training base from Oriam on the outskirts of Edinburgh to Lesser Hampden in Glasgow due to, depending on who you are listening to, issues with the condition of the pitches or the accommodation.
With a bit of luck, getting put through their paces within a few hundred yards of the stadium where, roared on by a sell-out 50,000-strong crowd, they will play today will have had an uplifting effect on them.
John Carver, the Scotland assistant manager, certainly feels their new surroundings will have a significant impact on Clarke’s men.
“You have got Hampden right there,” he said earlier this week. “The national stadium is right there. So what an inspiration. You are training every day looking at it. It is amazing.”
Could, though, the switch to Lesser Hampden have other repercussions, and far-reaching ones at that, for the game in this country?
Queen’s Park are by no means certainties to win promotion to the Premiership. Their home defeat at the hands of struggling Arboath last night underlined that anything can still happen. But Owen Coyle’s men remain in a strong position entering the run-in all the same. It will still be a major surprise if they are pipped to first place in the Championship now.
Where will the Spiders play their games if they do return to the top flight for the first time since way back in 1958?
Going back to Ochilview, where they have spent the majority of this term while Lesser Hampden has been getting redeveloped, will not be an option due to its limited capacity.
Their own stadium will, like their current temporary abode, be ill-equipped to host the sizeable supports of the teams they will face in the Premiership.
They could choose to expand it. But the £8m upgrade has already proved problematic and time-consuming. Planning permission would be a factor as well. There is no chance they could turn it around for the start of the 2023/24 season in July.
A groundshare with another club in the near vicinity is certainly an avenue they might explore if they receive permission to do so.
Yet, could playing at Hampden, where they took on Hamilton in the Championship and Montrose in the Challenge Cup back in December, be the answer to the conundrum they could shortly face?
The SFA might well, having been given the use of their facilities for the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign by their near neighbours, be agreeable to them returning to their spiritual home.
Giving the move the green light would bank the governing body some welcome income from an expensive asset that currently sits unused for most of the year amid a challenging economic climate.
The state of the Hampden pitch for the Viaplay Cup semi-finals between Celtic and Kilmarnock and Rangers and Aberdeen in January drew widespread condemnation from managers and players and attracted derision from supporters.
There would, then, perhaps have to be assurances about the playing surface and a promise from the tenants that they would cover the cost of it being relaid if required.
But should it transpire then Queen’s Park could theoretically find themselves hosting the biggest crowds in the division after their city rivals Celtic and Rangers and pocketing hundreds of thousands of pounds as a result.
When they played against Rangers in the old Third Division back in the December of 2012 there was an attendance of 30,117.
If they were taking on the Parkhead or Ibrox clubs in the Premiership they could expect to attract far more. They would, too, be bumper turnouts when Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian were the visitors.
What would Queen’s Park going up to the Premiership say about Scottish football? Their average crowd at Ochilview this season has been little over 1,000. Only Cove Rangers have received less backing.
How will a club with such a tiny following joining the top division reflect on the standard of the game in this country? There will, despite what Coyle says elsewhere in these pages today, be shades of the Gretna “fairytale” about it all. They have also flourished thanks to the considerable investment of a wealthy benefactor.
Still, could the famous old Glasgow club soon be the third force in Scotland as a result of playing their league matches at Hampden? It is all hypothetical at the moment. There are a few hurdles to be overcome. They might just end up at Broadwood or Firhill. But watch this space.
