Glasgow's Commonwealth Games Bid: 2014

[crusty_bint]

It's just in the nature of some to deride and denigrate everything and everything that doesn't benefit them immediately and/or personally.

I signed myself and Hidden Glasgow up a couple of months back when we were at around 1500 registered members, now we're at 1600 that erronious tonne should account for the nay-sayers

Back that bid!!

[Mori]

http://www.glasgowarchitecture.co.uk/scottish_national_indoor_arena.htm

£70m National Velodrome set to be approved by GCC this week - 2000 seats, part of the Scottish National Indoor Arena 201106

National Velodrome - PR from Glasgow City Council:
Councillor John Lynch, Executive Member for Cultural and Leisure Services at Glasgow City Council, said: "These will be fantastic new facilities for Glasgow and Scotland that will improve our elite sports performance and attract even more world-class sporting events to Glasgow. The opportunity to improve the health and well-being of the local community through access to state of the art sports facilities underlines the importance of this development, irrespective of the Commonwealth Games bid."

Derek Casey, Glasgow 2014 Bid Director, said: "One of the great strengths of Glasgow's Bid is the fact that successive generations invested in the outstanding sports facilities that we have right across the city. These new venues are the start of a new legacy - one that will enhance the lives of people throughout Scotland for many years to come. I am in no doubt that when these new venues open, Glasgow will have a stock of sport facilities that compare with any city in the world, and makes Glasgow the right choice for 2014."

[adoniram]

This Commonwealth Games bid is tarnished by the murky waters of favouritism and sectarianism.
Too many "baffling" decisions taken already and more will be taken which will directly and indirectly favour the Establishment Football Club of Glasgow City Council.

You only have to look at the decision makers behind the scenes and who stands to gain from land deals etc to know that this bid is but a smokescreen to the real political agenda of many MP's and councillors involved inthis project.

[MotoMad]

This Commonwealth Games bid is tarnished by the murky waters of favouritism and sectarianism.
Too many "baffling" decisions taken already and more will be taken which will directly and indirectly favour the Establishment Football Club of Glasgow City Council.

You only have to look at the decision makers behind the scenes and who stands to gain from land deals etc to know that this bid is but a smokescreen to the real political agenda of many MP's and councillors involved inthis project.

explain?

[DickyHart]

Dalmarnock stations getting tarted up at last

About time, its terrifying down there,

[adoniram]

I will once i am certain i have all the facts.
Not the best of answers i grant you but i want to be certain on a few things before i commit to making allegations on here.

Suffice to say there are certain companies and individuals who stand to do very very well indeed from this bid....IRRESPECTIVE of whether Glasgow wins or not.

[Dexter St. Clair]

Well Mystery man you can let me know at the next meeting of the brothers but what's

the real political agenda of many MP's and councillors involved inthis project

?

I don't think this is covered by any oaths or state secrecy.

[Dugald]

The bid for the Commonwealth Games, no matter where they are to be held, is always a very controversial topic. I have two minds about these international sporting events:

Under Mind # 1, I would vote for Glasgow, and sincerely hope their bid is successful. I was in Scotland during the 1986 Commonwealth Games and met a number of very fine Scottish Commonwealth competitors, and was highly impressed by their attitude in general to amateur sports, and how they behaved themselves... they were very much a credit to Scotland.

One of the big advantages to the city of course, is the jag to the economy, and the number of fine permanent sporting facilities that will be inherited as part of the infrastructure. I'm particularly interested in Glasgow getting its own velodrome. I recall talk about this more than sixty years ago, but needless-to-say, it never got beyond the 'talk' stage. What the Edinburgh velodrome did for the quality of Scottish track racing is well known among Scottish cyclists, and I'd dearly love to see one in Glasgow.

(An aside: Regarding a velodrome, I wonder why it would be located in the east end of the city? The West of Scotland Cycling Association was always the strongest cycling association in Scotland yet a velodrome in the east end of Glasgow would serve a part of Scotland already enjoying some advantage from Edinburgh's velodrome. I'd prefer to see Glasgow's located on the south side and further to the west and within better reach for the Ayrshire riders... always rated among the very best in Scotland ).

I like very much the idea of $1 billion being spent on Glasgow's public transport, and the various aspects of this very important infrastructure item. The $1 billion of course is very impressive, ( a wee bit more impressive than the $125 million/year that it really amounts too) and will do much for Glasgow. I find this idea of river-based transport very interesting. Glasgow, away back when, already had such transport but it ended with the advent of tramcars. Oh, but they'll be exciting times for Glasgow!

Under Mind # 2, I'd vote against Glasgow hosting these games. One must bear in mind that the estimated costs of these sporting ventures are always a lot more than first estimated. Just last year Vancouvar was informed that the costs of hosting the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, has skyrocketed to three times the original cost, and still spiraling upwards. We in Canada remember well the cost of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal --we're still paying for them!

These days I find myself somewhat disenchanted with the direction international sport seems to be going. The joy of competing appears to matter very little now; one must, it seems, win at all costs, and amateurism is but a fond memory. This 'at all costs' of course, leads to lots of underhanded behavior among both judges and competitors. The ultimate aim no doubt, is to make money from participating in international meets. ( It seems another kind of "underhanded behaviour" is generating much controversy here!)

We see so many well-known athletes who owe their wealth to international competition, and the desire to join their ranks is a powerful incentive to take drugs and cheat. The most recent revelation in Canada is the "oxygen tent"-caper currently being defended by more than one Canadian medal winner, as a clean and legitimate competition preparation... as long as one has the $1500 required to buy such an aid. Not different at all from the 'blood-saving' gimmick used successfully by the Yanks in the 1984 Olympics.

What has all this to do with Glasgow hosting the 2014 Games? Well, one can view these games as another opportunity for international competition to foster the growth of drugs and cheating. If only we could return to the happy truly-amateur sport days: the days when finishing second was just as commendable as finishing first, and not, as has now become fashionable to be looked upon, as 'first of the losers' ! Yes, okay, I'm probably dreaming a dream that won't ever materialize.

Of my two minds, I think I lean slightly in favour of Mind # 2. Glasgow and Scotland won't run into a great debt, and, that improved public transit system will be built regardless of the outcome of Glasgow's bid for the Games. Similarly, and selfishly, the cycling venue will be built whether Glasgow hosts the Games or not, and Glasgow will become the home of Scottish cycling ( Glasgow should anyway, be the home of Scottish cycling.).

I was delighted when Toronto lost its bid last year to host the Olympic Games, and this delight stemmed from just the same reasons that if I were still living in Glasgow, and had a meaningful vote, I'd vote against Glasgow hosting the games.

[adoniram]

Like i said.As soon as i gather the facts and i am certain that they are correct i will post what information i have (subject to legal issues)

Privately there are some very influential people looking at this bid and are "concerned" at suggestions of collusion and nepotism.

Once you see who is involved in the decision making and what companies they are linked to then everything should become clearer.

May take weeks or months but i will only post what i can substantiate and nothing else.

[gordon]

ah, i love a good conspiracy on a baltic Tuesday evening!

[Socceroo]

Sounds like a job for Aquaman!

[Dexter St. Clair]

May take weeks or months but i will only post what i can substantiate and nothing else.

You posted the above: substantiate it.

[Sydney Rosewater]

Dalmarnock stations getting tarted up at last

About time, its terrifying down there,

Only if yer a jessie!

[adoniram]

Wrong place,wrong forum,wrong people......sorry guys but on reflection this isn't the correct forum to get results.

[Alex Glass]