The World Cup Windfall #2: ‘Let’s build for more magical nights like Denmark’
Mulraney wants to be remembered for improving facilities across the nation — and ramps up investment target for 2030 to a whopping £100m
By Stephen McGowan
“Ultimately, life is about memories,” says Scottish FA president Mike Mulraney. “It’s about winding the clock back to the day you watched Kenny McLean score that goal against Denmark to take us to the World Cup.
“In ten years from now, maybe 15 or 20 or more, people will still remember that night when they came here to Hampden with their friends and their families in November.
“They won’t remember what they did the night before and they won’t remember the night after, but they will absolutely remember that night.”
In 2023, the UK Government staged a Westminster reception to mark the SFA’s 150th anniversary. When the speeches were done, the former chairman of Alloa was asked how he would like his time on Hampden’s sixth floor to be remembered in future and offered a one-word response. “Facilities.”
Pitching In was launched as an SFA campaign to raise £50million to invest in the game’s infrastructure by 2030. Thanks to Steve Clarke and his team reaching three of the last four major tournaments, the bar has now been raised to £100m.
Proceeds of the penalty shootout in Serbia in 2020 have been used to upgrade or replace changing rooms. Cash generated by qualification for Euro 2024 has been utilised to improve 3G pitches in areas of most need. Now the £9.5m coming from FIFA for reaching the World Cup finals can build new facilities for the Scotland internationals of the future.
Mulraney is hellbent on fixing the roof while the sun is shining because football’s natural cycle offers no guarantee of Scotland reaching World Cups in the future. Players like Andrew Robertson, Grant Hanley, Kenny McLean and John McGinn are aging and edging towards the end of their international careers.
A dearth of young Scots playing first-team football in the SPFL Premiership, meanwhile, hampers efforts by Clarke to bring through a new generation and, while improved facilities offer no guarantee of a quick solution, this much can be said with relative certainty. Without them, the task of improving the number of young Scottish footballers playing first-team football becomes impossible.
“We have made a difference by assisting 193 projects via the Pitching In initiative,” adds Mulraney. “And it’s growing.
“We are going to do more and we are going to do more and once we have done more, we will look at doing more again. It is never going to be enough because we need hundreds of millions.
“But we have already reached our Pitching In funding target of £50m by the end of 2030 and people told me that was impossible. At the SFA AGM I announced that, not only was that not impossible, but we have already blown through it in 2026 and the target has now been re-set to £100m.
“We want to see £100m invested into facilities across Scotland. New pitches, all-weather pitches, into changing rooms so that girls can feel safe.
“We have become the number-one sport in Scotland for women and girls for the first time ever this year. And we are going to build on that. And we can only build on it if we build places for them to play.”
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