A SCOTS football fans group has raised concerns over the decision to keep Hampden Park as the national stadium - two years after just less than one in seven actually favoured the status quo.

The Scottish Football Supporters Association says major changes now need to be made to Hampden to make the national stadium experience more acceptable.

And Lord Willie Haughey, one of the businessmen who helped bankroll the Scottish Football Association's purchase of Hampden Park, who says he shares Celtic midfielder Scott Brown's frustration about the stadium's lack of atmosphere, told the Herald it "has to be improved" and hoped "it will be the start of a new renaissance".

Alana Watson, a director of the SFSA said issues that need addressed included the fans in the stands were too far away from the pitch because of a running track, that transport links to the ground need to be improved and ticket prices need to be re-examined.

The Herald:

The SFSA survey which was given to Scottish football's governing body found that despite Hampden's historic place in the game only 15% of the 2,923 fans quizzed wanted Hampden Park to remain as the national stadium, with 34% favouring a switch to Murrayfield.

READ MORE: Alex McLeish: I would find it hard if the SFA decided to move on from Hampden

A quarter (25%) favour national games being played at grounds across Scotland, while 24% would like a new Hampden to be built.

While the stadium was substantially rebuilt in the 1990s but continues to have its detractors, not least because of its location in Glasgow’s southside suburbs.

The survey revealed that 56% of respondents rate the overall experience of Hampden as bad or very bad and only 13% rated it “positive”.

Ms Watson said: "It's a weird one because when we did the survey the fans voted against Hampden and more in favour of moving to Murrayfield, so the result is not quite what the fans wanted.

The Herald:

"After hearing [SFA chief executive] Ian Maxwell speak, they have taken the fans views into regard with improving the infrastructure and that was one of the main issues for the fans.

"So hopefully they will push on to make the experience better for the fans. "The decision has been made and until the changes happen in 2020 we are going off the word of the SFA and what they are promising and as football fans we will just have to wait and see if they follow through on that."

But one of the observations from the two-year-old survey that cannot be addressed is the feeling from some that Murrayfield was more accessible for fans travelling throughout Scotland.

"I think people preferred the infrastructure around Murrayfield, it is closer to the train stations and it is easier for people travelling from other parts of Scotland to get to for cup finals and semi finals, not just Scotland games," said Ms Watson.

Glasgow City Council said it will be working on an Event Traffic Plan to make transport easier.

Ms Watson believed that with the purchase of Hampden by the SFA, they might have more control over ticket pricing.

"Ticket price issues comes up quite a lot with fans and nobody has asked the supporters what they think is reasonable to pay for a ticket," she said.

The Herald: Steven Naismith is mobbed by his Scotland team mates after the opening goal against Albania.

Scotland's win over Albania on Monday in the Nations League that is a route to a possible Euro 2020 qualification was watched by 17,455 Scottish souls - a third of Hampden's capacity.

The national side's loss against Belgium last Friday was only watched by 20,196 people.

Ticket prices were typically £30 for an adult and a fiver for a child. Typical seats for an adult and child to watch Glasgow Clan ice hockey come in at around £38.

Lord Haughey, who with Sir Tom Hunter gave the SFA more than a £1m each to help fund the £5m purchase of Hampden Park from Queen's Park, securing the venue as the long-term home of Scottish football said that the ball is now definitely in the governing body's court.

The Herald: Lord Haughey, founder of City Refrigeration Holdings. Picture: Colin Mearns.

"Hopefully it will be the start of a new renaissance and the stadium will be refurbished. The first thing was to secure the ownership of Hampden. My general comment is that it has to be improved. The experience for fans and players has to be improved.

READ MORE: Hampden might have won but it's still not a great stadium

"There were no caveats to the money, though. They can do whatever they like, we are happy to help and give advice, but there are no caveats in giving that money.

"I feel strongly about Glasgow being the home of football and Hampden just happens to be there."

The Herald: Hopeful: Partick Thistle managing director Ian Maxwell hopes that the formation of a supporter's Trust can improve engagement between the club and fans.

Mr Maxwell recognised that changes are needed.

“There is no doubt it needs a bit of work," he said.

“It’s 20 years old now in its current form and there are areas of it we need to try and improve. There is no shying away from that.

“Whether it is in the seating deck, the hospitality, the kiosks, the Wi-Fi or the floodlights - there are a lot of different things.

“This gives us a real opportunity to step back, look at the whole Hampden experience and come up with a plan to say there are areas of this we need to attack."