Gus in SOS for indoor facilities

Jan 8 2010 by Paul Behan, Paisley Daily Express

ST MIRREN stars headed indoors yesterday in a bid to make sure the big freeze won’t mean they are caught cold this weekend.

The squad enjoyed a training session at the impressive £14million Toryglen Regional Football Centre on the south side of Glasgow, which lies in the shadow of the national stadium at Hampden.

And Saints boss Gus MacPherson feels Scottish football could benefit enormously from another 10 Toryglens dotted around the country.

MacPherson was speaking at Toryglen yesterday, when St Mirren shared the facilities on offer with fellow Scottish clubs Kilmarnock, Morton and Queen of the South.

He said: “We are grateful to Glasgow City Council because they have seen the demand for this facility.

“Toryglen is used from 9am to 7pm every evening and it’s also as good an artificial surface that I’ve come across.

“This place is not just used by professional clubs. Even the junior teams are utilising it.

“We have been talking about building these sort of facilities since the 1970s and 1980s but Glasgow City Council has had the gumption to actually get it up and running.

“If you ask any football person, they will tell you there is a demand for it and you only had to be here over the last two or three days to see how well it is being used.

“It’s a first class facility and we are trying to maximise our use of it.”

MacPherson is hoping cash restraints will not prove to be a barrier to the creation of other purpose-built complexes such as Toryglen around the country.

He said: “It’s difficult to put a number on it but I’d say you are looking at needing another 10 of these places to be built.

“You only have to look at the situation in other countries which have a far worse climate than ourselves. They had the foresight to go and do something about it.

“If we want to do something similar, the government or whoever will, as usual, say that it’s all about pounds and pennies.

“We definitely need better facilities and we’ve been saying that for some time but who can come in and pay the £14million or £15million for it?”