THE Rucker makes a cogent argument for keeping BT Murrayfield a rugby stadium (Murrayfield might make sense but less must be more, The National, December 13).

I feel that I must stand up for the retention of Hampden as Scotland’s national football stadium.

The decision by the SFA after the Hampden lease runs out in 2020 must surely not just rest on cost alone, but what is best for Scottish football.

Indeed, why give profits from internationals and cup finals to rugby? Why hand it to big clubs who don’t really need the money?

Hampden as a national football stadium is a precious resource that we must not abandon lightly without realising the consequences.

If we did, then surely Queen’s Park Football Club would not be able to afford its upkeep.

It might end up being demolished and the land sold for housing.

Queen’s Park still have a fine wee ground in the refurbished lesser Hampden. If this happened we might not realise what a great place Hampden is until it is too late.

In truth, the Hampden atmosphere is great when there is a full house: the old girl was fairly rocking at the recent Scotland v England match.

The atmosphere is as good as anywhere when it is half full. A crowd of 30,000 generates a decent match experience. Rugby fans and Hearts fans will tell you that Murrayfield is not great when half empty, plus it has been built to house rugby matches – the pitch is quite far away from the stands, particularly at the ends. Hampden can be improved in the future, but only if we keep it!

We have to be positive and come up with new ideas, like safe standing areas, which already work at Celtic Park and are a low cost option.

Another one would be special friendly internationals or even our own tournament) against top opposition where all profits were ploughed into refurbishment like squaring off the end stands and bringing spectators closer to the pitch. We need imagination!

Hampden is in the beating heart of Scotland’s greatest football city: Glasgow. Its location in the Clydeside conurbation means half of Scotland’s population are within easy travelling distance. The locals still attend internationals in big numbers.

Transport is good: Mount Florida and King’s Park are two separate suburban line railway stations connected with Glasgow Central and there are three motorways, the M74, M77 and M8 that bring you close. Parking and bus transport is as good as anywhere else. Murrayfield can’t compete. A neutral venue for cup finals is essential. This is partly why Hampden became used in the first place. The local police are experienced in supervising big matches. Hampden is home to the offices of the SFA, the SPFL, the Scottish Football Museum and the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. Where else would they move to?

Then there is the history. Hampden is famous the footballing world over as a great stadium with a proud history. It is the envy of many nations who don’t have such a facility. The first Hampden, built in 1873, housed its first Scottish Cup final in 1874, a Scotland v England match in 1878, and became the world’s largest stadium in 1903 when it was rebuilt on the present site, remaining so until the Maracana in Rio was built in 1950.

It once held a record crowd of over 149,000 for a Scotland v England match, and some of the greatest matches in the history of football have been played there, like the European Cup Final: Real Madrid v Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960.

Hampden is a legend: a footballing world heritage site. You don’t just give up on that.

Peter Hynd, ​Paisley

MY heart sank as I read your headline “Developers face objections over Culloden plans” (The National, December 13). Here we go again! When will they stop destroying our heritage? Surely it must be obvious by now that Scotland’s history is a unique selling point for tourism. So long as we continue to allow our future in the form of the brains of our young people to drain south, our past has to be taken very seriously.

Douglas Hunter, Harestanes Ancrum

I LOVE the Wee Ginger Reindeer advertising the subscription to The National. So festive!

Indy Elf, Lapland