Dundee will make a ”very compelling case” for hosting Scotland’s first national sports centre.
The city council is finalising its bid for the £25 million facility, which will include a football academy, after sports minister Shona Robison this week outlined the tendering process.
Ms Robison, the Dundee City East MSP, said funding for the ”multi-sports centre with football very much at its heart” would come from the Scottish Government’s Young Scots Fund.
A steering group, chaired by Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan, will now take forward plans for the National Performance Centre for Sport.
It will set out criteria for local authorities that want to bid to have the centre located in their area along with a timetable for completing the project.
The creation of a National Football Academy by 2016 was an SNP manifesto commitment prior to last year’s Holyrood election. The idea of bringing the centre to Dundee was first mooted by Labour MSP Jenny Marra last year and quickly won the backing of the SNP-led city council.
Council leader Ken Guild said Tuesday’s announcement allowed the council to ”press on with the good work” that has already been done to secure the football academy for the city.
The SNP councillor added: ”Dundee’s advantages include our two professional football clubs and higher education establishments with sports science research and teaching, as well as the council which has land available for the development.
”We have already completed the groundwork for a strong bid to be made by Dundee and this announcement gives us the opportunity to focus how best to take this very compelling case forward.”
Ms Robison, who unveiled the details at Hampden, noted that a national football centre was a key recommendation of a review of Scottish football by former First Minister Henry McLeish.
”Despite the challenges which Scottish football is facing, the Government’s commitment to developing and improving our national game remains undiminished,” she added.
”The National Performance Centre will give sports men and women, including grassroots footballers, the chance to develop their skills, delivering a tangible legacy from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as well as building on our investment into elite athletes for 2014 and beyond.”
Ms Marra, whose petition to bring the facility to Dundee has received more than 2,000 signatures, said she was ”delighted” the SNP Government had reiterated its commitment to the project. But she called for the bidding process to get under way urgently.
She said: ”I had expected and hoped that Shona Robison would open the bidding process today. This would have allowed Dundee to put the meat on the bones of our bid. What we don’t want is more time for other cities to catch up.”