Glasgow Clan: Arena ambitions and a summer of uncertainty

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Braehead Arena (Pic: Al Goold)













A year out of operation because of the pandemic, and now plans for 2021-22 on hold - not the situation Glasgow Clan wanted to be in.

The double whammy comes after the collapse of Intu Braehead, owners of the shopping centre which houses their ice pad, and the arrival of new owners, Global Mutual.

Clan’s ambition is to run the arena - a move which makes sense given they are its main tenants.

But it is a huge leap from running a hockey club to managing a multi-purpose arena - let alone one which isn’t quite fit for purpose.

The shortcomings were all built-in to the original design - a foyer too small for any decent use, a bar impossible to access on busy nights, poor hospitality facilities, and behind the scenes, cramped facilities which don’t make it the venue of choice for many touring bands or shows given the better options available to them a few miles away in Glasgow.

Rectifying all of that is going to take time and need serious funds - and, even then there is no guarantee the west coast can sustain another mid-sized multi-purpose venue. Now, had it been in Edinburgh …

The common sense approach for the new owners would be to let Clan crack on with plans for the 2021-22 season while finalising its own plans for the entire complex.

It’s most pressing issue won’t be the arena - it could simply close the doors and leave it mothballed - but that of the shopping centre post COVID, and re-shaping it to meet a very different retail world, and then assess what it wants, and needs, from the leisure industry via its arena.

Clan are also one of several bidders, so there is a lot to untangle, and in a very short space of time if the club is to continue in its home.

Clan’s update this week was as clear as it could be given that background, and the club made a strong case for operating the arena while also hinting strongly that much of the work on improving the venue is already in hand.

But it’s immediate fate is out of its hands, and that is never a comfortable position for any sports club to be in.

With season ticket sales and head coach recruitment on hold, the club may have to look for a Plan B if it cannot operate out of Braehead.

A year on the road would be incredibly tough. It takes huge levels of commitment to keep the wheels going- on and off the ice while enduring a nomadic experience, but it is do-able.

Clan have ruled out such a move for now, but it has to be a possible fall-back position in the very short-term.

Hockey clubs across the UK HAVE experience of being rootless and homeless, and gone on to thrive with renewed energies on their return home.

If Clan can get through this challenge, they could emerge on the cusp of a new era. The parallels with Cardiff Devils are there for all to see; and a similar dynamic here would re-align Scottish ice hockey.

The club’s goals - arena, ownership, a major player on the European scene, not just UK, competing every season for silverware - are ambitious and have ‘long term’ written large through them.

In that respect, this summer could be a game changer. Exciting times, but also precarious times.

Getting everyone safely across the bridge is the immediate challenge.

Everyone in the sport  wants Clan to win this big match.

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