Ireland and Scotland put faith in facilities

If Scotland and Ireland win the right to stage the 2008 European Championship around lunchtime today, David Taylor and his campaign team will be become overnight heroes in the two countries.

In a rousing speech it was Taylor, the bid committee chairman and chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, who last night tried to persuade the Uefa executive that it should look no further than the Celtic connection and ignore the other six contenders.

After an intensive campaign costing over £1m, Scottish and Irish officials are convinced they can emulate England six years ago, not only making the shortlist this morning but even sneaking past the favourites Switzerland and Austria when the vote is taken at Uefa headquarters in Nyon.

In the 15 minutes allotted to each candidate to make their final presentations, Taylor stressed that the Scots and Irish had greater stadium capacity than any of their rivals, with an estimated 1.7m ticket sales, and a fan base that was second to none.

"We feel we are in with a real chance of winning this," Taylor said afterwards. "It's now out of our hands but we believe we can generate more fans, more money and more fun."

Until now, the one dark cloud hanging over the Scottish and Irish bid has been Ireland's apparent inability to provide two of the eight stadiums required. The Irish government has refused to fund a new £315m national stadium on the outskirts of Dublin while Croke Park, Ireland's biggest arena with 70,000 seats, can only be used for Gaelic events.

Taylor insisted said these problems had now been overcome, citing fresh written commitment to Uefa from the authorities in Dublin. "We are not obliged to say now exactly which stadiums are being used," he said. "We just need to give them a commitment and I'm convinced we can deliver."

The Swiss and Austrians, in typically cautious, pragmatic style, were keeping a low profile. The Austrians have been here twice before. Both times they have a lost out. A case of third time lucky?

The voting procedure is relatively straight-forward. Of the 14 members of the committee, six come from countries involved with a bid and are therefore ineligible. But, as soon as their countries are eliminated, they can join in for the final vote. The Scots and Irish are certain to pick up the vote of the FA chairman Geoff Thompson but trying to unravel the various allegiances is, given past experience, a dangerous game.

EURO 2008 THE COMPETING BIDS

Austria/Switzerland
Strong government backing. Perfectly positioned in terms of Europe-wide accessibility and the third Austrian bid. But Uefa may want the tournament away from central Europe, given Germany's World Cup two years earlier.

Odds: 4-6

Scotland/Ireland
Arguably the best venues, estimated 1.7m ticket sales. A reputation for hospitality, friendliness and fanaticism. But will Uefa be convinced that the Irish will supply two stadiums and will England's Euro 96 work against the bid?

Odds: 3-1

Denmark/Sweden/Finland/Norway
Easy cross-border access, the preferred choice of Uefa president Lennart Johansson. Superb transport facilities. But will four countries prove too great a logistical nightmare?

Odds: 4-1

Greece/Turkey
A laudable PR exercise in unity, and Uefa would receive enormous credit if the gamble pays off. But Greek football is in turmoil and doubts remain over the obvious political sensitivities as well as sufficient funding.

Odds: 12-1

Russia
Considerable momentum in their campaign's latter stages and another single-nation bid, but too many questions remain over infrastructure, crime rate and the threat of terrorism, as well as the distances between venues .

Odds: 12-1

Bosnia-Hercegovina/Croatia
A goodwill campaign that will generate strong sympathy but no history of organising major sporting events and security fears will be a major obstacle. Also, will struggle to meet the stadium requirements.

Odds: 20-1

Hungary
A single-country bid, with strong footballing pedigree. Have bid jointly with Russia before, and Hungary is about to enter the EU. But insufficient investment to meet Uefa's strict requirements will probably prove their downfall.

Odds: 25-1