IAN MAXWELL has a World Cup dream for Scotland. Time will tell when, or if, it becomes a reality on and off the park.

As Steve Clarke's side attempt to earn their place at the finals in Qatar next year, the Scottish FA chief executive is looking further into the future. A full eight seasons further, in fact.

Hampden has already welcomed Europe to its front doors. Now Maxwell wants to bring the world to Glasgow, with a little help from his friends.

In March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered his backing - and £2.8million worth of financial support - to a proposal that would see Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland bid for the 2030 World Cup.

Talk of bringing football 'home' has been, and no doubt will, be part of the sales pitch but competition for the finals is fierce. Given that the 2030 finals will be the centenary of the tournament, there is an added lure to the process.

It is one that Maxwell is eager to explore further, though, and the SFA remain committed to the idea and the dream as feasibility studies are undertaken and blueprints are formulated.

The bidding process will step up in the second quarter of 2022 and a decision will not be made until the FIFA Congress two years later. Time is not quite of the essence, but the clock continues to tick.

A pitch from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia is expected, as is one from Spain and Portugal. European competition could come from a joint Romania, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria bid, while a South American plan, with Uruguay and Argentina at the heart of it, is also in the pipeline at present.

"It’s not straightforward," Maxwell said. "FIFA issue a technical specification document covering everything from stadium capacities to hotels in the vicinity.

"We’re going through that with the UK Home Nations governments and Ireland. The decision isn’t being taken until 2024.

"There has been chat about Portugal and Spain bidding, even Italy and Saudi Arabia co-hosting, which would be cross-confederation, a new one for a World Cup.

"It’s an exciting prospect because there will be opportunities to look at stadium development, finance and what we could leverage off bringing a World Cup to Scotland. That would be fantastic.

"That’s off the back of Hampden looking so good for the Euros. It looked brilliant, the pitch held up better than any other in the tournament.

"The feedback from UEFA about how the games were put on has been excellent, the supporter behaviour was excellent, so it’s good for Glasgow."

Hampden would, naturally, be at the heart of any Scottish input to a bid and confidence can be taken from the part the national stadium played - with four matches staged there - during the European Championships this summer.

Even the most ardent fans of the venue would concede that it could do with more than a lick of paint, however, and talk of wholesale renovations arrives and fades with regularity these days.

A World Cup bid would give those discussions a new focus, but also set a deadline that could not be missed as the future of Hampden becomes central to the process.

"Nothing is off the table, genuinely," Maxwell said when asked about redevelopment of the stadium. "I think Hampden gets a bit of a bad rep.

"I think it’s a narrative that people continue and I don’t believe anyone really thinks that.

"Anyone who has been here for a full cup final or a Scotland-England game will tell you how good it is when the stadium is full.

"That’s not to say we don’t need to do work to it. Stadiums of an age need a bit of TLC and it may be that Hampden needs a bit more than that.

"But that’s part of the stadium strategy, working out what we’re doing – and how much it’s going to cost, as well as how we’re going to fund it.

"We’re going through the process. There are always options and, if you speak to any architect, they will blow you away with what can be done – but they don’t really care about costs.

"We’ll need to decide on it fairly soon because it will be a significant investment.

"That [bid for the 2030 World Cup] would be the link, yes. It makes sense, if we’re going to do anything, to do it when we’re showcasing the stadium on the world stage."

Any issues with Hampden during the Euros were relatively minor, and certainly so when compared to the security fiasco that marred the final between England and Italy at Wembley.

The appalling scenes of ticketless supporters storming the stadium cast a shadow over the showpiece event as Gareth Southgate's side ultimately felt short of glory on home soil.

Lessons will be learned by all relevant authorities going forward. Such incidents can only be condemned, but they should not cast doubt on any future finals.

"I was at Wembley," Maxwell said. "Yeah, to be fair, I didn’t see too much of it.

"The English FA have launched a review, they want to understand what happened – and we would be in the same shoes if that happened at Hampden.

"But I think they’re two separate things. I think they will want to understand it and make sure it doesn’t happen again – but the 2030 bid sits outside of that.

"Yeah, I understand [that impressions matter]. And there will be a lot of countries have their idea on what the best vote would be.

"We just have to make sure we put forward as strong a case as possible."