'Naughty' English upset 2014 host

English cities have been described as "naughty" after using the London 2012 Olympics to pre-book holding camps for Glasgow's Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Over 20 Commonwealth countries have already booked into English regions for 2012 and many could stay for 2014.

Scotland has yet to book any countries for the London Olympics.

"One or two of the cities in England have been a little bit naughty in terms of the lobbying they've done," said Glasgow councillor Archie Graham.

"Not so much for the Olympic Games but also for the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and that's a little bit concerning from our point of view.

"We are working very hard to try and make sure that we can get Commonwealth countries, in particular, to come here to train for 2012 and we hope to be able to make an announcement in that regard soon.

"I don't know if they've broken any rules or not but certainly they've been keen to encourage countries to come and train for 2012 and following that on by saying things like 'oh, you might as well come back here again to train for 2014.'

"But actually the Commonwealth Games are Scotland's Games, they're not Britain's Games in 2014. So, in that sense, it's a little bit naughty.

"It has caused problems, it would be churlish to say anything else."

Manchester, who hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games, are one of those regions to have organised for 2012 guests to return in 2014.

"We've signed an agreement with Australia Swimming in Manchester with the city council," said Rob Young of the North-West Regional Development Agency.

"We've also got Thailand Olympic and Paralympic teams training in Manchester and then the 15 Pacific Islands within Oceania will be training all across the north-west and, with the Commonwealth countries, they will be through till 2014."

Glasgow have earmarked £90,000 to spend on attracting countries to the city in 2012.

"I'm quite sure that the other cities in England, the other regions that have not behaved in that way are as upset as we are here in Scotland so it's not a Scotland-England thing, it's more to do with some cities and regions in England really being ahead of the game," added Councillor Graham.

"We don't have the capacity to have all 71 Commonwealth federations here. It's OK in a sense but Glasgow's commitment is to put something back into the Commonwealth.

"We were the second city of the Empire, we took an awful lot out of the Commonwealth and we want to put something back. So, in that sense, it's better for us to host as many nations as we possibly can here for both 2012 and 2014.

"We're particularly committed to trying to work with African nations, the nations in south-east Asia and so on because that's where, really, we built the Empire and that's where we want to put something back.

"We've learned an awful lot from Manchester because they hosted the Commonwealth Games fairly recently. They've got fabulous facilities in place.

"But one of the main reasons why we were awarded the Commonwealth Games in the first place was because of the fact that we've got 80% of the facilities already built in the city of Glasgow.

"So, the Commonwealth countries know that we've got the facilities here, that's why they voted for us to get the games but it's our job now to convince them that London really isn't all that far away from here and that they can come here and train quite easily and then get to London to participate in the games themselves in 2012.

"If people come here then they will spend money. That will help the economy, absolutely."