As a teenager, Willie Haughey used to walk the short distance from his home in Glasgow's Toryglen housing scheme to Hampden Park, just to get a game for Queen's Park reserves. The millionaire businessman should not require any transport when he turns up at the national stadium next May for the Scottish Cup final - because the Scottish FA should be carrying Haughey shoulder high down Prospecthill Road.

Haughey is ploughing £2million of his own money into the competition in a unique sponsorship deal that will not even see his name, or his company's, anywhere near the oldest trophy in the world. That attitude is astonishing, especially against the current economic backdrop. Haughey is most definitely a 21st century philanthropist but the 52-year-old would prefer to see himself simply as a football man.

The boy from a humble background, whose net worth is reported to be £250million, has never forgotten his roots. His company, City Refrigeration, has its headquarters in the Gorbals, just two miles from Hampden Park. Yet his social conscience has never strayed too far despite his wealthy rise up the ladder. Haughey, a fanatical Celtic follower, once put Jimmy Johnstone on his company's wage bill to give the legendary Lisbon Lion some money when Johnstone was penniless. He also bought Johnstone's medals and gave them back to Celtic to put in the club museum, while paying Johnstone's medical bills before he died from MND in 2006.

Yesterday, Haughey was in a lounge overlooking the lush Hampden turf, rubbing shoulders with Alex Salmond, the First Minister, and explaining why he chose to fund the two-year sponsorship deal that will see the SFA earn £1m from each season after two years of no income, following the end of its 17-year association with Tennent's in 2007. And for no personal gain.

Haughey has handed over the branding rights for the competition to the Scottish Government, and that will see Salmond's administration use the Scottish Cup to celebrate Homecoming Scotland 2009, the event that will mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns with a programme of 150 events. Salmond hopes to see thousands of expatriate Scots return home to boost the beleaguered tourist industry and the fact that Scottish Cup final will be screened in 40 countries will help that ambition.

“They will all think we can get them a ticket for the final,” Haughey said with a smile. The former Celtic director has watched his favourites win the trophy on numerous occasions, while Salmond has managed to see his beloved Heart of Midlothian achieve that feat only twice in his lifetime, in 1998 and 2006. “For me, this is the greatest trophy in the world,” Salmond said. “This is Field of Dreams territory for a Hearts fan. We have not won as often as Celtic but it is iconic for Hearts fans.

“Football is the national game in Scotland and sponsoring the Scottish Cup gives the Scottish Government the chance to get our message across on a wide range of issues, such as as healthy choices for teenagers and anti-sectarianism. We hope expatriates will come back to Scotland to see their club in the Scottish Cup.”

Haughey had been helping the SFA create a national youth academy at Bothwell in Lanarkshire but the credit crunch has forced that project to be put into mothballs. “I felt duty bound to put the money that would have gone into that, into the Scottish Cup,” he explained. “I grew up in Toryglen and the Gorbals and I used to come to Hampden to watch all the finals when I was a kid. This is my way of giving something back.

“I used to play for Queen's Park Strollers [the amateur club's second string] and I have been redeveloping Lesser Hampden [Queen's Park possess a new artificial surface behind the national stadium]. It was my dream to build the national youth academy and I have already spent £5million on it, including £3million just fixing the ground. I am just fortunate that I had that money and I could afford the setback. If I had been building houses, I would have been in trouble.

“I want to help the grassroots development of players and I believe the national academy will happen, but not in the current economic climate. The Scottish Cup is a chance to do something else. I did not feel I could name the competition The City Refrigeration Cup. That would be getting too much out of the deal. I had a partnership with the SFA and they had one with the Scottish Government.”

“Jack McConnell [the Scottish Labour leader and former First Minister] came to me two years ago and asked me to support the Homecoming Scotland event. I thought the idea was good - but I suppose he'll be annoyed I've given someone else from another party £2million to run it.”