One of the greatest players in the history of squash has expressed astonishment at the decision to spend more than £850,000 on a temporary facility to house the tournament at Glasgow 2014.

Sarah Fitz-Gerald, the five-time world champion, is in the host city for next year's Commonwealth Games as the women's coach of the Australian national team taking part in a doubles event with Scotland, England and Wales.

As it got under way, she welcomed the creation of the new facilities that have been installed at Scotstoun. However, in the week that Herald Sport revealed the extraordinary planned expenditure on a temporary court, she registered surprise that there will be no show court other than during the Games itself.

The 44-year-old said: "That Scotland is going to get six new singles courts is fantastic. The fact it's a multi-purpose venue is also good because it creates an atmosphere, unlike having six courts in a building out on its own.

"It means the venue will be busy. More people watch the squash because they're in the gym riding a bike and seeing it makes them think they might have a go.

"The only sad thing, and it must be hugely disappointing for Scotland, is that it doesn't get to keep the court. At every other Games the host country has kept the all-glass court.

"But Scotland doesn't end up with that prize at the end, which must be really disappointing because it's very expensive to have the court, put it up, take it down and then not keep it."

Fitz-Gerald, who hails from one of the world's great sporting capitals, explained just how much of a missed opportunity this is. "When we held the Games in my home city in Melbourne, Australia got to keep the court and it travels all around the country," she said, pointing out that the hosting of the last three Australian Opens on the glass court purchased for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, demonstrates how it continues to be used to market the sport.

"Obviously you can have major events without the huge expense of bringing it in from overseas but when it is up the players have the opportunity to practise on a glass court. It's different from regular courts – it sounds different, the ball's different. It's a legacy and Scotland is spending a lot of money without getting that.

"It's a bit like the question of whether you should rent of buy a home and ultimately if you're going to live somewhere permanently you should probably buy.

"A lot of people are shocked by this and I'm pretty sure that Scottish Squash and Racketball Limited [SSRL] are a combination of angry, disappointed, frustrated, hurt . . . I don't know what words to use for them but I know they're sad. I would have felt the same."

Fitz-Gerald's use of the word "legacy" will chime with those in Scotland who understand that the real value of hosting the Commonwealth Games should not be in the event itself and, as she suggested, those include leading figures in SSRL.

"While, though, there are several organisations involved in a partnership to stage a Games the only ones with a real interest in lasting legacy are the city itself and the governing bodies of each individual sport. John Dunlop, the chief executive of SSRL, is consequently hoping that Glasgow Life, who run the city's leisure facilities, will call a meeting of the relevant parties to try to force a change of direction.

"The only people who are answerable for marketing the sports are the individual sports themselves, but there is much more expertise involved in running these Games than we could ever dream of," he said yesterday.

"I want them figuratively or in real life to hand me their manual at the end of the Games that shows how to run a world-class event. The work they are doing is very valuable to us because we don't have the resources to pull that together. I wouldn't have to invest any more time on working out how to do it because it's already been done and already been proven and I just need the equipment to stay in place."

Dunlop also noted that it is not a question of a dedicated squash facility lying empty between major competitions. "There seems to be some confusion because the glass court doesn't have to be up all the time," he said. "The building has to stay up but the glass court up but the glass court can be taken down and stored until events come round.

"Between those times, the building could be used for absolutely anything. That is legacy that's worth something because if I had certainty of that I could be attracting world and European events now.

"However, if that temporary building is knocked down, which is the current plan, that means the key money to run a world or European event is a million pounds and that's never going to happen.

"If it stays it would be nothing like than that cost. It might cost a little bit more money to make it permanent but you could put a business case together for the payback of the additional money. As things stand there is no payback, no return on the money being paid, so it's a bad investment. Why on earth are we doing that?"

This weekend's event features the newly-crowned women's British Open champion Laura Massaro, who became the first home hope to lift that title in more than 20 years when she beat world No.1 Nicol David in last Sunday's final.

While limited spectator facilities meant there was no real opportunity to market the event, it showcased a version of squash which is rarely seen by the wider public but is actually arguably more spectator friendly with more variety of play on what is a wider court.

It also gave those competing an early taste of the rule change that has seen a lower tin introduced at the front of the court. The Scotland team's management see the availability of the new facilities as a real opportunity to strengthen their medal chances come next year's Games.