Extreme Football Forum  |  Football Forums  |  Scottish Football  |  Topic: SPL meet to discuss reconstruction

By Chris McLaughlin 


The Scottish Premier League is meeting on Wednesday to discuss plans to revitalise football in Scotland.

Representatives from all 12 clubs are gathering at Hampden, with league reconstruction top of the agenda.

Talks have been ongoing for weeks between concerned chairman, who privately admit that drastic action is needed to give the top flight a boost.

If the majority get their way, the new-look SPL will welcome two new teams and become a division of 14.

The favoured new set-up will also include relegation play-offs with a two-up, two-down system.

BBC Scotland has gained access to detailed analysis undertaken by the clubs, who have been looking for the best way to fix what many see as a broken product.

All options have been considered, from a top flight of ten, all the way through to a league of 24.

Lists of pros and cons have been collated next to each option and a 14-team league is regarded as the favoured option.

The plan is for each team to play each other once home and away (26 fixtures) before splitting into two sections, either six/eight or eight/six.

Teams would then play other teams in their section once more home and away.

It means those in the post-split section of six would play 36 matches and those in the group of eight would play 40 games.
 
The SPL see the main benefit of this format as the balancing up the games after the split, since there has been controversy in recent seasons surrounding the disparity of teams facing more away games than others.

Many fans favour a larger division still, but several chairmen are fearful of losing the financial benefits of playing the Old Firm clubs twice at home.

They also believe that anything bigger than a 14-team division would dilute the appeal of the league to broadcasters, leading to reduction in much-needed media revenue.

So what are the chances of plans becoming a reality?

The SPL has discussed reconstruction in the past but inside sources suggest this time there is a genuine appetite for change.

And there will need to be if the plans are to be signed off.

If it goes to the vote then 11 of the 12 clubs will have to agree the same path forward.

No decision is expected on Wednesday but those pushing for change would like to see a new set-up take off from next season.

SkySports

Scottish Premier League chief executive Neil Doncaster has warned that reconstruction of the competition is unlikely to be completed by the start of next season.

The 12 SPL clubs met again to discuss the issue at Hampden on Wednesday with more talks pencilled in for 1st November.

The signs are that clubs are veering towards a 14-team league which retains the split but removes the fixture anomalies and inequalities.

But no vote was taken and the debate over the size of the top flight and the fixture calendar will continue.

The situation is complicated by the fact that former Scottish First Minister Henry McLeish is due to deliver the second part of his report into the game before the end of the year, this time focusing on the professional game after previously exploring the grassroots scene.

Doncaster has been keen to consult with the other governing bodies and he admits there is little prospect of change being implemented next season.

Ambitious
"I think it would be ambitious," said Doncaster. "I am always hopeful that we can achieve things as soon as possible, but there is an awful lot of work to be done and we are only part way through the process.

"There is a general recognition within Scottish football that something needs to change.

"It is vital that what we do is to achieve something that improves the whole of Scottish football going forward and is not just considered piecemeal.

"We are trying to put forward a whole package of measures that we can then put to the clubs and vote on, because ultimately we need 11 hands going in the air to achieve any change, so that consensus package is what we are working on."