The 12-team Scottish Premier League appears headed towards a 10-team, two-division format after a general meeting at Hampden on Tuesday.
SPL chairman Ralph Topping believes proposed moves to expand the league to 16 or more teams would not be financially viable, but a proposal of two divisions of 10 could be voted on at the next meeting on January 17.
Some SPL managers are against the idea of a 10-team top flight, but Topping told the BBC he felt as though they had persuaded clubs a larger league would be unworkable.
“If you look at Scottish football, a 16-team league wouldn’t work economically and it would have a knock-on effect in terms of the quality of players you can attract,” Topping said.
“It’s two 10s or the status quo in my view.”
The clubs will also weigh up the reintroduction of a winter break and an earlier start to the season – both recommendations of former first minister Henry McLeish, whose report into the state of the Scottish game was published in December.
St Johnstone chairman Geoff Brown backed the two-league system to be a success, should it be voted in.
“I would be fairly confident of the two 10-team leagues,” he said.
“It has not gone ahead, all we have had is discussions and every club can make their own minds up, but I would like to think we have a consensus.”
Tue 4 January, 2011
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