Here is the Hearts League Reconstruction proposal sent to Scotland’s clubs this afternoon.
SunSport Online can reveal the plan being put forward by Jambos owner Ann Budge.
Her bid to revamp the set-up of Scottish football will be discussed by the SPFL board tomorrow.
Budge wants a 14-14-14 structure in three divisions - with an option to increase to the bottom league to 16 teams.
Hearts would be saved from relegation from the Premiership with Inverness Caley Thistle promoted along with Dundee United.
But crucially only for the next TWO YEARS.
Budge writes: “This document, at the most simple level, addresses two major issues, currently facing Scottish Football.
• The widely accepted and much debated unfairness and unjustness of relegating Clubs as a result of the early termination of Season 2019/20.
• The need to implement a more flexible League structure to cope with the huge challenges facing Clubs of all sizes, as they fight to survive the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The proposed restructure involves moving to 3 enlarged Divisions, each of which would focus on tackling the specific and different challenges facing the larger, the medium and the smaller (often part-time) Clubs within Scottish Football.
“With a growing awareness of what might be involved in getting back to playing football, so too is there a growing acceptance that not all Clubs may manage to play next season. The focus for many is turning to long-term survival.
“If, unfortunately, some Clubs are unable to compete, there will be a greater likelihood that League competitions will still be able to continue, if these larger groupings are put in place, albeit not necessarily in the proposed format. We might end up with 14 teams in the Premiership, with 10 or 12 in the Championship, and with even fewer in League 1. Some are suggesting that we may end up with only 2 Divisions next season. However, every Club should have the option to make a choice.
“There are broadly 3 scenarios facing Clubs for the coming season:
• Play games behind closed doors for as long as necessary to get the season underway
• Delay the start to the season until supporters are able to get back into stadiums
• Hibernate for a season until the emergency is over
“It is not for me to suggest who should and who shouldn’t play football. It is for Clubs themselves to make that decision. For that reason, the suggested format assumes all 42 Clubs, structured in such a way as to allow each Division to decide what is best for them.
“This is not about permanent reconstruction. It is about finding a path to deal with the emergency situation, which is likely to impact all member Clubs for the next 2 seasons. When we are through this emergency we can look then at how best to move forward to start to rebuild Scottish Football.”
This current paper adds some detail to my initial proposition, which is largely unchanged. What has changed, however, in the intervening 2 weeks, is the growing realisation of just how badly Season 2020/2021 is likely to be impacted by the effects of Covid-19. There is a growing fear that a number of Clubs will be unable to play next season. More than ever, the focus is on survival. Changes to the League structure seem almost inevitable.
In light of the increasingly uncertain times we are facing, I want to urge every Member Club to look at this proposal not as a way to save Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer from relegation, but as a better way for Scottish Football to deal with the current emergency, while at the same time righting an unintended injustice.