A bigger or smaller league is not answer to problems, says Ogilvie

Ogilvie acknowledged that even two victories for Scotland in their up-coming vital Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Czech Republic and Lithuania “would not paper over the cracks” which have again appeared in Scottish football.

“What worries me about the debate around the league structure is that a lot of it seems to be about the number of teams in a league – whether it is ten, 12 or 14,” he said. “I think it is more fundamental than that.”

The president’s stance is in contrast to the one adopted by Craig Levein, the national team manager. Levein, speaking on Friday, insisted that only a ten-team Scottish Premier League could provide the competitive environment he believes is required to stimulate an improvement in fortunes. But although they may have differing views on the importance of the league set-up, Ogilvie and Levein will agree that a full and frank debate is required at this stage.

Ogilvie’s views are invested with more than just authority. They are also honed from years of experience spent as one of football’s most respected administrators with first Rangers and, more recently, Hearts.

Yesterday, following the draw for the first round of the William Hill Scottish Cup, Ogilvie stressed the need for Scottish football to undergo a more thorough analysis of the reasons for last week’s full-house of Scottish club exits from European football. Rangers, Celtic and Hearts joined Dundee United in being eliminated from the Europa League prior to the group stage, with the Ibrox club having also been knocked out of the Champions League at the qualifying phase.

Ogilvie’s called for an end to endless bickering about the size of the league. He instead wants a more detailed look at the more profound issues which continue to hamper the Scottish game, and which were addressed by the McLeish reports. While the SFA have reacted to many of McLeish’s observations, there are other points raised by the former First Minister which remain up for debate - including the thorny topic that is league reconstruction.

“In all my years in football the common denominator is that we are never happy with whatever league structure we have got,” noted Ogilvie. “I think a lot of hard work has to be done before we can finalise the number of teams. What we all agree is that we want a more attractive, more competitive league for supporters. How we achieve that, there are a lot of factors we have to look at.”

According to Ogilvie, included in these factors are improving youth development and increasing the number of Scottish players playing week-in, week-out for top clubs in Scotland. As well as being an architect of the