Ann Budge's league reconstruction plan is 14-14-14 with Hearts staying in Premiership

Tynecastle owner has sent her proposal to 42 SPFL clubs

Hearts owner Ann Budge has sent out her league reconstruction plan.

Hearts owner Ann Budge’s league reconstruction plan involves shuffling Scotland’s clubs into three leagues of 14 for two seasons.

The proposal was sent to all 42 Scottish Professional Football League clubs this afternoon and will be discussed by the governing body’s board on Wednesday morning.

Budge has suggested a 14-14-14 set-up with Hearts remaining in the Premiership – joined by Dundee United and Inverness Caledonian Thistle from the Championship.

The Edinburgh club were officially relegated last week when the SPFL ended this season’s top flight. Partick Thistle and Stranraer were also demoted by the premature end to the campaign.

Budge’s new system would put Thistle in the second tier of 14, with Stranraer in the third. The Tynecastle owner stressed in her document that the plan is flexible and should be viewed as an opportunity to help many clubs across Scottish football, not just Hearts.

There would be an option to increase the bottom league to 16 teams to include the Highland League winners Brora Rangers and Lowland League champions Kelty Hearts.

The proposal, if voted through, would take effect this summer and remain in place for two years before being reviewed in 2022.

Budge is aware many of Scotland’s lower-league clubs feel they cannot afford to play closed-door games without income from crowds during the coronavirus pandemic.

That could have a serious impact on next season’s fixtures and Budge has attempted to plan for that possibility.

She wrote in her paper: “The proposed changes, creating three bigger leagues, means that if, unfortunately, some clubs cannot see a way to play this season, there will hopefully be sufficient clubs in each League to allow the season to go ahead, albeit in a modified form. Maximum flexibility is crucial.

“In short, the Premiership needs Hearts more than the Championship does. The Championship needs Partick Thistle more than the lower leagues do.

“Let’s focus on dealing with the problem of saving Scottish Football from a position, which plays to our strengths and minimizes our weaknesses.

“This paper is not about restructuring. It is about survival. The need to protect Scotland’s national game and our professional clubs is of paramount importance, not just to our staff, our players, our supporters but to the communities we serve.

“The impact of a club disappearing will hit local communities hard, both from a social and an economic perspective.

“Given everything else that our communities are dealing with at this time, we must stand together to try to ensure they do not lose their football clubs too.”

A statement posted on the Hearts website read: “We can confirm that Heart of Midlothian circulated today a paper to all 42 clubs in the SPFL asking for feedback and urgent action to address the situation Scottish football finds itself in due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is clear that the situation is changing daily and decisions need to be made quickly to safeguard as many clubs as possible.

“Flexibility and collaboration are of paramount importance to find a path to deal with this emergency situation. Included below is the foreword of the paper.

“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 three 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 One. Some are suggesting that we may end up with only two divisions next season. However, every club should have the option to make a choice.

“There are broadly three 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 two seasons.

“When we are through this emergency we can look then at how best to move forward to start to rebuild Scottish football.”

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