Hearts chief claims there is an 'appetite' for league reconstruction

Hearts owner Ann Budge believes there is an "appetite" for league reconstruction. Picture: SNS

Hearts owner Ann Budge believes there is an “appetite” for league reconstruction within the SPFL.

With uncertainty around the remainder of the Scottish football season following the postponement of the game until further notice, there have been numerous suggestions as to how to proceed depending on how the coronavirus pandemic evolves.

Uefa have today announced that Euro 2020 has been pushed back to 2021 in the hope it will allow leagues around Europe to finish in the summer.

That is dependent on the situation of the virus in the coming weeks and months.

There has been talk of finishing the league as is, which would see Celtic crowned champions of the Ladbrokes Premiership and Hearts relegated, replaced by Dundee United. A null and void measure has also been suggested, as has league reconstruction.

One idea mooted was that of no relegation and two teams being promoted into each division, making the top-flight 14 teams with Kelty Hearts and Broara Rangers coming up from the Lowland League and Highland League respectively.

Budge, who has confirmed the club will seek legal action if Hearts are relegated without the full 38 fixtures being played, has said there are those within clubs who would be keen to explore the possibility.

She told Sky Sports: “I sat at a meeting last month where, amongst a whole host of things we were talking about, once again came up the question of ‘should we be looking at restructuring the leagues?’. A comment was made ‘how long are we going to talk about this and when are we actually going to do it?’

“So, yes, there was a few at the meeting: ‘Yes, let’s raise the priority of this’. Let’s look at these key issues, the structure of the league, the distribution model, all of these things, but let’s do it with a purpose, an action plan as opposed to just talking about it.

“Now, that conversation took place before any of this happened. That was the view of the people at that meeting, so let’s do it.”

Due to the untimely break, Budge sees this as a useful time to enter talks.

“None of us are playing football at the minute and may not be for a reasonable length of time. You can argue that there has never been a better time for us to sit down and say ‘right, let’s really look at this’. Because normally, chairmen, chief execs, there is not a spare minute in the day.

“I think there is an appetite for it, yes.”