Neil Doncaster ‘looking forward’ to seeing Ann Budge reconstruction plan

SPFL chief senses clubs will be open-minded about resolution

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster.

Neil Doncaster senses clubs will be open-minded about potential reconstruction and sympathetic to the plight of relegated clubs.

One of the clubs who face dropping down a division after the season was curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic, Hearts, are aiming to revive plans to reform the divisions after a number of their top-flight rivals appeared to rule out any prospect of change this summer.

Owner Ann Budge is working on a plan which would need at least nine and probably 11 Premiership clubs to agree and the last attempts at league reconstruction in Scotland, in 2013, failed to get enough support.

But Doncaster, the chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League, believes clubs will try to help Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer after the premature end to the season saw them cast adrift.

"Ann Budge of Hearts is keen to come back again with another resolution looking at reconstruction around an enlarged Premiership," Doncaster told Sky Sports News.

"Clearly that would have the consequence of effectively avoiding relegation for those clubs relegated as a result of the early curtailment of season 19-20.

"Any change would certainly need to go to a vote and it really depends what form of process Hearts choose to go down.

"We have members' resolutions, board resolutions, possible potential for an EGM, and I know that we, at the centre, will be doing what we can to support those efforts and it will remain to be seen whether they are supported by member clubs in the numbers that are required.

"It is likely that any expansion would need 11 out of the 12 Premiership clubs to approve it and 75 per cent effectively of other clubs. But it does depend on the detail.

"But we are certainly looking forward to seeing the proposal and, as and when we receive it, we can share it with member clubs and have a broader discussion.

"It's something that a number of clubs have said they are open-minded about and I think there is a sympathy for the position that the relegated clubs find themselves in and we'll see where it goes."We await the proposal and I know that a lot of clubs will want to look at it with a really open mind."

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