Peat and Regan differ over plans for 10-team division

Scottish Football Association president George Peat and chief executive Stewart Regan are at odds with each other over the call for a two-tier Scottish Premier League with ten teams in each division.

Peat commissioned former First Minister Henry McLeish to carry out a review of Scottish football, which was published last week and recommended the change be made to the upper echelons of the game.

Some of the 50 proposals in McLeish's document mirrored many ideas formulated by the Scottish Premier League's strategic review group, which are to be discussed by the 12 SPL sides early in the new year.

However, there has already been criticism of the proposed return to a ten-team top flight.

Regan and Peat were at Hampden Park to give their thoughts on McLeish's proposals yesterday and asked what his preference was, the SFA chief executive Regan said: "How you put the leagues together is up for debate and whether it is a 10-team, 12-team or 16-team, is going to be down to personal opinion.

"My personal choice is that I would like the recommendation that is on the table. I like the ten-team proposal.

"I think it will create pressure, which is a good thing. It will create intensity and competition and it will create the opportunity for the best to play against the best and that is a principle that through our performance strategy have started to embrace, right the way throughout the Scottish game.

"If the best can play against the best, that is a good thing for the future of this game."

However, Peat had a contrary view and said: "This is where we disagree. I have never, ever been in favour of a ten-team top flight. Personally, I have always gone down the route of a 14-team league but the majority seem to think a 16-team league is much better.

"I think the standard of football would improve considerably if there wasn't the same pressure on managers in a smaller league."

Both men, though, made clear that they would have no say in how the SPL would restructure its league.

Peat added that the SFA would like to see the SPL and Scottish Football League merge.

He said: "Obviously it would be much better from everyone's point of view if there was only one league to deal with."