SFA confirms plans to merge SPL and SFL
News of the development was leaked to the BBC last Saturday with Stewart Regan noticeable by his silence in recent weeks with no comment made on Rangers being liquidated.
The absence of the Ibrox side from the SPL fixture list has created a mixture of fear and opportunity within the game with a lack of leadership coming out of Hampden where Campbell Ogilvie remains as President.
Following a week of speculation with intense lobbying to place newclub Rangers in ‘SPL2’ the SFA have tonight been drawn into making a statement.
In a joint release with the SPL and SFL it read: “All three parties have been involved in productive discussions for some time on the subject of league reconstruction.
“This culminated in a positive meeting last night, out of which the two league bodies will now engage in a wider consultation with their member clubs.
“The discussions are based on the key principles for reconstruction outlined in the Henry McLeish Review of Scottish football:
* One league body in the senior game
* Promotion/relegation play-off between SPL and SFL First Division
* Single financial distribution model
* Pyramid system, with the potential for relegation from and promotion to the fourth tier
“Further consultation will take place in the near future, with the aim of reaching a positive outcome on a new model to take Scottish football forward.”
With just six weeks to go till the start of the new SPL season it seems highly unlikely that the new format could be rushed through in time for the 2012/13 season.
The secrecy of the talks are bound to raise suspicions amongst supporters and are unlikely to encourage sponsors to be associated with legislators with no sense of responsibility or accountability.
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