Celtic are reported to be working with their Old Firm partners to get a Colts team into an expanded League Two.
The issue has been running for years but has been met with strong resistance by clubs in the lower divisions for a variety of reasons.
Over the last decade the SPFL has opened up to a Play Off system with the Highland and Lowland leagues which has allowed Cove Rangers and Edinburgh City to come into the senior ranks.
Since the SPL Reserve League was abandoned in 2008 it has become a growing problem for Celtic to find a route to develop players from the youth ranks into the first team.
Development Leagues, u-19 and u-20 set ups have been tried while a recent attempt at a 17 match Reserve League proved to be unsatisfactory with Celtic pulling out after a year.
The Daily Mail reports:
A Rangers proposal to admit Old Firm B sides to the senior leagues as part of a league reconstruction blueprint failed to garner enough support from clubs last summer.
Following a request to the SFA’s Professional Game Board, however, Ibrox managing director Stewart Robertson has been given the green light to come up with a fresh bid – with the Glasgow clubs offering up to £1million as part of the agreement.
A working group chaired by Robertson, which includes Steve Brown of St Johnstone, Partick Thistle’s Gerry Britton, Stenhousemuir chairman Iain McMenemy and George Fraser of the Lowlands League, is swaying towards a proposal which would admit two colts teams, two teams from the Highland League and two from the Lowlands League to a bottom division beefed up from ten to 16.
The group have already met twice, with more discussions pencilled in for this month. The hope is that a paper could be put to club chairmen in time to alter the league structure ahead of next season.
Celtic have had a Colts team in the Challenge Cup in recent seasons, in the 2019/20 season they beat Queens Park on penalties then lost on penalties to Falkirk.
