Some clubs were sceptical about a move to a 10-team top league
The 12 Scottish Premier League clubs have reached a broad agreement at a meeting at Hampden for a 10-team top league and a second tier of 12 teams.
The SPL will now consult the Scottish Football Association and the Scottish Football League to progress the idea.
A top tier of 14 teams had looked the most likely alternative to the 10-10 arrangement proposed by the SPL after some clubs had voiced reservations.
But Monday's meeting suggests those clubs are now convinced of its merits.
A statement released by the SPL after the meeting said: "The Scottish Premier League clubs today reaffirmed their commitment to the work of the Strategic Review Group to develop a structure for the whole of Scottish football.
"Broad support was given to progressing a 10-team Premiership and a 12-team Championship at the top of a pyramid for Scottish football as the preferred option.
"The SPL clubs have asked the executive team to further develop aspects of these proposals and to update the Strategic Review Group's report."
SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster and the league's chairman Ralph Topping were keen on a 10-10 format, an arrangement favoured by Celtic and Rangers.
However, Dundee United, Hearts, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Kilmarnock had expressed doubts about that set-up and St Mirren had stated their preference for a league of 14.
Doncaster said on Monday afternoon: "Clearly when clubs haven't got a detailed, finalised plan in front of them, then we need to understand that clubs want to reserve their final position and need to see a final document in front of them before they can give their ringing endorsement.
"But all 12 clubs have agreed to the statement today so hopefully this gives us a mandate to move forward."
Among those lobbied for support by the SPL top duo in the past 10 days were Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson and Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov.
Following the first meeting of all 12 clubs on 4 January, a 16-team league, known to be popular among fans, was seemingly dismissed as unworkable.
Doncaster and Topping said that it was not financially viable, with their calculations seeing each club losing around £1m per year as a result of lost matches and television revenue.
A 14-team league would have involved a split, a much-maligned aspect of the current system, but it would have seen the end of the fixture imbalances that have been thrown up in recent seasons since teams would have played their opponents twice each either side of the division.
No vote was possible at Monday's gathering, since a formal resolution needs to be put to clubs 14 days beforehand and that had not happened.
The package of reform proposed by the SPL also involves play-offs, an earlier start to the season and a winter shutdown.
Article by the BBC. Original Article.
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