League reconstruction - why, when & what might it look like?

It's been a while, but league reconstruction is now back on the agenda in Scottish football.

The blissful accord of the last decade of so has again been disrupted by talk of 10-team top flights, voting structures and money distribution.

Some revel in the logistics. Others are repelled by the tedium. But why are we talking about this again? And what happens now?

Why are we talking about this now?

While the Scottish game has been reasonably stable in its set up for more than a decade, the same cannot be said about European football.

Recent developments have led to more games in the Champions League and Europa League, plus the addition of the Conference League.

That has further crowded the fixture calendar and put more strain on squads, while also exacerbating the financial gulf between the top clubs and the rest.

In 2024, the SPFL announced a record sum of over £33m was being paid to the 42 clubs, but 80% went to the top 12 with the 30 teams below sharing the remainder.

When you add in Uefa solidarity payments - paid to Premiership clubs not playing in Europe - and the gap widens even further between the top 12 and the rest.

Lower down the leagues, clubs are struggling. This season, League One clubs Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dumbarton have been put into administration, with others having struggling to make ends meet.

There is also a growing number of teams wishing to join the pyramid set-up, with the current Highland/Lowland league format likely to change.

It could be there is are new East, West and Northern Leagues with the three winners playing a round-robin competition for the right to play the bottom club in League Two for a place in the SPFL.

What are the options?

Reducing the Premiership to 10 teams would mean clubs playing 36 games compared to the current 38, with each team meeting four times and no split.

However, it's hard to envisage that gaining enough support from clubs, given they could be voting themselves out of the elite.

A 14 or 16-team top flight are also possibilities, with a number of options regarding splits likely to be under consideration.

However that would mark the most radical change in a generation and would need the majority of clubs to agree.

It would also need the support of the broadcast partners, who pour millions of pounds into the SPFL.

In the main, Sky Sports would be looking to ensure that four Old Firm fixtures remain part of the calendar. And that would be unlikely with a bigger top league.

Could we stick with 12 teams and a split?

The current 12-10-10-10 format works, but does have its flaws.

The Premiership split after 33 games can create an imbalance of home and away fixtures, but has proven popular and generates excitement throughout the division.

But one of the key reasons for these talks is to reduce fixture congestion, so a 38-game season could prove too much of a sticking point.

Do fans not get a say?

Its unlikely the SPFL will ask fans but it is plausible that clubs - particularly those such as Hearts and Motherwell who are fan owned - could canvass their own supporters to establish what they would like.

Other clubs may well do it too, as there is a realisation that these are the customers who bring in the much-needed revenue.

Whether they listen to them or not is another issue.

What happens next?

Clubs will be spoken to both individually and collectively to establish what views they have on the various reconstruction models.

Some have already had their say and, over the coming months, the SPFL will gather more view and attempt to set out some proposals.

Pleasing the majority of clubs, plus other stakeholders such as commercial partners and supporters is a tough task.

Let's be clear about one thing... there will be no one-size-fits-all solution. Every club will have its own idea about what's best for them as a business.

And as usual money will be a key factor.

Talks will continue for some time before any plan it put forward. Then it will go to a vote of the 42 member clubs...

So how does the voting system work?

The voting structure within the SPFL can look quite complicated and could, of course, change. Although there would likely need to be a vote to force that...

As it stands, for anything to be voted through, a proposal needs the backing of:

• 11 of the 12 Premiership clubs

• 8 of the 10 in the Championship

• 15 of the 20 in Leagues 1 and 2

If any of the above does not happen then, as things stand, no change to the current structure can be made.

What timescales are we talking about?

Nothing will change any time soon. Not next season, and probably not the season after. The planning for those is already too far down the road.

That said, it would be no surprise if the pace increases over the summer, with any potential alterations happening for the 2027/28 campaign at best.