DOOMED PLAN?

Hearts chief Budge’s league reconstruction proposal may not even get to a vote

ANN BUDGE’S last-ditch reconstruction bid may not even get to an SPFL vote.

The league’s board met to discuss the Hearts’ owner’s 14-14-14 masterplan.

SPFL chiefs later confirmed a series of divisional meetings on the topic next week, starting with the Premiership on Monday.

But SunSport understands the early signs are Budge is struggling to gain enough support across ANY of the leagues.

If SPFL feedback tells the Jambos chief her bid is doomed to fail, a formal resolution is unlikely to be put forward.

Budge could, ironically, get most support from Premiership clubs, who binned her previous reconstruction plan.

But a host of Championships clubs won’t back her, while it’s understood several League 1 and League 2 outfits are unimpressed by the plans.

Elgin chairman Graham Tatters confirmed his club would not be backing Budge’s scheme.

He said: “It is very little change to what was proposed before. We would want to stick with the status quo.

“Some of us are hanging on by threads at the moment, so it is hard enough without worrying about reconstruction.”

Stenhousemuir chairman Iain McMenemy also reckons Budge’s plan won’t gain enough support.

He said: “I’d be very surprised if there was backing for this.

“I can’t see a lot has changed since we found out they weren’t keen on it two weeks ago.

“If you are St Mirren, Hamilton, St Johnstone, Ross County, you are being asked to save Hearts for this season in the Premiership.

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“But you’re pretty sure that in a couple of years time there’s going to be at least a double relegation from the Premiership.

“If you are a Championship club, then if that league has to go from a 14 back to a ten . . . and you’d have 16 teams when the two come out of the Premiership.

“So you potentially have six clubs dropping out of the second tier. Why would the Championship clubs support that?

“If you hang on, we might find even over the next two weeks that we will have a sense of who can start to play and it will be a restricted league.

“I just think Ann Budge has got her timing all wrong. There are so many uncertainties and so many questions.

“To restructure now just adds another set of issues and risks to an absolute plethora of unknowns already there.”

But Budge does have an ally in Falkirk chief Gary Deans, who also believes a three-tier set-up is key.

He said: “You’re left with the clubs who can play, and those who are looking at hibernation until January or a whole season, and returning whenever crowds come back.

“If that’s the case for us and others then the SPFL should be finding a structure to work for us.”

Meanwhile, several Premiership clubs have started to source Covid-19 testing machines at a cost of £36,000 each.

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