Is SPFL reconstruction going to happen? How many votes are needed for controversial 10 team Premiership plans to pass

It's back on the table but will it actually happen? We've taken a look at what would be needed from the vote

Well it's been a few years, but here we go again.

For the first time since the height of Covid, the prospect of SPFL reconstruction looks like it's coming back to the table.

Record Sport understands that the Competitions Working Group, the body in charge of managing any potential reshaping within the SPFL, has been called into action with a meeting set to take place in the next couple of weeks to go over options.

Among them are four broad possibilities – and the one which appears to be gathering momentum would involve reverting to a 10-team Premiership and ditching the split altogether. That proposal would also factor in a 10-team Championship and a 16-team third tier.

Outside of that, there's the option of staying with the status quo, or increasing the top flight to 14 or 16 teams. When it was last voted on in 2020, as a means to avoid relegating Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer, the 14-team option could not gather enough support.

And no wonder, given the strength of the majority required to implement such a change.

How many clubs must vote in favour?

In order to change the structure of the SPFL, an overwhelming majority is required. And in a nutshell, that's why previous attempts to shake it up have fallen flat.

All 42 teams in the SPFL as it stands would have to vote, and three outcomes within that would need to be reached.

• 11 out of 12 Premiership teams must vote in favour
• 8 out of 10 Championship teams must vote in favour
• 15 of 20 teams in League One and Two must vote in favour

That means that, in total, 34 of 42 teams across the SPFL must be in favour.

So is it likely to happen?

Not especially, no.

A Hampden source told us when we broke the story: “I think the bookies would say that the odds of any successful league reconstruction are limited.”

There's a number of reasons for that – chiefly that teams at the lower echelons of the Premiership would be voting themselves into trouble.

Two would have to be relegated from the top flight just to make room – three if we want to avoid the unfortunate situation where the Championship winners are denied promotion.

The '10 team' proposal would also require two to be demoted from the Championship to a revamped third tier, which would be expanded to 16 teams – two from the current Championship, ten from League One, and four from League Two.

Getting that proposal voted through by 11 of 12 in the Premiership and an overwhelming majority of the lower leagues to relegate would require some clubs to vote to relegate themselves – and others to vote themselves into future trouble due to a condensing of the top flight.

It's a tough sell.

Of the other options on the table, the prospect of moving to a 14-14-14 setup was already voted down five years ago due to a lack of support. And moving to 16 would require a shakeup of the fixture list that would mean at least one fewer Old Firm game every season. It may be popular among fans, but ask Sky Sports what they think of that proposition, and clubs may have their answer.