ANN BUDGE has thrown her weight behind the proposal of Rangers to have both their and Celtic’s colt teams enter the SPFL in a 14-14-18 structure. Following the news that Budge’s own attempts to save Hearts from relegation had failed, the Tynecastle club supremo has moved to support the controversial proposal that would allow Hearts to remain in the Premiership.

As reported by the Daily Record, Budge will instead turn her attention to gaining enough votes to support the proposal by Rangers, which has been backed by Celtic.

The proposal states the colt teams won’t be able to get promoted as high as the Championship with a team with an age limit of 21. The colts teams would allow for the club to keep an eye on their talents without the need to loan them out.

The proposal continues stating that the clubs will purchase ‘at least 200 tickets at a cost of £15 for each away game, with the money paid in advance’. The clubs need to pay £125k in order to join the division.

This move would save Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer from relegation whilst creating a larger top flight that would appease the needs for Sky to have Edinburgh derby matches live. The game is in a very peculiar position and change seems to be the best way to improve and protect the future; although whether that includes Celtic’s youth team or not remains to be seen.

Brora Rangers’ chairman Willie Powrie said that the proposal was a ‘no brainer’; however, Ross County’s Roy MacGregor said that he was in favour of the idea but not at the moment. The Highland chief supports the idea but believes that Scottish football needs stability after a turbulent few months in the aftermath of Coronavirus.

“I’ve read it and think it’s got some really good things such as the development of players but it needs some more time.

“We’re going to get a fixture list out in three weeks. I’m afraid we can’t go back to the situation of reconstruction.

“There are positive things there and I’ve always been a fan of colt teams if we can afford it. I’d like to hear what my brothers in the part-time teams thought about it too.

“But the principle of developing players in competitive football with men is really positive.

“It’s just too early to do it this season. We can take time to work through it in a positive way and take all the views of the 42 clubs.

“Making decisions when there’s stress on the industry isn’t clever.”

Reconstruction has been a topic of conversation since the season was ended and Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer were confined to the drop. Hearts have attempted a number of options to save their Premiership status; albeit, each attempt thus far has failed meaning that should the SPFL clubs reject the move, Hearts will be playing their football in Scotland’s second tier.