Rangers’ proposal to restructure the SPFL and introduce Colt teams has won support from Hearts, according to a report, as Ann Budge gets behind the Gers’ plan
According to the Daily Record, the Jambos would vote for ambitious plan and save their own Premiership skin.
Rangers have long been in favour of allowing Colts to take their place in the SPFL and the Gers youngsters caught the eye on their run to the Challenge Cup semi-final last season.
The Brora Rangers chairman – who would see his club promoted – has also backed the idea, calling it a “no brainer” for lower league clubs with a substantial financial package on offer.
The Colt sides would pay an initial £125k to join the league with further payments made in the coming seasons, taking the overall payments to over £1million; both sides will also commit to buying a minimum of 200 £15 tickets in advance for every away game and paying the host club £1000 to stream any games.
Like previous plans, it requires the backing of 11 of the 12 Premiership clubs, eight in the Championship and 15 out of 20 across the bottom two divisions – and it remains to be seen if it would garner much in the lower leagues.
Peterhead, Clyde, Stranraer and Forfar would all drop into the bottom tier – although still remain in the third tier as they were in 2019/20 – while Cove Rangers would effectively be denied promotion despite moving from the fourth to the third tier.
With Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and Aberdeen all thought to now be behind the plans, it does appear to be gaining some traction.
Whether it advances to being formally voted on remains to be seen but, hopefully, it is only a matter of time before Scotland falls in line with most major European leagues and allows some form of second-string teams into the league.