United chief wants change to ‘reshape’ Scottish game

division of 14. We need to find a balance up of what revenue will be generated centrally and spread out through the leagues.

“Of course, the Premiership will get the largest chunk of that so, if it goes to a 14-team league, then the same pot is shared out between more people.

“The potential upside of that is Hearts will most probably stay up and, traditionally, their attendances and Dundee United attendances have been quite high.

“The gate receipts that come from that and the additional commercial revenue would be beneficial.

“The overall goal has to be making sure this is the right thing for Scottish football, not just in the short term, but it’s for the benefit of the medium and long-term health of the game.”

After a protracted saga to get to this point, Brannigan admits he was delighted with the outcome to call the lower leagues, even if they weren’t able to see out their title campaign.

He continued: “I’m absolutely delighted we’ll be back in the Premiership next season. The overriding thing over the last few weeks has been the SPFL’s decision, from all 42 member clubs, and it is now public knowledge how all of those clubs voted, including us.

“We were very much for it. We have been very clear about that all the way through in our communications.

“We’ve always said we’ll look after the club and Scottish football, but the one thing we would never jeopardise is our chances of getting promoted.

“We believe we have got there on merit.”

Dundee United will be playing Premiership football next season.