SFA set for crisis meeting
Stewart Regan faces a crisis meeting with seven of the Premiership’s 12 clubs at Hampden tomorrow as he bids to stop Project Brave unravelling.
The SFA’s radical blueprint for change in the youth ranks – revealed in full by MailSport last November – has now been on the drawing board for two years.
We revealed the first cracks in May this year when a 13-club revolt kicked off at Firhill amid fears they were being frozen out of plans to create an elite tier.
And it’s understood many of the concerns of clubs – both financial and strategic – remain unresolved.
A heated debate at a run-of-the-mill SPFL meeting of the Premiership clubs two weeks ago brought the issues back to the front burner.
It’ s believed Celtic, Rangers , Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen have been left off the invite list for tomorrow’s showdown.
The five are all understood to have no problems meeting the stringent criteria required for access to the top tier of the programme.
But despite concessions brokered by performance director Malky Mackay over the past two months, the rest of the clubs still feel they’re the victims of a carve-up and are questioning why they’re being forced to tick boxes they feel are an unnecessary financial burden.
SFA chief executive Regan is also under fire from his members for excluding Championship clubs with a strong reputation for player development – such as Falkirk, St Mirren and Morton – from the meeting at the National Stadium.