Budge almost ready to reveal new proposals

Ann Budge will stage a weekend of showdown talks with rival clubs before unveiling her league reconstruction plans as she bids to save Hearts from relegation.

The Tynecastle chief executive is confident of having made “excellent progress” and is poised to reveal her ideas as early as Monday after being charged with devising new proposals following talks with Premiership clubs.

Budge was co-chair of a 15-strong task force pieced together to look into options after clubs voted to prematurely bring the curtain down on the season.

But with Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer facing the drop with around a quarter of the campaign still remaining, top-flight clubs indicated there was no appetite to restructure “at this time”.

WhentheSPFLdecisionto“call” the Premiership was confirmed on Monday, Budge indicated her club was continuing to take legal advice in their fight against an “expulsion” that she has predicted will cost her club £3 million.

Budge has spent the week gathering the opinions of teams on “a pragmatic solution to the issues the game currently faces” and now hopes to present her vision for the future next week.

A club source said: “Excellent progress has been made on the paper that is proposing an amended structure to help Scottish football through the challenges of the Covid pandemic.

“Ann has been consulting with clubs to understand their individual circumstances and continues to do so. These conversations take time but are vital in understanding the issues and challenges clubs face and to refine the content of the paper.

“As such, nothing will be issued until Monday, at the earliest, as it is important that the time is taken to speak with as many clubs as possible and ensure what is being proposed helps to strengthen Scottish football’s position in dealing with the challenges facing us in the immediate and medium term.”