Rugby boss: Murrayfield gives capital clubs Ed start

MURRAYFIELD chiefs insist Scotland’s home of rugby will be ready to open its doors on August 1 to host games featuring Hearts and Hibs – on the same weekend.

Talks with the two Edinburgh clubs and their oval ball counterparts over the use of the 67,000capacity stadium as a ‘bio bubble’ are continuing.

But Scottish Rugby chief Mark Dodson, left, warned there’s no time to waste in making their invitation to help football return to the capital a reality.

A provisional date of August 1 has been mooted by SPFL supremo Neil Doncaster who has stated that

ballot. But the proposal is unlikely to even survive the weekend – leaving Hearts to face up to the reality they’ll start next season down in the Championship.

The plan needs 11 out of 12 Premierships to be on board and 75 per cent of the top two divisions and 32 of the 42 clubs overall to go through.

It is understood there is sympathy for the Jambos’ plight after Ann Budge’s club were left stuck at the foot of the table when the season was brought to an early conclusion.

But there is strong feeling the 14-10-10-10 structure is not the answer and Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor is among those set to kybosh the move in the next 48 hours.

He believes the bigger top flight would create a two-tier Premiership.

The proposal seen by Record Sport suggests the league would split after two rounds of fixtures – 26 games – and then the top and bottom halves would play each other home and away again.

This would create a 36-game season for the top six and give the bottom eight 38 matches.

But MacGregor believes it would be impossible for most clubs to sell season tickets on the back of the proposal as teams in the lower section would effectively face a large portion of the campaign in an inferior division.

There are also fears this would result in numerous meaningless fixtures for sides at the top end of the bottom eight.

Several clubs are concerned with seasonticket sales and that pay-at-the-gate punters – who would be crucial once stadiums reopen to fans – could be turned off by games lacking significance.

A source said: “It is unlikely to get much support beyond the clubs who would avoid relegation or would go up as part of the proposal.

“The fixture list is due to be released in 10 days and it would be nonsensical to rip up the entire structure at this stage, particularly when a 14-team set-up has so many problems.

“The general consensus is the 12-team division is not perfect but it has worked well for a number of years as it provides a competitive league with meaningful games.

“A 14-team structure would not provide that.”

There is also widespread opposition in the Championship and sources indicate there is little chance of hitting the 75 per cent support mark to nudge the plan through.

One Championship club said last night: “There’s no real incentive at our level to support any 14-10-10-10 proposal. That is not reconstruction for our division – it’s status quo. And that is the way most of the clubs are thinking.

“There was a consensus a 14-team Championship would be something we could get behind. But this is just more of the same.

“Hearts will back it as will Inverness and possibly Dundee but there’s absolutely nothing in it for the rest of us.”

SPFL sides have already voted down a temporary move to a bigger top flight and the Rangers proposal for a 14-10-18 set-up was also dismissed by several lower league clubs.

The board admit this is the final throw of the dice.

And chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “This is not a binding vote and is only to steer the board on whether to put forward a formal resolution for voting on or not.

“As ever, it will be up to the clubs to decide whether or not to support this proposal.”