St Johnstone owner Adam Webb has rubbished proposals that the Premiership should be cut from 12 to 10 clubs.
The SPFL’s Competitions Working Group (CWG), who comprise representatives from clubs in all four divisions, are currently exploring the possibility of a 10, 14 or 16-team top flight.
Reconstruction talks have been partly driven by an increased strain on the fixture schedule, with extra European matches leaving fewer available dates in the domestic calendar.
Premiership sides currently play 38 league fixtures per season.
Any proposed change would require the backing of 11 out of 12 Premiership clubs, plus 75 per cent of Premiership and Championship clubs combined, as well as 75 per cent of the 42 SPFL clubs combined in order to pass.
Saints are currently bottom of the Premiership, so it should perhaps come as no surprise that Webb backs an expanded league.
St Johnstone owner Adam Webb has shot down suggestions the Premiership should be cut
SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster back when the SPFL brand was launched in 2013
However, he told Sky Sports: ‘That would be a huge mistake [cutting the top flight to 10 teams]. I think the bar for good or bad when it comes to football, UK football and world football, is the English Premier League.
‘They’ve got 20 clubs and, while we’re not the same size as England, obviously, and we’re not going to have 20 clubs in our Premiership – what you want to do is edge closer to that. It is a more familiar system that is more geared towards success on the world stage and on the UK stage.
‘From looking at the quality in the Championship this season, I can tell you we have two, three, four clubs for sure that would do just fine in the Premiership, and that’s where we should be headed. We should be growing the Premiership.
‘We should be going to a 14-team league very soon, and then five years later – as long as the quality in the Championship is sufficient – projecting to go to a 16-team league, and if you keep growing it on a gradual, very deliberate way, we can make sure that the quality is there.
‘We absolutely need to have quality with every team in the Premiership, but that’s the direction we should be going because it’s better for Scotland, it’s better for Scottish football.’
