Hearts owner Ann Budge meets Hamilton's Les Gray today - with several scenarios open for SPFL reconstruction

Hamilton vice-chair Les Gray is in talks with Hearts owner Ann Budge.

Hearts owner Ann Budge and Hamilton vice-chair Les Gray are meeting this afternoon to build the case for league reconstruction - with a 14-team and a 16-team Premiership both possibilities.

The Edinburgh businesswoman and her South Lanarkshire counterpart hope to expand Scotland's top flight in time for next season and, potentially, invite Highland and Lowland League clubs into League Two.

A 14-team top flight is likely to be at the forefront of talks over the coming weeks but a number of other options will also be considered, including a 16-team division.

A major factor in any reorganisation is the new Sky Sports broadcasting deal, which is worth £26m a year to clubs and begins on August 1 but stipulates four Celtic-Rangers games.

Any formal reconstruction proposal requires an 11-1 majority vote in favour from Premiership clubs, plus 75 per cent approval from the Championship and 75 per cent across League One and League Two.

The daunting task will begin in earnest when Budge and Gray convene today. They aim to form a committee and put restructuring plans to clubs before the end of May having both pressed for larger leagues in recent years.

Promoting two teams from each division and bringing Lowland League winners Kelty Hearts and Highland League champions Brora Rangers into League Two would enable a 14-team top flight.

Such a proposal could see Premiership teams play each other home and away before the league splits into a top six and bottom eight after 26 matches. Teams would then play home and away again, leaving those in the bottom half with two extra games to compensate for less fixtures against bigger clubs.

The Scottish Professional Football League agreed to explore reconstruction after Dundee's delayed vote finally passed a motion to end the Championship, League One and League Two immediately following the coronavirus outbreak.

Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers were named winners of the three divisions, with Partick Thistle and Stranraer relegated. The Premiership remains suspended for now but will conclude with UEFA's blessing later this month - handing Celtic the title and consigning bottom-of-the-table Hearts to relegation.

The SPFL appointed Budge and Gray to lead a reconstruction task force ahead of the new campaign. Budge knows a larger league could preserve Hearts' top-flight status and is a strong advocate of a 14-team set-up. Gray spoke to the Evening News explaining the challenges he and the Tynecastle owner face.

"I've got a meeting with Ann today to discuss the timescale. I will feed the [SPFL] board into that too," he said. "There is no point having an open-ended thing. There has to be some lines in the sand.

"The task force we are setting up has to have a remit and some terms of reference so we can tell the public and media what it looks like. Then we are under pressure to try and deliver something rather than just have a talking shop. That's crucial.

"We will be talking about the make-up of this panel so we can get a cross section of football clubs. We are probably looking to involve the Lowland League and Highland League in that conversation because they are affected by this if we want the pyramid to work.

"I think we should try and achieve it by the end of May, although I don't think we will be playing football for some time."

Gray explained how the new Sky deal influences how many teams can be accommodated in the Premiership. The TV company have an agreement to broadcast four Celtic-Rangers matches each season.

"If we don't achieve that, we are then in a very difficult situation negotiating with Sky regarding the new contract. The new deal insists that is the case," he said.

"Sky will have to work with us when we start the season. The contract says August 1 but I'm not convinced that will happen. We need to be ready to go as soon as we can and make sure we aren't still all fighting about it at that point.

"I've been an advoate of reconstruction for years and I've been waiting for the right time to get it on the table. If you open the pandora's box of distributuon monies, that's what creates most of the debate. If you only look at one way of doing it, you make it very difficult for yourself. So you need to see how many different ways there are of doing it.

"If that ends up at 14 teams, terrific. I'll support that. We can't discount anything else at this stage. Most people have looked at 14 teams and think it makes common sense. It would help the disaffected clubs, particularly Hearts and Partick Thistle who have been dealt a blow which doesn't seem very fair.

"That model also looks at potentially dealing with the pyramid structure and potentially introduce clubs at the bottom end if you wanted to. That would bring a breath of air through the whole league.

"There are other issues with regard to clubs in the lower leagues wanting a particular type of reconstruction which might be permanent. I think there are also clubs in the Premiership who want a temporary fix to solve the drama we've got just now. Those are some of the challenges."

Gray has been involved in league reconstruction talks in his previous role as Hamilton chairman. He feels he knows the pitfalls and hopes that experience will be of benefit.

"I've been through league reconstruction before with Hamilton, getting leagues joined together when we were in the Championship, and then there was the Hibs play-off. That brought on a lot of drama and it's worked," he said.

"I think the league has been in a good place so we just need to be careful that, whichever way we tweak it, we don't undo that good work.

"I've gone back into the old SPL registers to previous occasions when league reconstruction reared its head. I've got the minutes from then, so we are already going to start from the position where it failed before. We aren't starting from the beginning with a totally blank page, that's what I'm saying.

"I understand the objectives, why it failed before and we know the pitfalls. Let's address them and get them out of the way, then address the problems - which are Hearts, Partick Thistle, etc. Then we need to address solutions: Short-term fix versus long-term fix, 14 versus 16 and anything else. We need to filter it down and get to a point."