Scottish clubs agree to league reconstruction after late night talks

Scottish football league reconstruction has finally been approved after a day of protracted talks at Hampden.

The new Scottish Professional Football League was officially created just before midnight on Thursday, over 15 hours after club representatives from the SPL and SFL arrived at the national stadium.

The creation of the new single league body was expected to be a mere formality but the required vote to dissolve the SFL, needed to allow 30 clubs to resign and join the new league, was delayed over unhappiness at the lack of financial information forthcoming from the SPL.

A number of SFL sides were concerned over potential financial liabilities which would be placed upon them post-merger, such as an outstanding £1.8m litigation against the SPL by pub landlord Harry Hood.

Talks between the boards of the two leagues carried on during the day, before a final session got under way at 7pm on Thursday to thrash out the finer details.

With club chairmen waiting in the lobby at Hampden for news from the meeting upstairs, word finally came just before midnight that the SPFL had finally come into being.

All 42 clubs will now play under one league organisation, although the current 12-10-10-10 structure of the country's four divisions remains unchanged.

A play-off will be introduced between the SPL, expected to be rebranded as the Premiership, and the First Division, set to be known as the Championship.

More money will flow down to First Division clubs and the top two teams in the Second Division through a new financial distribution model.

At present the team which wins the First Division receives £68,000 in prize money. Under the new system, they will take in £386,248.

Even the lowest placed team in the second tier, the lowest full-time division, will make £63,366 more than in previous seasons.

The new SPFL board was also officially confirmed late on Thursday night.

Duncan Fraser (Aberdeen), Eric Riley (Celtic), Stephen Thompson (Dundee United), Les Gray (Hamilton), Mike Mulraney (Alloa) and Bill Darroch (Stenhousemuir) are the six club representatives on the new board.