Hearts bid to avoid relegation by proposing modified version of league reconstruction

Hearts could avoid relegation by proposing a modified version of Scottish league reconstruction this week, Telegraph Sport can reveal.

The Tynecastle club were officially demoted to the Championship by Monday’s board meeting of the Scottish Professional League, which also accorded Celtic the status of champions, two months after a shutdown of football north of the border was imposed on March 13.

While Celtic’s mood was exultant – with Neil Lennon declaring that he loves the players who took the club to a ninth successive title – Hearts were both confrontational and conciliatory. In a statement on the club website, they threatened to go to court to prevent a loss of competitive status, saying, “Legal action would be both time consuming and expensive.

“However, the cost to the club of relegation would outweigh these considerations.

To our supporters, we thank you for showing patience and continuing to back the club. We will continue to fight against what we believe is an unjust outcome.”

On the other hand, Hearts have gone back to basics in an attempt to overcome the opposition to their previous proposal for a 14-team Premiership which would revert to its current 12-team format after a single season. The plan encountered powerful opposition from top-flight clubs who were alarmed by the prospect of three or even four teams being relegated if play-offs were included in the mix.

Hearts are now understood to favour a phased restoration of a 12-team Premiership over a longer period and that the SPFL is prepared to assist with the drafting of any proposal. The Hearts chair, Ann Budge, will neverthless have to use all her powers of persuasion to secure the 11 Premiership votes necessary to secure a structural change.

The club’s statement said: “Hearts will shortly submit a member’s resolution that we believe is a pragmatic solution to the issues the game currently faces and a way forward that the clubs can unite behind. It is our belief that this resolution, if supported, will provide an opportunity to avoid disproportionately disadvantaging - financially and otherwise - any club.”

Hearts’ proposal is likely to be with the SPFL on Wednesday.

Scotland’s European entrants were also confirmed, with Celtic going into the Champions League qualifiers and Rangers, Motherwell and Aberdeen all going into the Europa League, the latter by default in the absence of a Scottish Cup winner or runner-up. Rangers will go into the second round of qualifiers in mid-August although they still have a game to play in this season’s competition, if they are able to fulfil the return leg of their round-of-16 tie against Bayer Leverkusen, whom they trail 3-1 after the first leg at Ibrox.

A unique problem would occur if Rangers were to overturn the odds with a victory over Bayer, which would then see the Ibrox side scheduled to compete in two seasons of the competition at the same time. The lesson of the Covid-19 disruption is that nothing – however surreal it might appear – can ever be ruled out.