Scotland's top football clubs will be asked to give the go-ahead to a radical restructuring of the SPL at a meeting at Hampden in the next fortnight.

The changes, partly prompted by Henry McLeish's ongoing review of our national game, could see the top flight increased to 14 teams, the season kick off in July and new play-offs introduced.

A 14-team league would retain a split - with the top six sides battling it out for the title and European places and the bottom eight scrapping to avoid relegation.

The switch would mean that each team would play a balanced number of home and away fixtures - something that has not been possible in the current 12 team set-up.

The start of the season would also be brought forward to July to help our top clubs do better in the qualification rounds of the Champions League and the Europa League.

Meanwhile, the present one-up, one-down promotion-relegation system would be abolished in favour of play-offs which would give First Division clubs a better chance to go up.

And the possibility of Celtic and Rangers as well as Hibs and Hearts fielding reserve sides in a new league structure could be considered.

New SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster believes that change could help to improve the Scottish top flight. He stated: "There are a number of proposals being talked about in line with McLeish's review."