Renegade 10 make peace with SPL

Peace has finally broken out in the war over television rights for the Scottish Premier League.

Both the Old Firm and the rest of the SPL clubs have agreed to the proposal of SPL chairman Lex Gold and the executive over the re-structuring of the voting system and TV revenue.

New Rangers chairman John McClelland revealed at the weekend that the Glasgow giants were prepared to concede ground in the war of words following the collapse of SPL TV.

Now the renegade 10, who had previously announced their intention to quit the SPL in the wake of the withdrawal of support for SPL TV by the Old Firm, have also agreed to the proposal.

The 10 were furious that the Glasgow pair had invoked the 11-1 voting system to veto SPL TV and were also unhappy with the revenue split for television money with Rangers and Celtic.

But now the 10 other top-flight clubs have written to SPL chairman Gold agreeing to the new proposal which covers voting and television revenues.

A statement for the 10 said: ‘‘Scotland’s leading clubs today accepted in principle a compromise agreement put forward by the SPL that will see fairer governance of the top tier of Scottish football in future.

‘‘The two key planks of the proposal - that the voting threshold be changed from an 11-1 required majority to a 8-4 and that there should be a more equitable split of TV revenues - have already been accepted on behalf of the Old Firm by new Rangers chairman John McClelland.’’

Hearts chief executive Chris Robinson praised the work of the SPL in finding the compromise deal.

Robinson said: ‘‘The role of the SPL in finding this solution and, in particular, chairman Lex Gold, should not go unmentioned and they deserve praise for the time, effort and patience they have shown.’’

The decision of the 10 will now bring the prospect of a television deal for Scottish football closer.

The 10 clubs have been left without valuable revenue without a TV deal.

The SPL have welcomed the decision of the 10 to agree to the compromise.

An SPL spokesman said: ‘‘This appears to be a significant step forward and we will be examining in further detail the response from the 10 clubs.

‘‘We would hope to be able to make a more detailed announcement in the next couple of days.’’

BBC Scotland are currently the only runners in the race to screen SPL football in the forthcoming season.

They offered a cautious welcome to the announcement of the 10 renegade clubs.

A BBC spokesman said: ‘‘This looks like good news for Scottish football, but we could not comment any further at this stage.’’