THE debate over how best to reconstruct Scottish football had dragged on for so long, that Monday's vote almost came accompanied by a sense of relief.

After months and years of talking back and forth about issues such as the optimum number of teams in each division, the distribution of income, voting rights, pyramid schemes, play-offs and the rest, here at last was a sense of finality.

The Scottish Premier League might not have received the backing they needed to push through their proposals, but at least they had reached a point where a formal vote could be taken and the debate then put to bed for a good while. Or so it had seemed.

Instead, it appears there is an appetite among some to get straight back on the horse. Given the level of animosity that has accrued between some clubs, as well as the public's growing frustration and disenchantment with the whole thing, the idea of further talks starting soon will seem to many about as appealing as a week-old Scotch pie. St Mirren, though, are among those who believe there is no time like the present to get things moving again.

Perhaps as one of the two clubs, along with Ross County, who voted against the 12-12-18 proposals, they are part-motivated by a sense of obligation to provide an alternative. Theirs is a preference for a 14-14-14 model but would settle for tinkering with the current set-up to introduce a relegation play-off place, one league body, a more equitable financial distribution model, and a 9-3 voting system for all but two key issues.

They mooted as much before Monday's Hampden vote but did not garner sufficient support, despite a number of clubs showing some informal interest.

St Mirren, and County to a lesser extent, have now been depicted by some as the villains of the piece but chairman Stewart Gilmour and his board are happy to live with that. There are no regrets about their decision to vote against 12-12-18, no feeling that they misled the other 10 clubs in recent months when Neil Doncaster, the SPL chief executive, spoke about there being unanimity among all 12.

Talk of agendas, and of Gilmour somehow being worked from the back by Charles Green, the Rangers chief executive, were swiftly dismissed yesterday as "a bit naughty . . . Personally, we're a bit annoyed about the Rangers thing," said Gilmour. "But that's the west of Scotland, where you're supposed to be in one camp or the other."

Stewart Milne, the Aberdeen chairman, was particularly vociferous in his criticism of St Mirren following Monday's meeting, while others also lined up to have a kick. Gilmour, in turn, fired back yesterday, condemning the air of "arrogance and bullying" at Monday's meeting that "got rather personal", and accused Scot Gardiner, the Dundee chief executive, of being "economical with the truth" in a recent television interview about his club's finances.

That chat will only add to the ill-feeling brewing between the clubs ahead of Dundee's visit to Paisley on Saturday, with the Dens Park directors thought to be considering eschewing the traditional boardroom privileges to sit instead with the away fans. Gilmour, though, hoped things would soon calm down.

"Regarding Stewart [Milne's] personal outburst, I put it down to the fact that it was a very emotional time. That's why we said nothing on Monday night. I hope that Stewart in the cold light day of day will think, 'I was maybe a bit over the top'. He was upset and annoyed, as many of us were, leaving the meeting. Hopefully, in the next few months he'll give me a call or shake my hand and say 'we disagreed but that's life'. I'm sure he will."

Gilmour had been painted as the man who, for selfish reasons, put an end to a possible brighter financial future for Scottish football. He doesn't see it that way. "There was a desperation to get this system through. I don't quite understand this desperation, just as I don't understand it when people accuse St Mirren of killing Scottish football's great new dawn. I'd love someone to sit me down and tell me what this great new dawn was. But no-one will."

The back-and-forth public sniping, the clear ideological differences, the wearying sense of ennui having been over the course so many times without finding consensus, the lack of genuine leadership, and the looming onset of the close season would all seem good enough reasons to leave the idea of shaking up Scottish football well alone for the time being, perhaps visiting it only again when temperatures have cooled and an appetite for debate has returned.

St Mirren, though, would be happy to resume talks today if they felt the other clubs wanted to give it another go. "It's not impossible for me to sit down at the table with the others; I hope it happens sooner rather than later," added Gilmour. "This is nothing personal, this is about running a football club within a structure we would love to see as one governing body.

"To get us moving, we'd keep pushing for one league body, an all-through distribution of finance, a play-off between the SPL and the first division brought in now. Let's get together for a year or two, let's see how everyone gets on and see whether there's a system we all want to move to.

"We've always favoured a 14-team top league, but if someone says we should go to 16 – as the Poles just have – then fine, let's look at it. But let's work together and we'll find it makes it easier to get there."