IT is now 40 years since what we now call the old First Division transformed into the shorter Scottish Premier League and, according to Neil Doncaster, this might be the last season of a 12-team division for the good of the game in this country.

The chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League doesn't pretend to have all the answers but a change to, say, an 18-team league could well be a solution to many of the problems that he, the clubs and supporters face,

The need for a winter break is obvious. But it's not quite as simple as finding a few weeks in January to give the top teams a rest. So much football is crushed into an ever-expanding season that teams would end up playing almost every midweek to accommodate two weeks off.

And then there is the problem of players not getting enough time off during a close season that has almost become closed. Summer football is worth talking about, but that has its own problems as well, so what can be done to at least go some way to sorting this out?

Doncaster, at Hampden yesterday to oversee the first-round draw of the Scottish League Cup, was asked whether league reconstruction would help with all the issues mentioned above.

"That's really the nub of it," said Doncaster. "Within the current league format we have, there is very limited flexibility. If you were to look at a different league format that would create fewer league games than the 38 we have in the top tier at the moment, it would create a much more flexible set-up to enable us to perhaps have a winter break or schedule games away from the worst of the winter weather.

"We have 42 clubs and I suspect you would get 43 different answers. There are many formulations we can use, but we've ended up with a 12-team set-up in the Premiership for many years now - since the split was devised - because that is currently the consensus.

"Now that might change but ultimately you would need from next year - when the three-year fixed term, if you like, of this set-up expires - 11 out of the top 12 clubs to vote in favour of any different format.

"The only certainty of any league format is that the one you have is never as good as the one you might have. There is no magic solution. There may be a better format than we have at the moment but until you get a consensus of what that might be, we have what we have."

There are strong cases to be made on both sides, and the most pertinent question is whether there are enough 'big' clubs to support an 18-team Premiership. Given how many in the Championship are openly talking about part-time football, a larger top tier should help them. But would that help the rest?

In the 1980s, when the Premier League boasted four different title winners and competition was much greater than today, few complained about Celtic and Aberdeen facing one another four times in a season.

But this is not 1985. What can be said is that the current situation needs at least tweaked. How that can be done is not a simple thing to answer.

"There has been a lot of discussion about summer football and a winter break, " said Doncaster. "It is absolutely right and desirable that we have a proper debate around the league season and when we play our games. Obviously if you ask anyone they would rather play games in nice sunshine than horrible winter weather.

"The frank reality is we played seven games in January last year, not because we like January, but because we had nowhere else to put them. "That's because of the restrictions we have to work with, particularly those put down by FIFA and UEFA.

"If you ask anyone whether they like summer football, you do get broad support. The more pertinent question perhaps is do you want the league season at the same time as a European Championships or a World Cup when Scotland may or may not be there?

"You won't know whether they are going to be there when you schedule the season. That's a far more difficult question for people to answer. I would imagine many who support summer football wouldn't like the idea of the season taking place at the same time as a World Cup.

"At the moment we start playing in July and end in May. We play pretty intensively throughout the whole of the year.

"The fundamental problem we have is the amount of games we play. There are 38 games in a Premiership season, two cup competitions, all the UEFA games, the FIFA games; our scope to restructure the season format is actually very limited."