A return to a 10-team Premier Division and a mid-season split between the higher and lower placed clubs in the top flight are among the key recommendations of the Conroy report into the future development of the SSE Airtricity League.

The document, compiled by Declan Conroy, a former communications consultant to the FAI who has been involved in the successful bids for Dublin to stage the Europa League final in 2011 and a portion of the European Championships in 2020, also recommends a rebranding of the league, the recruitment of a new public face for it and increased prize money for clubs.

It is envisaged that the money for the latter will be generated by better marketing of the league and the recruitment of new sponsors. The delivery of the promised benefits would appear to be dependent on the generation of new revenue streams, and with Conroy clearly in no position to offer any guarantees on that front, there is an air of aspiration about many of the recommendations.

Most of the recommendations, like the improved levels of co-operation between the league’s clubs and the association itself, will not cause much controversy, but the league structures certainly will.

Automatically relegated

The report suggests a reduction in the size of the top flight in time for the 2017 season, with the bottom three next year automatically relegated, the First Division champions promoted and then the ninth-placed side in the top flight entering play-offs with the second- and third-placed sides in the First Division for the last remaining spot amongst the elite.

With the report also recommending that the league’s final Europa League spot be decided by play-offs, just about everybody would be left with something to play for even after the regular season had finished.

In the 2017 season, by which stage the top flight would have been reduced to 10 sides, it is suggested that the top six and bottom four be separated after the third round of games.

In the case of the four, only the top side would eventually be spared any threat of relegation at the end of the campaign proper, with the team finishing last going down and the next two above them going into promotion/relegation play- offs, with sides finishing second and third in the First Division. Under the system proposed, three clubs, almost a third of the total, could be relegated each year.

It is dramatic enough stuff to sell to clubs for whom the maintenance of a steady existence in the top flight is essentially the first priority when it comes to ensuring day-to-day survival.

The reasons for this are set out clearly in the report, with the enormous disparity between attendances and other factors that influence incomes in the two divisions highlighted.

Just over 350,000 people are said to have attended games over the course of last season, with just short of 300,000 having gone to watch sides in the top flight play. In 2014 the combined turnover of the 20 clubs was just €13 million and there were less than 20 full-time employees in total.

Unease

The unease some clubs felt even about the report seems to be touched upon in the admission by Conroy that one club refused to allow him to access the data relating to their finances contained in their annual licensing application.

The difficult nature of the relationship between the association and the clubs is also highlighted in the fact that Conroy cannot reveal any real detail of the revenue generated on behalf of the league by the FAI because, it is said, of the confidentiality agreements contained in the relevant commercial contracts.

This, Conroy acknowledges, is less than ideal and he suggests the appointment of an agreed third party to view them and essentially vouch for them. In the meantime, Conroy himself assures clubs that spending by the association on the senior games exceeds income.

He generally sums up the many problems of the league well and touches on some of the points that annoy clubs most when it comes to the stewardship of the association; but he seeks to remedy issues like high affiliation fees and the perception that fines are seen as revenue-generating by looking to grow overall income.

Clubs were shown the report last night and they are bound to welcome the talk of more money, better media coverage, greater professionalism and cooperation, as well as the recruitment of a new “champion” for the league.

The structural changes will take quite a bit of selling to some, however, and they do appear to be the most concretely deliverable aspect of the whole thing.