Gordon strachan and Walter Smith, the managers of Celtic and Rangers respec�tively, are expected to step up calls for the under-21 rule to be scrapped next month.

Gordon strachan and Walter Smith, the managers of Celtic and Rangers respectively, are expected to step up calls for the under-21 rule to be scrapped next month.

The Scottish Premier League are set to convene an elite think-tank to look into the controversial issue, which dictates that three players under the age of 21 - not including a second goalkeeper - have to be included in teams' matchday squads of 18.

The working group is due to meet in early December, with the regulations on under-21 players and the future of the reserve and under-19 leagues on the agenda. The composition of the committee has yet to be finalised but Smith and Strachan are likely to be joined by Jimmy Calderwood, the Aberdeen manager, Craig Levein of Dundee United, Falkirk's John Hughes, and Mark McGhee, of Motherwell.

The meeting will also bring together Lex Gold, the SPL's executive chairman, and secretary Iain Blair, as well as Campbell Ogilvie, the Hearts managing director, who doubles as the SFA's first vice-president.

Smith and Strachan have been particularly vociferous in their criticism of the rule.

Following talks at the SPL's elite coaches forum at Gleneagles last month, Strachan claimed that every top-flight manager was against the rule, insisting that young players would benefit more from being sent out on loan than from sitting unused on the substitutes' bench.

It has survived calls in the past for its removal but is likely to face renewed pleas for it be scrapped in time for next season as a result of the managers' meeting.

An SPL spokesman said: "The football working group is something that has been in existence in the past and convenes from time to time. This time, it will have another look at some of the structures and rules we have in place to help promote youth development, essen-tially the under-21 rule, the under-19 league and the reserve league.

"We want to ask whether they are the best structures to help encourage young players to come through the ranks.

"It's about getting the football point of view, from those operating at the sharp end who have a level of expertise, and there will be two or three meetings to form a consensus. The SPL board will then flesh this out and if there are any changes we want to make we will go back to the clubs for a vote.

"One of the fundamental points of the SPL is that we have been open to change and open to progress since we started."

It has been argued that the under-21 rule has run its course, with Clydesdale Bank Premier League clubs more likely to field younger players than they did in previous seasons due to financial constraints.