SCOTTISH football faces being frozen out of a European Super League second division, never mind an elite competition, if plans mooted by five of Belgium's top clubs are approved.
Karl-Heinze Rummenigge, chairman of the European Club Association and the Bayern Munich chief executive, unveiled proposals last week that could lead to the formation of a Super League competition that would make Scotland's biggest clubs outcasts.
Opposition to those ideas have united Scotttish football. The SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster called the plan 'sinister, the Rangers manager Mark Warburton labelled it 'dangerous' and the Celtic chief Peter Lawwell flew to Switzerland for talks with Ajax aimed at fighting the proposal.
However, there could be worse news on the horizon for Scotland's clubs if the Belgians get their way.
Five of their top clubs who form their G5 Association – Anderlecht, Standard Liege, Club Brugge, Genk and Gent – met last week to discuss Rummenigge's controversial plans.
But their counter proposal could leave Scotland further in the cold.
The Belgians want to form a second tier of the European Super League featuring clubs from countries currently ranked from sixth to 14th on UEFA's Association club coefficients to hang on to the coat-tails of the big five nations: England, Spain, Germany, France and Italy.
That would mean invitations for clubs from Portugal, Russia, Ukraine, Holland, Turkey, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Greece and, of course, Belgium.
Their initial plans make no mention of possible promotion and relegation to the B Division of the European Super League by those nations below the cut-off position.
But with Scotland languishing in a lowly 25th place in the UEFA's Association club coefficients table, it could be decades before they climb back to the top 14.
Belgian clubs will attempt to lobby support for their plans among clubs from nations who would be in the second tier and Scottish football will be desperately hoping their plans don't receive support.
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