Alex McLeish is backing Hearts’ bid to avoid relegation via reconstruction - because he believes it would strengthen Scotland at international level.

Jambos owner Ann Budge is leading the fight for a league revamp but if she fails to gain enough support it looks likely the Tynecastle side will drop down into the Championship.

The former Hibs, Rangers and Scotland boss does not want to see one of the nation’s biggest clubs slip out of the top-flight.

But he is also convinced an expanded top-flight would ease the pressure on the league’s best players and boost the nation’s chances of tasting success at international level.

He said: “It would be terrible for the Scottish game to lose the big clubs. We need the big clubs in the league.

“I know that Hearts haven’t performed, so people will say they deserve to go, and some people will say we must keep them.

“I feel we’ve got to expand the league, that’s my opinion.

“I’m not sure how many will [agree] but I certainly feel that for us to improve in the Scottish leagues we’ve got to keep the big clubs alive, the clubs with the big supports.

“Yes, it’s got to be on merit but I think there’s too much pressure on the Scottish game and the Scottish clubs.

“And that’s one of the reasons why we haven’t done so well in international football as we should be doing.

“We’ve lost a lot of players, the Bosman era, you name it, we’ve suffered every which way, but there’s a wee chink of light and I’d say expand the league, make it bigger.

“Don’t leave the sword hanging over all our clubs. From day one to the end of the season, they’re playing under a hell of a pressure.”

Meanwhile, McLeish admits he does not envy the job of the game’s administrators as they bid to navigate a way out of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Aberdeen legend had a spell as manager of Genk in Belgium but is unsure whether Scotland should follow the Jupiler Pro League and end the season prematurely and declare Celtic champions.

He added to PLZ Soccer: “I know the Belgians gave it to Brugge and nobody has really followed suit.

“It seems bizarre that in, I don’t know, five years you’re going to ask ‘who scored the goal that won them the title?’.

“I don’t know what they’re going to do. They must be in a real fankle, the authories, all over the world, as to what they do.”