Elgin City chairman Graham Tatters remains sceptical about the prospect of Rangers and Celtic colts teams entering League Two but insists he will give the proposal a fair hearing.
Rangers have launched a fresh bid for both Old Firm teams to enter B teams into the bottom tier of the SPFL, having failed to gain enough support for the idea during league reconstruction talks last summer.
Ibrox managing director Stewart Robinson is the driving force behind the latest proposal, which could see the two clubs offer up to £1 million as part of the agreement.
The proposal would expand League Two from 10 to 16 teams and could be in place for next season, with the Old Firm colts teams joined by two Highland League sides and two Lowland League clubs.
Tatters described the league reconstruction discussions as “tedious” last summer, and he insists he continues to question the purpose of the idea.
Tatters said: “I’m quite sceptical about it. I can only speak for myself at the moment, I don’t know how the club feels. We have a board of directors here and everybody has got an opinion.
“In my opinion, I don’t think what they are trying to achieve is going to be achieved.
“If you look at the Old Firm game on Saturday, Rangers had one Scottish player and Celtic had four.
“I don’t think that will change just because they get a colts side. They are giving us loads of criteria they will jump through, but I don’t think they will achieve what they are saying they will.
“There’s a steering company set up to look at it so we will see what comes up.
“We will treat it on its merits, I’m not daft enough to bury my head in the sand. We will sit as a board of directors and see where we go.”
A working group chaired by Robertson has already met twice, with St Johnstone chairman Steve Brown, Partick Thistle chief executive Gerry Britton, Stenhousemuir chairman Iain McMenemy and George Fraser of the Lowland League also involved.
Rangers and Celtic are understood to have offered an initial payment of £125,000 each to join the league set up, with a further cash injection taking the total up to £1 million.
The Old Firm clubs will also guarantee buying a minimum of 200 tickets priced at £15 for every away game.
Tatters does not feel the financial incentives will benefit the Black and Whites due to their geographical location, and he added: “The money won’t really help us being in the north of Scotland.
“To my club, receiving £15,000 or £20,000 isn’t the same as what it would be to a club in the central belt. They would be able to do a lot more with their money than I can do with mine.
“We pay a premium to get players to come up here, because people are travelling. To get quality players from the central belt, we would be competing with clubs already getting that money as well.
“It’s not going to change my mind at the moment. I don’t think opinions will change in League Two but I will need to talk to all the other chairmen.”
Tatters also feels the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup, which has included Premiership colts teams since 2016, has shown there is little appetite for B teams within the senior game.
He added: “The proof of the pudding has been the games when they’ve had colts sides playing, in the Challenge Cup.
“They didn’t get the crowds they thought they would get. It’s not been as good as what it said it would be.”