The Scottish Football League has been described as out-dated in a report commissioned by itself. Accountancy firm Pannell Kerr Foster concluded that the SFL was "an organisation not suited to a modern-day business environment".
The report also says that employees are institutionalised and demoralised - and the secretary's salary is excessive.
It also found that the SFL is three times more expensive to run than equivalent leagues in England.
There, the Nationwide Conference has four employees looking after 68 clubs, while the SFL has 14 people running leagues with 30 clubs.
The Scottish Football League, which runs Scotland's First, Second and Third Divisions, lacks a "commercial engine", according to the report.
 | It also raises the question as to whether the restructuring of the organisation of Scottish professional league football should be considered |
It is presently without a sponsor for the league and its knock-out competition, the Challenge Cup, after Bell's withdrew in 2006.
And a number of First Division clubs are pressing for a breakaway league to become a second-tier to the Scottish Premier League, which set up its own separate structure some years ago.
The First Division clubs meet on Thursday and it is likely that this report will be the sole item on the agenda.
PKF's reports stated: "Our review of non-financial matters indicate an organisation which is not wholly suited to the modern-day business environment, or the size of the league."
The report says that much of the disparity between the costs of the SFL and the Conference were due to the "high remuneration of the SFL secretary".
"The secretary's salary package was negotiated prior to the establishment of the SPL and when revenues were up to 65% higher than the current level," it stated.
"There is uncertainty as to why a review of the secretary's contract was not undertaken at the time of the SPL split.
"We believe the current payroll cost could be further reduced by approximately �100,000."
The report compared three options: the status quo (Option A), a 10-club SPL2 breakaway leaving the SFL with 20 clubs but continuing the CIS Insurance Cup (Option B) and a 20-club league without the CIS Cup (Option C).
Under Option B, Second Division clubs would see their annual allocation from the SFL fall in 2008 from �69,000 to �60,000, with Division Three incomes falling from �59,000 to �50,000.
Under Option C, the incomes fall to �44,000 for Division Two clubs and �37,000 for those in Division Three.
The report concludes that "it also raises the question as to whether the restructuring of the organisation of Scottish professional league football should be considered".
However, the clubs promoting a breakaway believe that they could compensate for their loss of �80,000 per club by way of a new television contract and replacing the CIS Cup with a new knock-out competition involving the present SPL clubs and those joining SPL2.
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