SPL chairman Lex Gold has spoken of his confidence that the country's 12 top flight clubs can unite again, but admits there is still work to be done.

Representatives of the clubs met at Hampden Park on Monday in another attempt to end the civil war in Scottish football.

After the latest round of talks Gold was more optimistic the clubs could find a resolution and put an end to the saga.

Gold said: "We had a very good meeting this morning (Monday).

"Nobody was being invited to arrive at decisions, but what we had was a real go over all the issues that have been dividing the clubs and a great deal of good progress was made."

We had a real go over all the issues that have been dividing the clubs and a great deal of good progress was made SPL chairman Lex Gold

At the moment there are three areas of disagreement.

These are the current voting structure, the distribution of money from television, and new media rights.

At present, an 11-1 majority is needed for voting, allowing the Old Firm to block any plans they do not like.

But new media rights is believed to be the main sticking point, with Celtic's position seemingly the most intransigent.

The Parkhead side's refusal to stop broadcasting matches live on their internet site was the issue that led Hearts chief executive Chris Robinson to resign from the SPL board at their last meeting on 27 November.

They want to retain the rights to internet boadcasts of their home matches without sharing any of the proceeds with the SPL as a whole.

Gold continued : "We made progress on the issues that were outstanding between the clubs.

"I believe we are much closer to a resolution and there's a recognition that we need to get together very soon and there are big issues for us to tackle.

"But what I've found was a constructive approach by all clubs and that suggests to me they are keen to get the SPL back on track."

There's been a lot of positives today on all fronts Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne

Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne admitted the problems surrounding new media rights still had to be resolved.

He said: "Talks have gone very well today and progress has been made, but the biggest stumbling block seems to be the new media rights.

"But there's been a lot of positives today on all fronts and we are more hopeful that we can find a resolution."

All 12 clubs will again come together on 23 December where a new chief executive will be discussed after the recent resignation of Roger Mitchell.

Hearts were absent from the meeting as they have their AGM at Tynecastle on Monday evening but Robinson passed on his views through Gold.

Robinson is on record saying there are huge differences between the clubs regarding new media rights.