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Revolutionary plans to draft in foreign referees to Scotland’s top flight for the start of next season are to be tabled on the back of a stormy secret summit between the SFA and the country’s furious top flight clubs.

Record Sport can reveal the governing body have agreed to consider a historic overhaul of their own disciplinary rule book after holding showdown talks with all 12 of the country’s Premiership clubs at Hampden on Monday.

And, at the end of what has been described as heated discussions, chief executive Ian Maxwell, compliance officer Clare Whyte and refs’ chief John Fleming, the clubs were given a mandate to draw up a dossier of demands they want rushed through and rubber-stamped before the start of the next campaign.

That is set to include a call to hire in officials from outwith Scotland’s borders - a motion which is being driven by champions Celtic but which is believed to be garnering support of others

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A working group made up of a number of top flight clubs will now be set-up with a view to urgently addressing the current standard of refereeing as well as the controversial judicial review process which has caused widespread unrest since Whyte’s appointment earlier this season.

It’s understood, while Whyte strongly stood her ground during Monday’s meeting, consensus was reached around the table to explore a raft of radical reforms to the current system.

Record Sport understands Celtic are keen to play a major role in drawing up these recommendations and that they are behind a proposal to recruit officials from other countries, including England, Wales and Ireland.

Manager Brendan Rodgers has already floated the idea when he publicly called for Scotland’s pool of elite whistlers to be supplemented by referees from outwith the country’s own borders - and club ambassador Tom Boyd went even further, sparking condemnation by calling for ‘neutral’ officials to be shipped in from abroad.

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Boyd’s remarks brought back memories of the referees’ strike of November 2010 - a crisis which saw the SFA source replacement officials from Israel, Luxemburg and Malta.

While the SFA are unlikely to back such a proposal they are willing to listen to any ideas put forward by the clubs.

Rangers have also adopted a high profile approach to criticising the SFA’s disciplinary procedures and, in particular, of Whyte’s handling of her role as compliance officer.

On Monday Ibrox managing director Stewart Robertson launched a stinging salvo at Hampden’s sixth floor during an interview with the club’s inhouse media outlet during which he called for an urgent overhaul of the system.

Robertson claimed Rangers are being victimised by the authorities and insisted the process has been influenced by a long running row between the club and the BBC.

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He added: “We are effectively re-refereeing games and that’s placing intolerable pressures on the referees, which then places pressure on the compliance officer and the disciplinary system.

“We feel we should be looking to go back to the way the situation was previously which is violent conduct and off the ball incidents that should be reviewed only.

“There’s no doubt, Clare came in at the start of the season and things have been dealt with differently this year. The incidents that have been reviewed this season wouldn’t have been reviewed last year, or some of those incidents.

“That is leading to confusion that there is much more inconsistency and it definitely feels that we are re-refereeing games. It also feels as though the incidents that are highlighted on the television at the weekend are the incidents which are being picked up by the compliance officer on a Monday, so I’ve heard this expression of trial by TV or trial by Sportscene and that certainly seems to be the way it is going.”

It’s understood the Premierships clubs plan a further round of discussions in the next 24 hours as they urgently seek to get their working group up and running.