The proposal by Bolton Wanderers' chairman, Phil Gartside, for an expanded two-division Premier League which would include Celtic and Rangers has been revived and is on the agenda for next Thursday's Premier League clubs' meeting. His idea is prompted by what Gartside has described as a "fear factor" among the smaller clubs, who are desperately worried about the financial cost of relegation to the Championship and are overspending to avoid it.

Gartside's plans did not gain sufficient support when he first unveiled them last year, but he has persisted because he wants a debate about English football's structure and the financial inequalities now embedded in it. His proposals are understood to be similar to those produced previously, in which he suggested the Premier League could be expanded into two divisions, possibly of 18 teams each, with Celtic and Rangers included because their size would create more money for the league.

The idea was dismissed by many last time because Gartside appeared to be proposing a self-interested "closed circle", with no relegation out of the Premier League's second division. This time, Gartside is understood to be more flexible, arguing that relegation could be retained but that clubs should meet standards of size and finance, similar to Uefa's licensing system, if they are to be promoted into the Premier League.

Bolton published their accounts this week for the year to 30 June 2009, which showed that even though the club finished 13th last season, they lost £13.2m and their net debts rose to £64m.

The Premier League has sold its TV rights separately from the Football League since the top division clubs broke away in 1992, and its teams now receive on average £40m more from TV money alone than those in the Championship. That makes relegation a dire prospect.

Gartside wrote in Bolton's accounts of the need to address this gap: "The same few clubs continue to benefit from the huge additional revenues from the Champions League, and the remaining clubs find it enormously difficult to challenge," he said. "At the same time, the gap between Premier League revenues and those of the Championship continues to widen and I believe a fear factor is beginning to emerge amongst Premier League clubs outside the top few. Addressing this polarisation of clubs will be the major strategic issue for the Premier League over coming years."

In the summer, the Football League proposed uniting with the Premier League, to sell their TV rights jointly, a plan which could involve a more even distribution of money throughout English football, but the Premier League has so far not entered into discussions.

Few clubs were prepared to comment about Gartside's proposals in advance of next Thursday's meeting, but the politics are predictable. The top clubs, those either in the top four Champions League places or who see themselves as competing for them, earn very well from the current system and are believed to have little interest in changing the structure. Support for reform, and a more equal distribution of TV money, will come from smaller clubs who, like Hull City and Portsmouth, have overreached themselves trying to stay in the Premier League and for whom relegation is a real fear.

The Wigan Athletic chairman, Dave Whelan, said he did not agree with inviting Celtic and Rangers to cross the football border, but gave qualified support for the plan to expand the Premier League.

"I think it would be fairer to unite the Premier and Football Leagues," he said, "but the Premier League clubs would not agree to that because they make most of the money as things stand. The idea is worth debating, because the gulf is huge, with eight to 10 of us clubs just fighting for survival."

Both Celtic and Rangers, who have long looked to escape from the Scottish Premier League in which they are by far the biggest clubs, would welcome an invitation from the elite English league. However, any Premier League rule change requires 14 clubs to vote in favour. Gartside has a great deal of lobbying to do before his plan has any chance of succeeding.