National League: A return to a 10-team premier division in an expanded national league, radically changed management structures and ground-sharing deals by Dublin's four leading clubs are among the recommendations - to be made public today - made by Genesis for the revitalisation of the Eircom League.

The Scottish consultants yesterday delivered their preliminary recommendations to club representatives in Dublin, where officials were told an "elite" 10-team division should be established with two regionalised groups of 10 operating underneath it.

The move would mean an expansion of the league from 22 to 30 teams, although it is envisaged some of the new entrants could be representative sides such as the Mayo and Kerry district league teams that have been competing in the League Cup by invitation for several years.

It is anticipated the structure would result in a largely professional premier division and a mixture of semi-professional and amateur teams in the regional divisions.

This may cause resistance amongst clubs who would fear missing the initial cut and then struggling to catch up on those clubs who received more substantial funding as a result of being a part of the new leading group from the outset.

Promotion and relegation would probably be restricted so as to allow teams in the top flight to generate long-term investment but the precise mechanisms have not been worked out.

In addition to the three senior divisions, the current under-21 league and a new under-18 league would both be run on the basis of geographical groupings.

Clubs wishing to compete in the league would have to sign up to participation agreements which, it is envisaged, would be used to further raise standards and improve the image of the game. Minimum levels of investment in facilities, a wage "policy" likely to effectively amount to a cap on the percentage of turnover that could be paid to players and various other development issues would be covered in the agreement, which would require a good deal more than the present licensing system.

In return, clubs could benefit from improved central marketing and more effectively targeted investment of public and FAI funds. On this latter point, Genesis officials told those attending yesterday's meeting at the Green Isle Hotel that clubs serving large population centres would be likely to receive priority.

It was pointed out, however, there would be a reluctance to substantially fund the development of four stadiums for the main clubs and there would be considerable pressure on the clubs to come to ground-sharing deals, which would be likely, if the resistance of club officials and their supporters could be overcome, to yield just one stadium on each side of the river.

The report recommends, as the previous Genesis report did, the streamlining of management structures at the top, with the current 22-club management committee being replaced by a group of seven or eight, only half of whom would be elected club officials. The rest of the places on this group would go to full-time league or FAI officers, marketing executives and, it is envisaged, a representative of the league's sponsors.

Not surprisingly, there is strong support for the idea of a merger between the league and the association.

Further discussions on the document will take place today with representatives of the clubs, sponsoring companies and media, amongst others, and FAI officials say the feedback will be taken into account before a final list of proposals is drawn up.

Waterford United officials, meanwhile, have dismissed reports Pat Dolan is set to take over from Brendan Rea as manager of the struggling premier club. "There's absolutely no truth in it whatsoever," said director Martin Colbert yesterday.