REBELS seeking to form a second tier of the Premiership, as part of controversial new plans to revolutionise English football, are due to go public today.

By Mel Henderson

REBELS seeking to form a second tier of the Premiership, as part of controversial new plans to

revolutionise English football, are due to go public today.

The breakaway group of Manchester City, Wolves, Bradford, Coventry, Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday will unveil their blueprint at a meeting of all 72 Football League clubs.

But the get-together, at Notts County's Meadow Lane ground, will be anything but plain sailing for those keen to press ahead with changes.

Others are more interested in scrapping the proposals, with Orient chairman Barry Hearn branding it "a disgraceful idea" and determined to force a vote to determine whether clubs are for or against the plan.

Hearn said: "Everyone connected with the game should say where they stand. My concern is that a small number of clubs can get together and ruin the whole of the Football League. I want all 72 chairmen to vote on the Phoenix League."

Ipswich chairman David Sheepshanks has already given the idea, which could provide a lucrative safety net to relegation-threatened Town, his seal of approval.

But Premiership bosses are still insisting there are no plans to form a second division, although Football League chairman Keith Harris has called for the Phoenix Six to air their proposals in public.