CLARETS chairman Barry Kilby is delighted that his club will no longer be kept in the dark about possible changes to the structure of the Football League.

And he is also confident that if and when any change takes place the key factor will be merit and the dream of success will be kept alive.

Speaking this morning he admitted: "Yesterday's meeting went very well and the whole issue of a Premier League Two is now out in the open. There will be no more secrecy from the group of six clubs that had talks about a Phoenix League.

"What Burnley Football Club did not want was deals done, meetings held with nobody else knowing what was going on. The League is now in control of discussions and talking to all parties."

Bradford City, Coventry City, Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester City, Birmingham and Wolves were the secret six.

They had leaked stories of a possible breakaway to the media and prompted what Kilby called "lively debate" at yesterday's meeting of club chairmen at Notts County.

As Burnley now have full access to all minutes of meetings as well as an input into discussions, Kilby is determined to make sure that two main principles will be upheld in the formation of any Premier League Two.

"Firstly it should be totally on merit when there is a cut-off," he said. "When the rich man's club that is the Premiership was formed, Oldham were part of it because they were in the first division.

"There must be no deals done behind closed doors with Cardiff saying we should be in because there is no one from Wales and no one from the West Country. It has got to be on merit and I think that the vast majority has agreed on that.

"But we also have to make sure that there is significant promotion and relegation from all leagues in the country. You need that fluidity and it cannot be a closed shop.

"The words 'security of franchise' have been bandied about by clubs who have a fear of being relegated. But that would be very bad for football, the dream has to be kept alive.

"Think of Burnley's situation 13 or 14 years ago. We were facing going out of business and now we have a fighting chance of getting into the Premier League.

"While I think the issue of merit has been established the matter of promotion and relegation is still a battle that has to be won. But in all of this the Premier League will have to be the prime movers."

Kilby confirmed that the possible inclusion of Rangers and Celtic in a new format was discussed but he said: "I think all of these changes are a lot further off than was intimated over the weekend.

"The whole future of the game is up for debate and people want to know about the next television deal. There is a feeling the money will never be as high next time as this time and so everybody is thinking about how to make it as high as possible.

"If the next TV deal isn't right I can see the big clubs doing their own thing.

"But in general I feel very positive about things now. If there is to be debate, it will be out in the open. As a club we have to keep an eye on everything but we can do that as we know what's being said, what meetings are being held."

In recent weeks off field activities have dominated football with talks of league splits and players striking but Kilby knows there is one sure fire way of being in the upper echelons of the game.

"Wouldn't it be very nice to get promotion to the Premiership before any change?" he smiled.