St Johnstone and Ross County remained on a collision course over midfielder Richie Brittain as it emerged both clubs have formally laid claim to the player.
The 29-year-old playmaker has been at the centre of a tug of war between the two SPL sides in recent months after Brittain revealed he wanted to renege on a pre-contract agreement he signed with Saints in January and stay with County next season.
And with neither club willing to back down in the dispute, SFA and SPL chiefs will now almost certainly be asked to try and mediate at some point in the next few weeks.
The battle for Brittain intensified when Saints chairman Steve Brown expressed his disappointment that the player has reportedly signed a new contract with County, although the Perth chairman is sticking to his guns.
“I’m really disappointed and it’s quite unbelievable really because they knew that he’d signed a pre-contract with St Johnstone,” he said.
“It’s almost a deliberate ploy to prevent him playing for St Johnstone. The next move is to find out whether that is the case and then seek guidance from both bodies, the SFA and SPL.”
Brittain had put pen to paper on a pre-contract agreement in Perth in January but since had a change of heart, citing “personal reasons”.
Courier Sport understands that documentation relating to Brittain the exact nature of which has not been divulged has now been lodged by both Saints and County after the SPL’s registration window opened on Monday, although Saints expect the midfielder to join up with the rest of the squad for pre-season training on June 27.
For his part, Brown is stedfast in his stance on the issue and admits Saints are not the ones in the wrong.
And asked if the saga is calling into question the whole system of pre-contract agreements, he added: “It’s bound to.
“It’s a first, probably, in the game but I’m disappointed a fellow club would actually put an application in for a registration of a player.
“I met Richie some time ago, maybe a month or so ago, and made the position clear that St Johnstone were keeping to the pre-contract and expected him to honour his commitment he’d made in January.”
Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor emerged from yesterday’s Scottish Premier League meeting at Hampden alongside his St Johnstone counterpart and confirmed there was still a stalemate.
But he added: “We’re still working away.
“We haven’t (had the chance to discuss it with St Johnstone) but we hope to do so over the next couple of days.”
When it comes to contracts of service, SPL rules suggest “priority of submission” shall determine to which club a player is registered, while the rulebook also states that a player in Brittain’s predicament “shall be liable to be dealt with as the Board may think appropriate”.
However, the exact detail and nature of any contracts signed could yet prove to be a significant determining factor if the SFA and/or SPL are called in to resolve the disagreement.
Should Scottish football’s authorities fail to come to a conclusion, the saga could even go all the way to FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber.
The body has been forced to consider an increasing number of cases relating to the enforceability of pre-contract agreements in recent years but each case has been treated on its own merit, with outcomes largely dependent on the exact terms detailed in the pre-contract deal signed.
A spokesperson for FIFA said the sport’s governing body has not been formally contacted on the matter and was therefore unable to comment on its position.