St Johnstone chairman Steve Brown is seeking urgent advice in the battle to secure the services of Richie Brittain from Ross County.
The 29-year-old midfielder agreed a pre-contract to join the Perth side in January, when Steve Lomas was the St Johnstone manager, but has since had a change of heart after Lomas switched to Championship side Millwall and he now wishes to remain in the Highlands, citing 'personal reasons' for his decision.
But St Johnstone want to keep their man and Brown is set to seek advice following reports both SPL clubs plan to register him for next season.
Brown told Sky Sports News: "I'm really disappointed, quite unbelievable really because they knew that he'd signed a pre-contract with St Johnstone.
"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, SFA and SPL."
Brown agreed the situation is bound to bring into question the whole future of pre-contracts, admitting he does not know who the arbitrator in the case will be.
He added: "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."
