I AM not a huge fan of pre-contract agreements because they can leave players and clubs in limbo.

As a manager, do you continue to play someone who has already committed themselves to another team, in the case of Gary Mackay-Steven, the one you are challenging for the title?

How will your fans react to this?

How will his team-mates view him and his contribution?

Would it be better to sell him now and remove any doubts about all of the above?

Some managers react by dropping the player entirely, as happened to Kelvin Wilson at Nottingham Forrest when he signed a pre-contract with Celtic.

But you are still paying his wages, so this is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

It very much comes down to the individual and his character.

Is he the type who will continue to give his all, including going into tackles which could see him pick up an injury?

Remember what happened when Jaroslaw Fojut signed a pre-contract with Celtic in 2012, then sustained a cruciate ligament injury while playing for Slask Wroclaw.

Celtic cancelled the contract, as they were within their rights to do, and it took Fojut - now at Dundee United - a long time to get his career back on track.

So, the entire pre-contract arrangement can be fraught, and your view of it will be coloured by whether you are the team signing someone this way or losing a player this way.

Many Celtic fans will be delighted to see their club get Gary on a pre-contract, but would they be so happy if Bolton, or another club, announced they had secured Kris Commons on a similar deal?

It would be better for all involved if these transfers happened at the time the deal was signed, and it will not surprise me if Celtic go back to United and try to do this with Gary, even though he is not eligible for the League Cup or Scottish Cup.

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