Jim Magilton has called for better governance on pre-contract agreements in the Irish League claiming the current situation is driving him insane.

Currently in Northern Ireland players are free to negotiate and sign a deal with a club within the same league once they enter the final six months of the current contract.

This is different from England where players can only enter into discussions with clubs outside of their current place of residence six months prior to the expiration of their current deal.

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If a player wishes to move to another English club they can only start negotiations with prospective new teams in the final month of their contract. Magilton said he cannot understand the logic behind the current regulations in the Irish League where clubs can write a letter and negotiate with any player coming into the final months of their contract.

Cliftonville have first-hand experience of this having lost influential midfielder Ronan Doherty to Coleraine this week after it emerged he had agreed a switch to The Showgrounds once his contract expired at the end of the season. Whilst Magilton doesn't blame the players he feels the rule should be changed to help avoid any conflict of interest.

"I can't get my head around these letters, I really can't, and I can't get my head around pre-contracts," he said. "I just don't get how you can sign a deal with another team when you're still playing at another club. I think the league should look at it. It's not the player's fault, at the end of the day it's a rule and they're allowed to do it.

"In my opinion it needs changing. If it was me as a player I don't know how committed I could be to the club because I'm leaving as I've signed a pre-contract with another team. I just don't understand the logic behind it. Someone needs to explain it to me as this letter lark is driving me insane. It needs better governance in my opinion.

"The decision to sell Ronan was really a mixture of everything. Ronan and the club had a wonderful partnership, unfortunately that has now come to an end, we wish him well and we will move on. We are actively looking to bring players in during this window, and if someone comes along who we think who we think is going to improve the squad then we will go and try and get them."

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