Dominic Keane, the Livingston chairman, last night revealed that his club has defied the SFA by retrospectively cancelling the contract of the Argentinian midfielder, Sergio Berti, sacked by them for spitting at 18-year-old Richard Brittain during a pre-season friendly at Morecambe.

The SFA's appeals committee decided on January 22 that the player, whose appeal against that sacking had been dismissed twice by the SPL's executive board, should have the remainder of his contract honoured. The deal Berti agreed at Almondvale is not due to expire until the end of 2003/04 season. Livingston, however, have refused to pay him since the day the SFA ruled in the player's favour.

The West Lothian club now find themselves at loggerheads with the game's ruling body and Berti's lawyers but Keane insists that, on a point of principle, he will not back down on this issue.

Livingston paid Berti's (pounds) 4000 weekly salary for six months until the latest hearing but have now decided that enough is enough. Legal representation has already been made to the club on the player's behalf but Keane is adamant that their interpretation of the case will eventually be vindicated.

While reluctant to involve lawyers, Keane believes there is no alternative but to take such action. Otherwise, he said: ''Players will become totally unmanageable.''

Consequently, the club is prepared to shell out even more money on lawyers' fees in a bid to ring-fence individual clubs' rights, as employers, to take disciplinary action against their players.

''We have, through the offices of the SPL, asked the SFA for clarification regarding their decision to uphold Berti's appeal,'' said Keane. ''Our board would like to know how they managed to arrive at their conclusion, which we consider to be against the best interests of not only our club but football in general. We would like to understand their reasoning because it seems like an open-and-shut case to us.

''In the meantime, while we are waiting, our directors have agreed that we should no longer pay him and we are prepared to go to court if need be to argue our case, which we consider to be water-tight.

''What we are discussing here is no less than a senior employee violating a junior employee in the most sickening manner and, while workers have rights, employers should also have the right to take action when they overstep the mark.

''Our company regards this as a valid decision and we have accumulated a weight of evidence regarding similar instances in the past to support the action we have taken.''

One instance Livingston will cite is the successful sacking, by St Mirren, of Chic Charnley after the midfielder spat at an opponent during a match against Ayr United in 1992. Keane contends that Berti's offence - against a team-mate in a non-competitive match - is far more serious and is determined to pursue what he considers to be a just resolution to an unsavoury saga.

''What happened in this instance is serious misconduct,'' he said. ''It was an exceptional case but, so far, the club and young Richard are the only ones to have suffered from it. Our position is that football needs to regulate these cases properly because that kind of behaviour would not be tolerated in any other workplace.''

Livingston have already paid Berti, who last summer became the highest-paid player in the club's brief history but who has subsequently elected to retire, (pounds) 100,000 in wages in spite of the fact he has never kicked a ball in anger for them. That money cannot be recouped but Keane is insistent that the former Inter Milan and Parma player will not receive another penny without a fight.

They may eventually be forced to settle the remaining (pounds) 300,000 of his contract in full but Keane is resigned to litigation rather than consultation on this matter. ''As far as we're concerned, we definitely did the right thing,'' he argued. ''No-one disputes that Berti did what he did and what we are saying is that that is unacceptable behaviour.

''We have already had communication from his lawyers regarding the non-payment of his wages but we expected them to react in that manner. We shall wait for the SFA's response but we are prepared to go all the way to court on this one.''