Forest boss on the brink after Perch transfer row

Billy Davies’ future at Nottingham Forest has been plunged into doubt after another row with the club’s board over transfers.

Forest’s fiery Scottish boss Davies, 46, steered the City Ground outfit to third in the Championship last term before they lost in the play-offs to Blackpool.

But their campaign was blighted by Davies moaning about the club’s lack of signings in January when they chased automatic promotion.

Davies hit out repeatedly at Forest’s transfer acquisition committee, which includes football consultant David Pleat.

And Davies is now unhappy after claiming he was not fully informed about the recent decision to sell James Perch to Newcastle.

Forest chief executive Mark Arthur insists Davies was kept in the loop throughout the process.

But Davies said: “I only found out that James Perch had moved to Newcastle when I received a phone call after the deal had been done.”

And he has now challenged the Forest board to show their ambition by giving him the funds to bankroll another promotion tilt.

Davies added: “I have two years left on my contract and I will continue to do my job to the best of my ability until somebody else decides otherwise.

“I have put together a list of players and changes that are required for us to move this club forwards.

“That is in the hands of the acquisitions panel now and we will see what happens. I want this club to move forwards.

“Other teams are spending, you can see their intentions. Now we want to see this club show their intentions.”

Davies’s relationship with chief executive Arthur and football consultant Pleat has deteriorated since taking charge in January 2009.

His problems with the board saw him hold clear-the-air talks in May with the club’s owner and chairman Nigel Doughty.

But Arthur insists Forest boss Davies was fully informed of their decision to sell Perch to Newcastle.

Arthur said: “The chairman had informed Billy on three separate occasions that, should we get another offer for James Perch from Newcastle that was acceptable to the business of the club then, we would not stand in his way.

“At a previous meeting of the acquisitions committee the manager informed the committee that we should wait until December before offering Perch a new deal.

“I then informed Perch’s agent of this recommendation, which triggered a new bid from Newcastle.

“Newcastle had also offered to quadruple Perch’s salary and therefore, with our reluctance to offer him a new contract, it would have been wrong to stand in his way.

“When an offer came through that was acceptable to the board I phoned Billy to tell him of the offer and his response was ‘that is the board’s decision and so be it’.

“At that point we then accepted Newcastle’s offer.”