Nottingham Forest are insisting Billy Davies had been informed of the decision to sell James Perch to Newcastle, reports the Nottingham Evening Post. The club and manager have become embroiled in a public disagreement after Davies claimed he had only been informed of Perch's move after the deal had been completed.

But chief executive Mark Arthur said Davies had been kept in the loop throughout the process.

"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," he said.

"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."