Nottingham Forest chairman Nigel Doughty has a fine working relationship with outspoken boss Billy Davies. Davies has been publicly critical of the club over their failure to make signings, both in January and this summer, as well as claiming he had been kept out of the loop over the sale of James Perch to Newcastle.

"Billy is a competitive man and the competitive flame burns a little too brightly from time to time. I have told him that myself and I told him I would say that publicly," Doughty told the Nottingham Post.

"But I can have those sort of discussions with him. It is a game and we have to play it to the best advantage of the club.

"When you work with talented people, they always want more. You wouldn't want to back a manager who is accepting of his lot. You always want people who are pushing the boundaries.

"We have a very good and stable relationship - one where we respect each other. We have a fantastic manager and one of the reasons he is fantastic is because he is demanding of everyone, including me."