Mountains, Molehills And Billy Davies

Nottingham Forest boss Billy Davies never shys away from controversay and his latest comments in an interview with the BBC, appear to have landed him in hot water again in the eyes of some fans.

Davies is reported as saying that he never knew about the sale of defender James Perch to Newcastle, until the deal had been completed. ‘I got a call after the deal was done to tell me James was leaving. I was disappointed but that is why the acquisitions panel is here. They decide who comes, who goes and when.’

Those words have sent alarm bells ringing in the ears of some supporters, who view the comments as harmful to the relationship between the manager and the board. Taken at face value, it doesn’t sound too good and you could be forgiven for thinking that the AP and the manager were on a collision course and heading for another fallout.

If you listen to the entire 8 minutes of the interview, it paints a slightly different picture to the main headline in the story. He does indeed say he found out about the sale of Perch after the deal was done, but he never says he wasn’t aware of his potential sale and of the continuing interest from Newcastle. It’s been known since December that Newcastle made an offer for the player and that a bid was turned down back then. Davies would have been aware of that fact and of further developments, as Chief Executive Officer Mark Arthur today explained to the NEP.

Mark Arthur says. ‘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. 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.’

With the lack of news coming out of NFFC towers at present, we’re scrutinising and dissecting every word that comes from the club, but it may be a case of reading too much into comments that were made. My opinion for what it’s worth, is that the BBC have made a mountain out of a molehill and made way too much of one sentence in an 8 minute long interview in which Billy Davies somehow manages to say very little at all.