Davies: I need to know where I stand on transfer budget

BILLY Davies today called on Nottingham Forest to give him a clear budget for his planned January shopping spree.

The Reds manager hopes to avoid a repeat of last January's transfer window, when the club failed to land any one of eight potential targets – because he believes new additions will be vital in sustaining the club's remarkable recent form.

Davies wants to assemble a squad of 24 senior players to help his side retain their momentum in the Championship, after seeing them extend their unbeaten run to eight matches with a 1-1 draw at home to fellow promotion hopefuls Bristol City.

The Scot insists he has no qualms with the acquisitions panel – but he hopes the club will give him greater clarity on the kind of finances that are available to him, as he looks to add as many as five new faces.

"There is no budget here, I am told. But, having lost out on players in the past, I have made the point that there could be," he said. "We could eliminate wasted time by knowing what the budget is.

"I want to eliminate wasting time if I am recommending certain players, at certain clubs, who are on certain salaries.

"I want to know if I am wasting my time by going for a £5m player – when there is no clear budget – then go and find that we can't get him, because there isn't the money for it."

And Davies says that he wants to take on responsibility for the club's successes or failures in the transfer market.

"A manager should be a manager of every football club," said Davies, who was frustrated as City netted a late equaliser to deny the Reds all three points on Saturday.

"A manager does not want to complain about budget or financial constraint, but he does want to find out what the budget is and what he is working with.

"Then he can go and do what he does best, which is identify and recommend players.

"Then he can either get patted on the back or sacked for the job he has done. Maybe that is too old fashioned for some, but not for me.

"As I said before, my job is to recommend and nothing else. As a manager I will try to get as many as I can to compete in this division.

"If I had 24 players, I would tell you I had enough players.

"I am not talking about bringing back players who are on loan, I am talking about bringing in major signings.

"I want people with real quality to come into the squad. You can see where we are going, you can see the improvement and you can see what is going on here.

"All I can do is sit down and recommend to and advise the board. It is not my money, it is Nigel Doughty's money. We will see where that takes us. I am not going to bluff anyone."