Tuesday 5 August 2014 15:53, UK
Stuart Pearce wants answers after seeing players sold against his will but insists he will not quit his managerial post at Nottingham Forest.
Sky Sports revealed on Monday that Forest have sanctioned a deal which will take highly-rated duo Jamaal Lascelles and Karl Darlow to Newcastle United, before they are returned to the City Ground on loan.
News of a sale has frustrated Pearce, with the new man in charge at Forest having informed his board that he considered the offer on the table to be unacceptable.
This can be overcome. But I am not prepared to fluff things when it comes to what was said and done behind the scenes. Two players were sold against my will.
The former England international admits there are now in-house issues to be resolved, with owner and chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi having some explaining to do, but there is no chance of him walking away from a job and a club which means so much to him.
Pearce said in the Nottingham Evening Post: “This can be overcome. But I am not prepared to fluff things when it comes to what was said and done behind the scenes. Two players were sold against my will.
“I am not prepared to walk away from this club, because I love the club too much and I love the fans.
“On top of that, I am enjoying working with the players and staff, a lot of whom we have brought in. I owe a loyalty to those people. So that (walking away) has never crossed my mind.”
Pearce has been around the game long enough to know that comments questioning the logic of his superiors will generate headlines, but he says he was only expressing an honest opinion and that greater clarity would have made the situation easier for all concerned.
He added: “If I get asked an honest question, I will give you an honest answer. It disappointed me. I would be lying if I said it didn’t.
We have to improve our business sense and our relations. It is as simple as that. If it was my money, the boys would not have been sold.
“I have to dust myself down and say ‘right, okay, I know where I stand’.
“We have to improve our business sense and our relations. It is as simple as that. If it was my money, the boys would not have been sold.
“When it is out of my hands, there is not a lot I can do about it. All I can do is make a recommendation to people.
“I thought I could push their value up and that they would be worth more in the long run.
“The first I heard about things was when Jamaal told me that he had a medical at Newcastle. I would like to think that, somewhere down the line, they would back my knowledge, with respect of the amount of time I have been in the game.
“I don’t know the financial constraints the club are working under. I plan to find that out, very soon. Then perhaps I can understand this decision.
“I don’t want people looking at me, after I had been quoted as saying ‘I don’t want to sell our best young players’. I stand by that statement."
