Nottingham Forest manager Billy Davies made his fifth and sixth new signings of the close season on Monday, but the City Ground boss has not finished spending yet as he looks to build a side that in the season ahead can compete at the top end, rather than the bottom, of the Coca-Cola Championship table.

When Davies was appointed in January, Forest - promoted from League 1 in the previous May - were in deep relegation trouble. And it was only after a roller-coaster of a basement battle that they dragged themselves out of the drop zone just three matches from the end of the campaign.

As he looks ahead to his first full season at the City Ground helm, Davies says: "It will be a very difficult league again, so it will no different in that respect, but the one thing that will be different is that Nottingham Forest will be much better equipped and much more ready for a different type of challenge this year.

"We've got a very good squad developing here and it will be developed more over the next two or three weeks. I'm happy with what we've got, but I know that we still need one or two more players in one or two areas and so more will be coming in. It's important we have the right blend, and slowly we're getting to that."

Former Preston North end and Derby County manager Davies has already increased his options in practically every area of his playing squad, having signed goalkeeper Lee Camp, full back Chris Gunter, midfielder Paul McKenna, winger Paul Anderson and strikers David McGoldrick and Dele Adebola.

Gunter and McKenna, signed from Tottenham Hotspur and Preston respectively, are the latest additions to a squad that could be boosted further still later this week as Davies looks to bring in up to three more players with central defence, midfield and full back the positions he wants to bolster.

Whether he can get a side with so many changes to gel quickly remains to be seen, but Davies is happy with his summer spending to date and is looking forward to the season with confidence. "I'm delighted with the manner in which we're moving forward," he says. "The competition (for places) we're now getting will be crucial.

"We're bringing in quality players and we'll get them gelling together as quickly as we possibly can, but we won't get too agitated if we don't get the best start. We know we're in for a long, hard season and the start of it is not they key. It's the end of the season, where you finish - that's they key."