Garry Monk was fired by Birmingham City after a dispute over the use of his own agent in so many of the club's transfer deals, the chief executive at St Andrew's has claimed.
Monk was dismissed on Monday despite guiding the club to safety in the Championship after being hit with a nine point deduction for a breach of EFL financial regulations.
But Xuandong Ren told Sportsmail on Wednesday that their relationship disintegrated when he told the former Swansea, Leeds and Middlesbrough manager he could not use agent James Featherstone in 'all' the club's transfer deals.
Birmingham City's CEO Xuandong Ren has claimed Garry Monk was fired over a dispute
Ren (L) told Sportsmail that the relationship with Monk deteriorated after the manager was told he could no longer use his agent James Featherstone in the club's transfer deals
Monk was keen on Birmingham City using his agent and close friend Featherstone (right)
According to data published earlier this year by the Football Association, Featherstone was involved in nine of the 18 deals conducted by Birmingham after Monk arrived at the club in March 2018.
He represented Birmingham in the deals that brought Danish defender Kristian Pedersen and Northern Ireland goalkeeper Lee Camp to the club and for seven other transactions that saw players leave.
In an astonishing interview with Sportsmail, Ren said: 'Garry had been really amazing. We got him in when there were 11 games left that season and he managed to win five and draw one. He did great.
'At the time we were under a transfer embargo. But we still managed to agree with the League to bring in five players. Including Pedersen there was six. Most of them were done by his agent, James Featherstone.
'Look, we know how a football agent and a football manager works. It was absolutely fine. We let it happen. Some of the deals worked well. Really good. We were okay with that.
Monk was dismissed on Monday despite guiding the club to safety in the Championship
'Garry knows James Featherstone since they were little. They've been working with each other a long, long time. At the start I said "OK, since we have some sort of restriction, you work with Garry alone and keep me in the loop".
'But this transfer window is going to be different, I said, because we have had a full season and we need to have a proper business plan and a pre-season plan.
'And what hurt
