Billy Davies insisted he could leave Derby with his "head held high" after parting company with the club.

The former manager and chairman Adam Pearson met on Monday morning and decided on the mutual split.

Davies departs with the club rooted to the bottom of the Barclays Premier League with just one win and six points from their opening six games, following their promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship last season.

But the Scot insists he has no reason to be ashamed.

"What's quite ironic, on the morning of me parting ways with Derby, is that I'm going to the East Midland (Sports) Awards this evening to pick up the coach-of-the-year award," he told BBC Radio Five Live.

"I've had a wonderful time here, there's been lots of ups and lots of downs, but in the main I'm very proud of what has been achieved, and I'm now walking through these gates with my head very much held high."

Davies did admit, however, that he was sad to be leaving Pride Park.

"Of course, it's always that way because there are great people here, my family are very settled and there's lots of good friends here," he added.

"But that's football, we know what football's all about, and the situation now is that it's time to move on to pastures new."

Despite Pearson reassuring Davies over his position following his takeover of the club at the end of last month, it appears the Rams' persistently poor form and the ex-Preston boss' barbed comments at the weekend sealed his fate.

"I have met with Billy Davies this morning and we have decided mutually, in the interests of both parties, that to go our separate ways is the best decision at this time," Pearson said in a statement released on www.dcfc.co.uk.

"Billy Davies leaves Derby County with our best wishes and our genuine gratitude in achieving a magnificent promotion to the Premier League, where everyone connected with the club wanted to be.

"We wish Billy all the best for his future career and both parties will now move forward, which I am sure will lead to future success for Billy Davies and Derby County."

Davies took over at Pride Park in January last year after opting to leave Preston, who he guided into the Championship play-offs for two years in succession.

After securing the Rams' status in the second tier, his first full season in charge saw Derby just miss out on an automatic promotion place before defeating West Brom in the play-off final at Wembley.

This season, Davies' side have lived up to their billing as pre-season relegation favourites and defeat to Chelsea on Saturday made it eight games without a win and four successive losses.

After this weekend's match, he risked the wrath of Pearson by saying: "The problem we have is that we have to invest in the playing staff of this club.

"Hopefully I can see the chairman - who I've not seen in the last three weeks - and hopefully if there is any investment then it goes towards the playing staff."

With Pearson seeking overseas investment in the club - County were reported to have held meetings with a consortium headed by a member of the Disney family earlier this month - Davies' open dissent would not have been taken kindly by the chairman.

It is a far cry from Pearson's initial support for Davies after he completed a reported £3.5million buyout of predecessor Peter Gadsby's shares.

At that time he said: "Billy has done a fantastic job to get the club into the Premier League and, if the worst came to the worst and we went down, we couldn't have a better manager to bring us back up. We are absolutely 100% committed to him.

"The board and I will continue to offer Billy our full support in our quest to remain in the Premier League and we will be exploring all possible options."

Pearson confirmed Kevin Thelwell will be in charge for the crunch clash with Sunderland on Saturday.

Thelwell, the club's academy boss, will be assisted by goalkeeping coach Alan Fettis and senior squad members Matt Oakley and Darren Moore.

Billy Davies Factfile

1964: Born May 31, Glasgow.

1980: Begins playing career with Rangers after moving through the ranks from the Ibrox youth team.

1986: After failing to make a major impact on the Rangers first team, playing just 11 games, joins IK Elfsborg in Sweden.

1987: Returns to Scotland to sign for St Mirren after just one season abroad, scoring five goals in 74 appearances for the Buddies.

1990: Moves to Leicester for £200,000 in August but is back in Scotland just two months later with Dunfermline for £165,000.

1994: Joins Motherwell for £50,000.

1995: Finished runners-up in the league behind Rangers.

1998: Appointed player-manager at Fir Park, at the age of 33, following the departure of Harri Kampman to become the youngest ever top flight manager in Scotland at the time.

2000: Finished fourth with Motherwell, just two points behind Hearts, who qualified for the UEFA Cup.

2001: Sacked by Motherwell after taking three points from first seven SPL games of the season.

2004: After a spell as first-team coach at Preston under Craig Brown, takes over as caretaker manager, before being given the job full-time in August.

2005: May 30 - Preston miss out on place in the Barclays Premiership as they go down to West Ham in Coca-Cola Championship play-off final in Cardiff.

2006: Named manager of the month for January for the first time in English football after winning all four league games and conceding just one goal.

2006: Named manager of the month in April for the second time in three months.

2006: February saw the end of their 22-game unbeaten run which equalled the club record of the 1888 double winning "invincibles".

2006: May 8 - Another tilt at Premiership ends in disappointment as they are beaten 3-1 on aggregate by Leeds in Championship play-off semi-finals.

May 19 - Given permission by Preston to talk to managerless Charlton.

June 2 - Appointed manager of Derby.

2007: May 28

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