Hibs chief defends Stokes sale

Petrie was challenged over the sale of last season's top scorer to the Easter Road outfit's SPL rivals at the club's agm, one shareholder asking him to justify a fee of 1.2 million compared to the 3.5m brought in by Steven Fletcher's move to Burnley and the fact Celtic had just sold Marc-Antoine Fortune for 2.2m despite a poorer scoring record than that of Stokes.

However, Petrie insisted former boss John Hughes was in full agreement over the deal as he wanted to bring Darryl Duffy to the club. Petrie was equally adamant that throughout his time as chief executive and chairman at Easter Road no player had been off-loaded without the agreement of the club's manager of the time.

Admitting that the fee involved "looks a bit odd" and saying he could understand another shareholder's "concern and puzzlement" for a player who had scored 23 goals, Petrie said: "You have to believe me, it was the right deal to do at the time. What we are about is trying to get the best team possible, the manager dictates the players, the type of players, the profile he wants and we support him."

Petrie insisted the same criteria applied when it came to player sales, adding: "Was it right to sell him (Stokes]? Yes it was, the manager was very clear he wanted to bring Darryl Duffy in, which he did first, and then sell Anthony Stokes."

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