Town boss Paul Jewell has revealed that owner Marcus Evans has spoken to him twice since last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Charlton and says several other managers have contacted him to wish him well.
Jewell said: "I spoke to Marcus on Sunday and I spoke to him on Tuesday. Those conversations are always private, but he’s always backed me and if he was going to make a change I guess I’d be the first to know.
"If I thought it had become impossible I wouldn’t be sat here. I don’t think it is impossible, I don’t think we’ve lost the dressing room.
"Sometimes at a club you know when you’re battling against it, but I think the players are right onside and we’re just a victory — or even a goal away — from kicking on.”
He says that despite the current situation, the players are still upbeat and giving their all at Playford Road on a daily basis: "’Lost the dressing room’ and ‘tactical naivety’ are all sayings in football that people use. What I’m saying is that training’s always good, it’s bubbly, the players give everything they’ve got.
"We’ve had three disappointing results, no doubt about that, but after we played Watford people were talking about what a great spirit we had and what a good team we had. That’s only about four games ago.
"What’s happened is that we’ve dominated games against Middlesbrough and Wolves and because we’ve lost them both, our confidence has ebbed away. But we’ve got to get that back quickly because no one’s going to help us, only ourselves.”
Jewell says other managers — including Harry Redknapp — have been in contact to wish him well: "As you can imagine, all people want to talk to me about is me losing my job or me quitting or how bad a manager I am, but I’ve had a lot of phone calls from managers in the game this week as well, giving me support, which is greatly appreciated, and one or two from supporters as well, which is nice.”
He is confident his players can get back into winning ways: "They can turn it around, but we’ve got to make them turn around. No one in football gives you anything for nothing.
"Where you finish at the end of the season is always where you deserve to finish. At the minute we’re not getting a bit of luck, although having said that, we got a bit of luck for the goal on Saturday and were incapable of using that to our advantage.
"We’ve got to be men about it, we’ve got to stand up to the challenge that’s ahead and compete for 90 minutes. And if the players go out and do their best, given a modicum of fortune, we’ll be OK.”
Despite the current position, he says he is very happy at the club: "I love being manager here. It’s bloody tough at the minute, I can tell you that.
"It’s a wonderful football club. I love everything about it, but obviously I’m not loving the results at the moment.
"I understand that a lot of people don’t love me at the moment, but I’m hoping I can change that around.”