Nobody at Ironopolis Ground will say the word "sack" out loud, but everyone is thinking it. Middlesbrough Millers sit one place above the relegation zone with six games to go, and their manager — two and a half years into the job, promotion-winning credentials and all — is being asked about his own future in every post-match interview whether he wants to answer it or not.
The board has publicly backed him twice this month, which in football usually means the opposite is being quietly discussed. Results haven't helped: a home defeat to a side sitting bottom of the table has been described by two senior players, off the record, as "the worst 90 minutes of the season, maybe longer."
What makes it harder is the manager's own history at the club — he played 200 games for Millers as a midfielder, and started in the academy set-up before working his way to the first team job. Sacking him would not be a straightforward footballing decision for a board that knows exactly what he means to supporters who grew up watching him play.
For now, he's preparing for the next match the only way he knows how — refusing, in public at least, to entertain the idea that it might be his last in charge.