TOWARDS the end of Friday night(Sept 2)'s below par poor performance, when the Shakers went down 1-0 at home to Carlisle, a section of the Gigg Lane faithful called upon the manager to resign - again.

But Graham Barrow is determined to stay where he is and keep a club beset by financial problems in the Football League and then try and get into promotion contention.

"I'm going nowhere. I have a job to do and I intend doing it," he said.

"The supporters are entitled to their opinions but I feel they are being premature. The only way we can answer them is by going out and winning games, which is what we are trying to do, we don't go out intent on losing."

And he pleaded with the club's supporters to get behind the team.

"If we are going to turn things around - and we can - we need to stick together, the supporters need to help the players not criticise them."

As for his own position, he said: "The directors have said nothing to me, even though I was half expecting to be invited in for a chat.

"All they keep saying is that we could do with a win the next game and of course I know that more than anyone."

However, director in charge of football affairs, Ian Harrop, said: "I speak to Graham on a daily basis and obviously we are concerned with our position at the moment.

"We are only seven games into the season and I always say let's look at things after 10 games and see where we are.

"At that point you generally have an idea of which direction you are going in.

"Every manager in the Football League is under pressure, whether they are at the top or the bottom; football is purely a results business and obviously our results at the moment are unsatisfactory.

"But we have to be strong, hopefully Graham will get the lads motivated and we will get a result at Northampton on Saturday."

To do that the players have to perform out on the pitch and Barrow believes they can and will do that.

"As far as I am concerned they are all behind me, there are no problems between us," he said.

"They felt guilty about the way they played against Carlisle and had them back in training on Sunday, followed by Monday and Tuesday, and it was only then they really began to come around.

"They are not fools, they hear all the things that are being said about both themselves and me.

"They are short of confidence but that is not helped when they are getting the kind of criticism from the fans that they have been hearing recently, especially against Carlisle. It can affect a seasoned pro so you can imagine what it can be like for a young player, it can destroy them.

"They can see certain players are lacking confidence so what is the point of criticising them? That's not going to help.

"Some of the lads are still trying to pick up from where we left off last season. Generally we are not scrapping, we are playing but not scrapping, and that's what we need to be doing to get out of our current predicament. It is no point being neat, tidy and creative if we are not prepared to scrap.

"So we need to be far more physical, we need to get in close, stick a foot in and put players under pressure.

"There are high expectations at this club because of how we coped last season. But people need to look at the affect the turnover in players and the financial problems we have experienced have on what goes on out on the pitch.

"But I am the first person to accept we have underachieved so far this season. We are a better team than our league position indicates and we have to put it right."

When you are next to bottom of the league table after just seven games, The Sixfields Stadium is not the kind of place a manager would generally choose to go for his next game, but Barrow sees things a different way.

"To be honest it might not be such a bad thing playing away this weekend, and there is no better place to turn things around than Northampton because they are a very solid side, if we can get a result there it will show what I know we are capable of.

"It is always a tough place to go and they have strengthened at the back during the summer, and in former Sunderland, Sheffield United and Huddersfield Town striker in Martin Smith they have a quality player.

"He is very dangerous and we cannot afford to give him any time or space, because he can pop up out of nowhere and before you know he has scored.

"It is obviously a very tough game but maybe it is the kind of challenge that will bring the best out of us right now."