Phil Parkinson knows he is in the firing line if City do not pull out of their downward spiral.

The Bantams have slipped to within five points of the League One drop zone after going 13 games without a victory.

It is the longest winless sequence of Parkinson’s 11-year managerial career – and the man who steered the club to an historic Wembley double last season admits he is feeling the heat.

“I’ve got to accept that. It’s the nature of the job,” he told the T&A.

“It’s all about results and we haven’t had enough of them recently.

“I have got to turn it round.

“Football changes quickly. One year on from being on a massive high and taking all the plaudits, the tables then completely turn and people are questioning you.

“That’s understandable. That’s the industry we are in.

“I’m big enough and have been a manager long enough to understand that. I’ve got the ultimate responsibility to find a way out of it.”

City take on Coventry tomorrow – if their temporary home at Northampton survives the latest dousing of wet weather – still looking for their first victory since November.

After Tuesday’s defeat at Carlisle, Parkinson said the club had to be “realistic” and start looking at the teams in the survival scrap beneath them.

He added: “These are tough times. I can’t just wave a magic wand and it will all get better.

“But one thing gives me great heart. Despite the run we’ve been on, surprisingly the spirit is good.

“We’ve got a lot of honest players and we’ve got to help them to get back to winning ways.

“We’ve got a core of good professionals in the club. I don’t think anyone watching us play over the last 18 months can deny that.

“There have been times when we’ve been second best in terms of commitment but those games have been few and far between.

“I know the effort and intensity is there. We’ve not got any shirkers in the camp.

“We need to find a solution and that’s the challenge for me as manager.

“You look at the pressure on David Moyes and Sam Allardyce in the Premier League. Sam had a period of horrific results at West Ham but suddenly he’s picked up three wins.

“You can sit back and do nothing and hope things will get better or be proactive and find things in the club to help us improve.

“I’m not the type to just sit there. I’m doing everything in my power to help us to turn this round.

“People talk about bits of luck but it’s not luck when you’re in a period like this. We’ve just not done enough.

“We’ve not been able to turn these very close games into three points. We need to find that formula and that’s what we’re working to do.”