DAVID Hopkin’s public pronouncement that jobs were on the line at City was no idle threat.

The head coach admitted that everybody, both on and off the pitch, were in the firing line as the club’s fortunes continue to dwindle.

The message was clear – it’s not just the players in the spotlight but those responsible for working with them on a day-to-day basis.

Hopkin has so far stuck with assistant coaches Greg Abbott and Martin Drury, who he inherited on replacing Michael Collins.

Abbott has been in football long enough to see the warning signs. But will not be put off.

A fierce fighter as a player for the Bantams, he is more than willing to face the challenge that Hopkin has thrown down head on.

“Maybe it’s a rallying call to me,” he said. “Yeah, it makes me have a good look at myself.

“What more can I do? How can I help?

“But it doesn’t worry me. I accept it.

“When results are like they are, everybody has had a part to play in it.

“Everyone has to look at their own performance and I include myself in that.”

Four successive losses have sent City tumbling to the bottom of League One. The feel around the club is as low as most can remember.

It is a harsh environment where sympathy will get you nowhere.

Abbott added: “You can’t feel sorry for yourself because that won’t change anything. You just have to get on with it and try to do a little bit more, help a bit more and do all you can.

“Then when it does turn, you know you’ve played your part and that little bit of success you get from doing that will feel all the sweeter.

“It doesn’t affect me in a negative way. It just makes me want to roll my sleeves up and really have a go at it.”

Abbott was moved back into a coaching role during the summer when Edin Rahic shocked fans by promoting Collins to the top job. He was the old head to advise and guide Collins and Drury.

It is a different dynamic under the more experienced Hopkin.

Abbott said: “When you’re an assistant like myself and Martin, you support whatever the manager’s philosophy is.

“That’s what we are doing with David, backing him with what he is doing.

“At the minute, he is as determined as anybody to get results. We’ve got to show that same determination to follow him and help him get them, simple as that.

“He comes in and makes the rules. We have to abide by them and get on with it to make things the way he wants them.”

Ahead of another critical game at fellow strugglers Gillingham tomorrow, Abbott remains desperate to help Hopkin buck the trend and conquer a job the Scot insists he will not relinquish without a fight after a decade working with Morton and Livingston.

“You can’t blame him, can you. It’s a fantastic football club to manage and David wants to make a success of it.

“It’s possibly chalk and cheese for where he was to now.

“It’s a big opportunity and he doesn’t want to let go of this without an absolute fight.

“We’re up for that fight because if you’re not, you’ll drop off the ladder. That’s how it is for everybody.”