DAVID Hopkin is likely to stay on at Valley Parade amid uncertainty over his future.

The doubts about his position emerged after the head coach shunned his media duties following City’s crushing 4-0 loss to Gillingham at the weekend, which left them cemented to the bottom of League One.

Hopkin declined to speak to the press or the club’s own website afterwards, sparking suggestions he may have decided that enough is enough after just eight weeks in the job.

On the back of five successive league defeats, the confusion over whether Hopkin intended to stick it out or not has only added to the fears among fans that City are drifting out of control.

Chairman Edin Rahic is currently still in Germany with his family. He has missed the last three games and is not expected back for the visit of leaders Portsmouth on Saturday.

Hopkin was unavailable for comment yesterday but the indications are that he will opt to carry on with the task of trying to keep City afloat in the division.

The latest loss against a Gillingham team who had won only once since August increased the gap between them and safety to four points.

Having missed several scoring chances in the first half, Hopkin’s side collapsed after the break and conceded four times. They have now let in 15 goals in the last five games.

Hopkin has only been in the job for 55 days since Michael Collins was sacked. He has lost eight of his 10 league games at the helm but has always made it clear that he viewed it as a long-term project to revive City’s flagging fortunes.

Joint-owner Stefan Rupp issued a public statement on Friday showing their support for him and promised backing in the January transfer window if the team’s predicament does not improve.

Should Hopkin opt to walk away now, it would heap further pressure on Rahic as the public disharmony against his reign continues to grow.

Gillingham boss Steve Lovell, whose own job has been on the line after their recent slump, admitted he was sympathetic to Hopkin’s plight – and urged him to pull through.

Lovell said: “I feel for him. I’ve gone through it.

“It’s not nice going home at the weekend when you’ve lost another game.

“It’s a pressurised job that you’re in but you accept the rough with the smooth.

“But you keep battling and working hard and keep believing in your ability to turn things round. That’s all you can do.

“He’ll know how his players will respond to the treatment that he wants to give them. So let’s hope that he turns it around.

“I know how he’s feeling – in that first half he will have been thinking ‘flippin’ heck, the game could have been over’.”