City’s joint-chairmen planned to see Stuart McCall today over his threat to quit if he misses out on the play-offs.

Julian Rhodes and Mark Lawn believe the comments were just frustration in the heat of the moment following Tuesday’s depressing loss at Bournemouth.

Rhodes said: “We will have a chat with Stuart but, as far as we are concerned, we’ve still got 24 points to play for and we’re only out of the play-offs on goal difference.

“We’re looking at what positive things we can do to ensure we get a play-off spot. The transfer deadline for loan players is next Thursday and maybe we can look to bring in another new face to freshen things up.

“With what has happened to this club over the last few years, it’s not the worst thing in the world to be worrying if we can get in the play-offs. We’ve been through a lot worse than this.”

With concerns about the defensive frailties at Dean Court, McCall may be tempted to bring back Mark Bower from his loan at Luton.

City have a 24-hour recall clause for the long-serving defender, who scored as the Hatters beat Grimsby in midweek.

McCall said: “Mark is playing regular games and is doing very well. It would be silly not to at least look at that.

“It’s not long ago that we’d got eight clean sheets out of 11 games and only conceded one in open play but that’s gone now; it’s disappeared.

“My job is to select the right team and our job collectively to go out and perform. The bottom line is that if we defend like Tuesday, we don’t give ourselves a chance.”