Jim Jefferies today denied that he was feeling the pressure from Bradford City's recent wobble.

The City boss takes his team to Birmingham tomorrow, their first game without Benito Carbone, needing to arrest a run of five defeats in the last six. Carbone's three-month loan deal with Derby County was completed late yesterday afternoon.

Birmingham are currently managerless after Trevor Francis left on Monday, one of 13 bosses who have already lost their jobs so far this season.

But Jefferies said: "I don't think about it. Managers are always judged by results but you just hope people understand your situation.

"We were odds-on favourites to go down when I took over and although this season we've come out and done well, I said at the time that later on things would catch up with us.

"That is now happening and I was always aware of it. It would have been worse if I had buried my head in the sand and didn't know the problems.

"I do, but the frustrating part is not being able to do anything about it. We're trying to get the best out of the players but what we need is what we haven't got.

"But it's human nature to blame the manager when you don't have results. It's the manager's fault when somebody puts it over the bar from two yards or someone makes a crossfield pass and it goes out of play.

"Trevor Francis has been very unlucky. If you look at his record of three times in the play-offs and nearly winning the Worthington Cup, it shows you just what a hard life football management is.

"The only thing I can envy him from the time he was there is that he had £20m to spend. That's what we're up against.

"Yes, we've had one or two bad performances recently but that happens to every club in the league.

"It's very frustrating but I don't think anybody can complain about the effort or the way we played in the last two games against the top two. For me, Tuesday was the best away performance of the season against a team that have been flying."

City will save £500,000 in wages from Carbone's three-month stint at Derby. And Jefferies is hoping that chairman Geoffrey Richmond will allow him to spend some of that money before the Premiership side decide whether to sign the Italian permanently.

Aberdeen's Robbie Winters and Hearts winger Juanjo have been mentioned while Jefferies watched Lee Morris score a hat-trick in a reserve match for Derby on Wednesday.

Jefferies said: "I'm not going to bring in bodies just for the sake of it. I want to pick my own players and build it from there.

"But a new face would give the players here a lift just as much because it would bring more cover for a heavy programme."

Carbone was talked into joining Derby by old friend Fabrizio Ravanelli.

The silver tongue of the silver-haired Italian striker persuaded Carbone he was doing the right thing.

Carbone, who will make his Derby debut at home to Charlton tomorrow, said: "Fabrizio is a very important player. He is very special to me and he helped me come to Derby."