Skipper David Wetherall today vowed that Bradford City would not hoist the white flag as they dropped back to the bottom of the Premiership.

Everton's late win at Valley Parade dumped City back in the basement after winless Derby picked up a shock draw against Arsenal at Highbury.

But ahead of the relegation showdown between the two sides on Saturday, new captain Wetherall has blasted the critics ready to consign the Bantams to the dreaded drop.

Wetherall said: "People have written us off as dead certs to go down ever since we came up last year and after losing to Everton they'll be doing it again. But that's definitely not what we believe.

"You can't give up after 13 games, there's a long way to go. We've got to be optimistic about staying up and if we can keep up the level of commitment we showed on Saturday then we can build on it.

"We bossed the Everton game and once our quality players get their confidence back, results will pick up and we'll start moving up the table.

"There's still plenty of football left. We just need that one win to kick-start things."

City are unlikely to have a new manager in for the Pride Park clash but Wetherall said: "The club may be in limbo a bit but the games coming up are extremely important and we've just got to get on with it.

"It doesn't matter who the manager is, the club deserve 100 per cent effort and commitment out on the pitch. It's never a good time in the season to have to change managers but we've got to deal with it.

"What the players think doesn't matter. We get paid for playing football and taking instructions from the manager out on to the pitch, it's not for us to decide who should be in charge. But there are a lot of experienced names being linked with it and I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone with experience."

FA technical director Howard Wilkinson is the latest speculation although it seems highly unlikely. Wilkinson has been approached several times in the past by his former side Sheffield Wednesday and indicated he wasn't keen to return to club management.

City caretaker-boss Stuart McCall admitted: "We need someone who's been there, seen it and done it. But above all he needs to be lucky.

"There is no magic formula, just a couple of wins. There's nothing wrong with the spirit in the camp but results count and if you go from game to game without victories, then self-belief and confidence gets hit.

"We deserved to get beaten at Charlton and at home to Ipswich but we didn't deserve to lose on Saturday.

"It would be nice to get a new man in to freshen the place up with new ideas. But we don't want any long faces this week. I've told the players to avoid all papers and not to look at any league tables until we get something from Derby." City's man of the match Jamie Lawrence is pictured getting in a tangle with Everton's Stephen Hughes at Valley Parade

Picture: Gerard Binks