CITY’S owners tonight declared they were still “100 per cent” behind Stuart McCall.

The club have issued a statement after a run of four straight losses – and failure to recruit in the transfer window up to now – has caused anxiety.

In it, they stressed that Stefan Rupp and Edin Rahic “would like to place on record their 100 per cent support for Stuart McCall and have every faith that he and his team can turn things around to mount a promotion challenge.”

They have also accepted responsibility with head of recruitment Greg Abbott for the battle to bring in new signings. City are hopeful they can do that ahead of Saturday’s game against Wimbledon.

Abbott said: “For anyone to say we haven’t been prepared for this window has no idea just how hard we all work.

“We've watched and researched hundreds of players. The nature of the industry is that all clubs feel obliged to spend money in January.

“Trust me, we have tried and as soon as January 1 came, our offers went in for players. “Having money to spend is great but the biggest obstacles we have faced is other clubs not wanting to sell their best players and that has meant we have not landed any of our main targets.

“But I won't give up. This time last year we had to wait until the final hour of the transfer window to sign Charlie Wyke.”

The statement said that recent performances and results have not been good enough and any manager will be judged by these two things.

“But we all accept that there is a joint responsibility and a pressing need to deliver new players and add fresh assets to the squad to give Stuart the chance to improve things.”

City chairman Rahic stressed it is time for strong leadership.

He said: "We have tried and will continue to try and strengthen our squad in the transfer market. So far we have not been successful. “There are seven days left of this transfer window. We will work tirelessly to bring in new players and crucially, the right players.

“We give Stuart and the team all our support and hopefully we'll be able to bring you all some good news on this front before Saturday.”