8 hours ago
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Manager Marti Cifuentes accepts that his job depends on misfiring Leicester City picking up points and halting their slide down the Championship table.
Keeping hold of all those points, however, is something he defers to Leicester's legal team.
The Spaniard is undoubtedly a boss under pressure after Saturday's 3-2 defeat by Sheffield United at the King Power Stadium saw them slip to 16th in the second tier - but Leicester's troubles extend from the dugout all the way to lawyers' chambers.
Charges for allegedly breaching spending rules, when they were promoted as Championship title winners two seasons ago, has them locked in a legal battle with the Premier League.
If found guilty, the English Football League could hit the Foxes with a points deduction.
It is a case reportedly being heard now,, external not that the club or football authorities have acknowledged it publicly.
And so it has been left to Cifuentes to field questions about the threat of point deductions when his future is uncertain over disappointing results.
"I'm not a lawyer, so I can't give you details on things that are far away from my competence," he told BBC Sport when asked about the ongoing case against the club.
"But what I can say is what I see behind the scenes, that the club is trying to work as hard [as] they can to try to be in the best position on this situation as well."
Cifuentes said he always "knew it would not be an easy task" taking charge of a Leicester side that had been relegated from the Premier League twice in three seasons.
But has it been harder than anticipated?
"Obviously, we cannot hide from the fact that the results have been worse than what we wanted," he admitted.
"This is a big club. And at big clubs, the expectations are big and you need to be ready to accept those demands."
When Cifuentes replaced Ruud van Nistelrooy at the Foxes helm in the summer, he was aware of the charges against Leicester, the threat of a points deduction and the lack of funds at a club attempting to financially right itself - meaning he did not have money to spend on summer signings.
But when asked about how he, his coaching team and players are dealing with the unknown of battling for points that they do not know they will keep, Cifuentes said "it is something we don't try to pay too much attention to".
The 43-year-old added: "My focus is 100% on trying to win the next game and trying to develop the football side of the club.
"I don't want to turn my energy on those matters when, actually, there is not much we can do.
"The only thing we can do is try be in the best position we can be in the table and try to improve every week as a team."
There have been optimistic moments in the early months of the season, with Cifuentes pointing to back-to-back wins against Norwich City and Stoke earlier in November.
There was even "encouraging things" in the second half against Sheffield United as they pulled two goals back from 3-0 down - through Stephy Mavididi and Jordan James - to set up a tense finish.
Cifuentes, though, admitted "the bar wasn't very high" after a "very frustrating and disappointing first half" and the boos aimed at his side at half-time were merited.
There were chants of 'sacked in the morning', started by Sheffield United fans and picked up by pockets of Leicester supporters when the Blades went into the break in command.
"It's not the first time that I got this song," said Cifuentes. "Fortunately for me I've always got the confidence to turn things around.
"I understand the frustration and it was completely fair the reaction at half-time because it was absolutely below the level.
"But I'm very committed to try give the fans something back. I just hope they understand that I came here to fix something, and that they let me fix it."
And when asked if he felt that the backing was there from owner Khun Aiyawatt 'Top' Srivaddhanaprabha and director of football Jon Rudkin, Cifuentes added: "We constantly have meetings about how we can improve things.
"It's not an easy moment, of course, but I feel full of confidence about the task that I was signed for, which was to try to improve things."
