Louis van Gaal is determined to fight on as Manchester United manager and win back the fans.
The under-fire Dutchman acknowledges he is under increasing pressure at Old Trafford but insists he has not offered to resign and will not walk away.
Van Gaal faces the latest round of scrutiny over his position and his misfiring side as they travel to Championship Derby for a tricky FA Cup fourth-round tie on Friday night.
The 64-year-old, who is in his second season at the club, said: "Everybody knows I have signed a three-year contract, and I have said in all my press conferences that is not one game, it is a process. I want to continue until the end."
Van Gaal is confident he has the backing of the club's board but accepts that brings extra pressure to deliver on expectations for them and the fans.
He said: "Of course I am very happy with the support of (executive vice-chairman) Ed Woodward and the Glazers (owners) but it gives you also more pressure.
"It is the same thing I have more pressure because the fans believe in me, or maybe had, believed in me. That is possible.
"That gives more pressure to you because you will (need to) fulfil the expectations that they have of you."
Asked if he can achieve that, Van Gaal said: "Of course. We are halfway. But now I am more dependent on belief than facts, because the facts are we are not in the first four of the Premier League, and that the gap is bigger. The belief is not so easy to believe."
The heat on Van Gaal was turned up even more after last weekend's disappointing home loss to Southampton in the Barclays Premier League, after which United and Van Gaal were booed from the field. The result left them five points off the Champions League places and with just two wins in 10 league matches.
Van Gaal's future seems uncertain, but the former Holland, Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss has hit out at media he believes are too willing to report his demise.
He said at a press conference:" It is awful and horrible that you can write that. I am very concerned people are believing what you are writing. It is this world that you can write what you want and you don't have to verify anything. A lot of it is in a disrespectful way."
But Van Gaal does recognise that he cannot afford a defeat at the iPro Stadium.
He said: "When you lose it is more worse and I predicted already, before the game against Southampton, that I cannot lose any more because I am then condemned for the fourth time that I have been sacked. Maybe then you have written the truth, because sometimes it happens."
Derby will have nothing to lose and manager Paul Clement believes the troubled Red Devils could be there for the taking.
A Rams victory could have serious repercussions for United as well as reinvigorating promotion-chasing Derby after five games without a win.
Clement said: "It wouldn't be that much of an upset if we beat Manchester United. Assuming we perform well, it's a fantastic opportunity."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here