John Hughes admits job will be on line if he can't bring end to Hibs slump

HIBERNIAN manager John Hughes has confessed he needs a turnaround in results to hang on to his job.

• John Hughes: "I love proving people wrong, I've done it all my days. I did it as a player and I love it"

Hughes was left in no doubt as to the supporters' opinions of the 3-1 loss to Kilmarnock in Wednesday's Co-operative Insurance Cup third round, as the boos of recent weeks gave way to angry chanting from some fans at Rugby Park, demanding his removal from the dugout.

The Easter Road manager reacted yesterday by acknowledging the importance of results in ensuring he wards off the criticism that appears to be growing with each passing game and every failure to arrest a worrying winless sequence.

Hughes even went as far as to make it clear he would know when he had overstayed his welcome in a post he assumed, on a three-year contract, just 15 months ago.

However, despite a run since February of only four wins in 26 games, and the prospect of daunting away trips to Celtic tomorrow and St Johnstone the following weekend, the former club captain is adamant that any talk of his exit is too premature.

Whilst it appears some fans have lost faith in Hughes and his team, the manager retains every confidence in his players and in his own ability to affect an upturn in fortunes and prove his doubters wrong.

"Eventually, if it carries on, something's got to happen," he admitted. "But I would like to think that people who know the game are looking at it thinking 'they're just having a bad run'.

"I'll know when I've had enough, I'll know when the time's right. But I keep saying to the fans, 'we're only six games into the season, behave yourselves'. We've only lost two games in the league, and against Kilmarnock.

"I totally understand (the fans' frustrations], I'm in it with them. I'm not blas enough to say it's not hurting us. Yes, we're all hurting, but the message is we're working ever so hard to try and get success.

"I've asked my players to come back in here and get onto that training pitch and show a real strength of character to say 'come on then'.

"I'll go first, I'll lead the fight, I love a battle, I love a fight. There will be nothing better for me than when we turn this around and maybe get a bit of success. Wait until you see the size of the smile on my face, to all those wee guys who have had a wee dig.

"I love proving people wrong, I've done it all my days. I did it as a player and I love it, I love that siege mentality.

"I've always got a point to prove. The day you get out of some body your bed and you think you've not got a point to prove is the day you should stay in bed. I love a challenge."Eventually you need to start getting results and you need to keep your eye on it.

"But as long as its spirited and hard-working and the boys are showing a desire to turn it around then you're okay. That keeps you working towards the vision you've got."

One bookmakers yesterday installed Hughes, on even money, as the clear favourite to be first manager to be sacked in the SPL this season, but the Easter Road boss described the backing from his board of directors as "100 per cent".

With the support of the fans some way below that, he confessed that a trip to face a clearly on-form Celtic side could be viewed as the polar opposite of what he and his team currently need. Yet, the former Falkirk manager is clear that should not be the case.

"I'm not covering anything up," he added, talking of the fine line between success and failure.

"If it wasn't spirited, if we were crap then I'd be sitting here saying we have got a problem. But we don't have a problem, we have togetherness and it's in our performances.

"Possibly I need to tweak the system. We did that against Kilmarnock and I'll need to sit down and look at it.

"But I want to go to Parkhead and go shoulder-to-shoulder and be inspired by that stage. For me, if I was in that dressing room, I would love to go to Parkhead, bring it on."

Meanwhile, Neil Lennon says he will guard against Hibernian starting their fightback at Celtic Park tomorrow.

Celtic have won five SPL games out of five and go into the game in great shape following a 6-0 win over Inverness in their Co-operative Insurance Cup tie on Wednesday night.

But Lennon knows Hughes will be looking for a response from his players at Parkhead.

"We have to make sure that it's not against us, because that would give them a huge lift," he told the club's television station.

"It wouldn't damage us, but it would be disappointing and we have to be aware of that.

"They'll be coming, like all teams do with Celtic, to put on a performance and players do lift themselves when they come to Celtic Park.

"We have to be above that and make sure we are right."

Celtic were yesterday handed a trip to St Johnstone in the quarter-finals of the cup competition and Lennon insists his side are in fine fettle for the upcoming games.

He said: "I feel there is more to come from the group, they are growing together, but again, it's very early days.

"We're not getting too carried away, but we're very pleased and we're in the next round of the cup, which is what we set out to do."