Brentford chief executive Mark Devlin has spoken out in support of under-fire manager Dean Smith, insisting that it is "business as usual" for the Championship side.
The Bees have lost their last four games in a row - including a 5-0 drubbing at Norwich City on Saturday - to fall to within three points of the relegation zone and pile pressure on Smith, who took over at Griffin Park in November 2015.
"I don't want to go around saying dreaded vote of support. As far as we're concerned, it's business as usual," Devlin told the Fulham Chronicle. "The manager and the players hurt just as bad after Saturday. I've every faith in the players, squad and manager that they'll put it right.
"Form can turn around really quickly and then we had a fantastic end to the season. Good players can become bad overnight. They do lose form, confidence and belief and they're working hard to get that back.
"We need fans to deal with the disappointment but not lose faith in the squad and the management. We all have bad periods of time and we're going through one of those at the moment. Now's the time to hide that and support the players. It's easy to turn your back and wait for performances to turn around. It's tougher to turn up with a bit of trepidation. My biggest plea is to turn up the volume at Griffin Park and make it loud – that will help the players."
Smith's side next welcome fellow strugglers Burton Albion to Griffin Park on Saturday.
Neil Wilkes
