LEE CLARK has appealed for unity at Kilmarnock after angry shareholders laid the blame for the club's troubles at the feet of director Michael Johnston.
The Rugby Park outfit's Ladbrokes Premiership status is hanging in the balance ahead of Saturday's crucial clash with Hamilton.
Defeat to Accies at New Douglas Park combined with Partick Thistle avoiding defeat at home to Inverness will consign Killie to the lottery of the play-offs.
Relegation would spell disaster for a club which last week announced losses of £724,406 for the year to May 30, 2015.
The negativity has been bubbling away under the surface all season as attendances have dwindled.
But tempers finally flared on Monday when unpopular former chairman Johnston faced calls to resign from the board at the club's AGM from angry shareholders who feel the equal-majority stakeholder still wields too much power behind the scenes.
Boss Clark left the meeting before those protests but he urged supporters to stick by the side as they battle for their top-flight lives.
He said: "I wasn't there [for the shareholder protests]. Once I did my speech I had to get back to the training ground.
"But the response to me and the players since I've been here has been magnificent, so we're just saying thank you for that and keep it going for these last four games.
"Hopefully that is all we will need to secure our top-flight status. If not, we'll need them to keep it going for whatever else is coming our way.
"The fans have been terrific. They want to see success. The club has been floundering around this position for too long, so we need to get this season done and dusted, stay in the division and then turn thing around."
And the manager insists his players are well aware of the cost of relegation.
"For me it's not just about the football side," he explained. "It's about the folk in behind the scenes, it's about good people who work at this football club, who are supporters, who have been here many, many years.
"Usually when clubs have a relegation and they have to cost cut, these good people are the first to lose their livelihoods.
"It's a terrible thing to see and experience. We are realising it's not just about the football side, it's about people's lives and jobs are at stake.
"We are fighting for them as well."
Meanwhile, Clark hopes to have goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald available to face Accies after appealing the red card he received against Inverness last weekend.
The former Hearts stopper dragged down Ross Draper as he conceded a penalty but Clark believes his side's case may have been boosted by the Caley Thistle midfielder's honesty after the Highlander's 3-1 victory.
Clark said: "We've put in an appeal and we'll hear back on Thursday. We're hopeful. We feel we've had a little bit of help from Ross Draper with his post-match interview.
"He said he didn't feel he was going to get to the ball, so that's part of our appeal.
"But if it doesn't come off we've got confidence in young Conor Brennan producing the goods for us."