Steve Whitton is putting his trust in the Colchester United fans not to let him and the club down.
And the Layer Road fans' first test could come in 13 days time for the rescheduled home game against Swindon Town.
The U's are due to play the Robins on Wednesday, January 30, a date originally fixed because Premiership neighbours Ipswich Town were fixtured to play Fulham on their usual Tuesday night midweek slot.
Ipswich have now switched their match to Wednesday as well because their FA Cup fourth round tie at home to Manchester City has been put back from the previous Saturday afternoon to Sunday night for live coverage by BBC TV.
Whitton said: "I don't think the Ipswich game will make even the slightest difference to us. I'm a firm believer that we don't lose many of our supporters when Ipswich are at home.
"But the end of the month clash will be a really good test for the fans. It will tell us just who our fans really are and the ones that always come along."
The U's support, or more to the point lack of it - they are currently averaging crowds of around 3,400 for home games - has always remained a bone of contention for Whitton and the Layer Road board.
The U's boss said: "It always perplexes me as to why we can't attract bigger crowds. We are currently going very well in the top half of the Division Two table just four or five points off the promotion play-offs.
"We are playing some of our best football for ages, are currently four points better with a better goal difference than at the same time last season, but only 3,000-odd people are coming along to watch our matches."
On the brighter side, Whitton is confident broken wrist victim Kemal Izzet will be allowed to play against Chesterfield on Saturday wearing a lightweight cast to protect the injury.
He said: "Dermot Gallagher, one of the top referees, controlled our reserve match with Cheltenham yesterday and he told us he could foresee no problems with the protective cast.
"It was brave of Kemal to say he would play on without a cast but sadly for him the doctors won't allow him to do that."
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Published Thursday January 17, 2002
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