Leeds boss Terry Venables is demanding "a united front" after rubbishing rumours of a dressing room bust-up following Wednesday's Worthington Cup howler against Sheffield United.
After two injury-time goals sent Leeds crashing and left them with just one victory from their last nine matches, Venables concedes "a frank discussion" took place among the players.
That probably came at the same time as the 2,000 Leeds fans, who had been forced to stay inside Bramall Lane due to the ugly scenes which followed referee Jeff Winter's final whistle, were chanting "Venables out" and "Ridsdale out."
Venables, though, has reiterated he has no intention of falling on his sword as he stated: "I don't want to even talk about quitting. It's not going to enter my head."
So whether the Leeds fans like it or not, Venables is staying, although suggestions of a divide in the camp are only serving to undermine the former England coach in his bid to arrest the slide.
"There's been rumours, and they've got so far out of proportion it's embarrassing, about people losing their heads and fighting in the dressing room which is absolute nonsense. Let's get that straight right away," urged Venables.
"We did have a frank discussion after the game, but if that is losing your temper then you've not seen anything. It was just a normal situation after a game.
"Sometimes you don't say a word and you leave it until the next day, sometimes people have to say things. It shows they care.
"If something stronger happened then I would be happy with that because you know they do care about it rather than them sloping off and thinking 'well, that's the way it goes'.
"But it's important everybody pulls together at the club. At a time like this, if you let cracks appear then people will prise them apart because that is what they want to do.
"So we must make those cracks tighter than ever, and then go forward and be 100% together. There has to be a united front."
Venables faces further selection problems for Sunday as Danny Mills is out with what the club describe as "personal problems", while Alan Smith is suspended following his recent sending off at Middlesbrough.
Robbie Fowler, Seth Johnson and Olivier Dacourt remain sidelined through injury, with late fitness tests to be given to Jonathan Woodgate (groin) and Eirik Bakke (ankle).
Dominic Matteo, meanwhile, may not be back in action this month following a setback in his recovery from a recent minor knee operation as Venables revealed: "He is going to be out for a while.
"He has seen the specialist and I think it is fair to say he won't be back in the team in the near future. It's going to take a little longer than we first thought. We just have to bear with it."