Jake Simpson of Shrewsbury Town

Simpson junior was thrown back into the limelight over Easter after earning a recall at the weekend, and he produced steady displays against Torquay and Notts County.

But both games ended in defeat to extend Shrewsbury’s losing streak to six games and increase the scrutiny on the future of the manager.

“Footballers should have pride in the manager keeping their job because we are the ones who go out there and play,” said 19-year-old Jake.

“For me, it’s my old man and I want to keep him in his job.

“But I think as a footballer, you have to want your manager to do well. If not, you’re not really in it for the right reasons.

“We do all the work through the week and that’s the manager’s time. You can’t fault it and all the lads will say that – it’s not just me.

“Once we cross that white line, it’s down to the 11 players he picks.

“Yes it’s his team but we have to do our individual jobs right and we haven’t done that so we have let him down at times.

“We need to keep working hard and hopefully the results will come for us and the manager.”

Simpson was satisfied with his own displays over the weekend after a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a knee injury.

And the youngster is refusing to give up hope of gate-crashing the play-offs, despite Town lying nine points behind with six games to play.

“I think I’ve done well to get myself fit and hopefully I can keep myself going,” he added.

“It’s win or bust for everyone and I’ve gone in with that attitude, put everything on the line and hopefully the fans have appreciated that.

“We don’t want to drop out and die. We want to keep ourselves in with a chance of the play-offs and we are still in there. But, first things first, we need to get ourselves back playing well.”

Shrewsbury reserves drew 3-3 with West Bromwich Albion at the Prostar Stadium last night.