JOHN Williams today called for a siege mentality at Ewood as Rovers attempt to address the slump which has seen them slide into the Premiership's bottom two.

As Graeme Souness whisked his beleaguered troops off for a morale-boosting break in Scotland last night, Williams was left to lead the fight on the home front.

And the message coming loud and clear out of Ewood this morning is that Souness still has the full backing of the board as the club stands united in the face of adversity.

"Manchester United create a siege mentality at Old Trafford and we've got to do something similar here now because we are all in this together," said Williams.

"We've got to get our heads down and work through this. There will be no knee-jerk reactions and I firmly believe we'll get ourselves out of this.

"I know all the players are right behind Graeme and the board are too.

"Now we need the public to get behind us as well.

"We are in it now and we've got to knuckle down for the next dozen games or so, get ourselves out of the bottom three or four, and then I think we'll improve.

"It's vitally important that we build a siege mentality around Ewood and Brockhall.

"We won't do our dirty washing in public. As a club it's important that we present a united front so if we do have to conduct any investigations then we'll do them in private behind closed doors."

Rovers have now lost five on the bounce in the league following their latest setback against Leicester on Sunday.

That result saw them slip into the Premiership's bottom two for the first time in four years and Souness has labelled the slump as the worst of his career.

But with tough away games against Manchester United, Birmingham and Arsenal looming large on the horizon, the club are bracing themselves for the possibility that the situation could get worse before it gets better.

Despite that, Souness continues to enjoy the full support of the board and the dressing room.

And former Ewood favourite Kevin Gallacher also backed the Rovers boss to turn things around last night.

"Players get frustrated and end up going out of position, and then there's individual errors," said Gallacher, as he attempted to explain Rovers' recent loss in form.

"You could throw a whole catalogue of things in but Graeme will see these things and I'm sure they will get it right.

"They are playing well at the moment, but not killing teams off.

"In the three years Graeme has been there, he has turned the club around. He's won trophies and not too many managers have done that - only Kenny Dalglish.

"He's turned them around before and I'm sure he can do it again."

Souness has taken his players on a short break to Scotland in an attempt to boost morale ahead of Monday night's crunch clash with Everton at Ewood.

They will return tomorrow to begin their preparations for the visit of the Toffees.

In the meantime, Craig Short could make his playing return in tonight's reserve game against Bolton at Morecambe's Christie Park (kick off 7pm).

Short has yet to kick a ball in a competitive fixture this season after undergoing surgery on a knee injury.

But he's now made a full recovery and he's looking to hand his manager a timely boost ahead of the Everton game.

Neil Danns and Jonathan Douglas, who both returned from loan spells at Blackpool earlier this week, have also been named in Alan Murray's squad, together with Italian duo Ciccio Grabbi and Dino Baggio.

Rovers' squad is: Drench, Douglas, McEveley, Danns, Taylor, Short, Donnelly, Gallagher, Grabbi, Baggio, Nelson, Fitzgerald, Renton, Harkins, Johnson, Taylor (Michael).