Reading manager Steve Coppell has refused to confirm he will stay at the club should they go down on Sunday.
The Royals know they must get a result at already-relegated Derby to have any chance of avoiding the drop.
But even victory at Pride Park might not be enough as a Fulham win at Portsmouth would put them down anyway, with Birmingham's result against Blackburn also significant.
When asked whether he would continue as manager whatever the outcome Coppell replied: "I can't say that. Let's get Sunday out of the way and we will go from there. That's not giving myself an out but my whole concentration is on Sunday.
"This has got nothing to do with my personal situation, it is about Reading Football Club trying to win a football game on Sunday, nothing else.
"I'm not backing out of answering a question but I just want to concentrate on the football match."
Coppell retains the support of chairman John Madejski and was voted manager of the year in the previous two seasons, first for taking the Royals into the top flight for the first time and then for almost leading them into Europe.
This term has been far tougher however and although Reading recovered from an eight-game losing streak after Christmas their fate is no longer in their hands thanks to a run of six games without even a goal that coincided with a strong Fulham revival.
The London club are now ahead of Reading having accrued the same number of points and scored the same number of goals but conceded six fewer.
Coppell made it clear he would take all the blame should Sunday have an unhappy ending.
He said: "The manager is always accountable. I have never hidden from that. At this club I have made great issue of that fact that the chairman leaves me alone and there is no interference.
"He leaves me to look after the football club and if the football is not working it's my responsibility 100%."
Derby would appear to be ideal opponents given that they have won only once all season and kept a total of three clean sheets.
But Rams manager Paul Jewell has already declared Sunday as a grudge match following comments by Royals coach Kevin Dillon that if Reading could not beat Derby they deserved to go down.
Jewell has vowed to pin those words on the dressing room wall and Coppell was less than convincing in his attempts to diffuse the situation.
He said: "There has been a bit of a misunderstanding. It wasn't a reference to Derby specifically, just that we are playing them in our last game. It didn't matter who we were playing in our last game, it was just that we have the best chance if we win.
"I have no problem with Jewelly and if Paul wants to use anything he thinks has been said then fine. It doesn't affect us one iota.
"We have no axe to grind with anybody there. We are hardly in a position of a superior vantage point where we can say we should beat anyone."
