Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insisted he will not be walking away from the club despite their stunning 3-1 defeat to Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
The Portuguese boss has overseen a dreadful start to the 2015-16 campaign, with the defending Premier League champions recording just eight points from as many matches.
The convincing defeat to the Saints was the first time Chelsea have conceded three goals in a home league game under Mourinho.
However, the former Real Madrid boss told Blues supporters he is not going anywhere after the match and feels the club would be losing the best manager they have ever had if they decide to get rid of him.
“If they sack me, they sack the best manager this club has had,” Mourinho told Sky Sports. “This is a crucial moment in the history of this club. I know what people are thinking, but it is not happening. I am not running away. I don’t run away from my responsibilities.
“If the club wants to sack me, they have to sack me. To be champions is obviously very difficult because of the distance [to the top], but I am more than convinced we will finish in the top four. When the season is so bad and you finish in the top four, that is okay.
“If they sack me the message is again if there are bad results, the manager is guilty. This is a moment to assume responsibility. I assume mine, the players should assume theirs and other people in the club should also assume theirs and we stick together.
“Do the players trust me and think I am the man for the job? This week we spoke about it. [The] answer was undoubted. It is time for the club to act in a different way, a position of stability, a position of trust. When I was contacted to go back, I was told ‘we had so many managers, we know you are the best’.
“I have a big ego, I consider myself the best. This hurts me a lot. We have players that are performing really, really badly. I think it is clear that we are being punished for too many individual mistakes. ”
On his relationship with club owner Roman Abramovich, he added: “I have no signs that anything changed – not one sign
“When we were champions, I said I would stay as long as the board and owner want me. I said that as a champion and I say that now.I want the best for my club, and the best for my club is for me to stay.”
Mourinho also raged about the decision to deny his team a penalty when Radamel Falcao was brought down in the box by Saints goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg in the second half, claiming referees were afraid to give big decisions in Chelsea’s favour.
He continued: “We are in such a bad moment. When we are top, there is a big pleasure in putting us down. When you are so down you need to be honest to say the referees are afraid to give decisions to Chelsea.
“If the FA wants to punish me they can punish me. They don’t punish other managers, but that would not be a problem for me.
“When the result was 1-1 there was a huge penalty and once again we did not get it. I say it again, the referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea. Why? Because when they do there is a question mark, always criticism. We are always punished. Diego Costa is suspended… in other matches we see it and nothing happens.
“Even in the Champions League we lose 2-1 which is a game with not three officials but five. We are not given a penalty in the last minute. The penalty in this game is crucial because it is the first negative thing that happened and then we collapsed.
“We have a penalty, it is a giant penalty and he was afraid to give it, like everyone else is afraid to give them. After that the team lost even more confidence. The team is in such a low moment and they collapsed.”