Leeds chairman Ken Bates insists that he has no plan to sack manager Simon Grayson after questioning recent speculation he was facing the axe.

Grayson: Has the backing of his chairman

The Whites have been struggling of late, losing three games on the trot before grabbing a late 2-1 home win against Burnley in a Championship fixture on Monday.

That victory has placed Leeds in eighth place in the table on 38 points from 25 matches, just a point off the final play-off slot.

Grayson, who has been the Leeds manager since 2008, has come under pressure with suggestions rife that he could be axed by Bates, but the club's chief has now refuted those rumours.

"I knew you would bring that up," Bates told The Yorkshire Post when asked about his confidence in Grayson. "He is now probably the longest-serving manager in the Football League.

"His record over the last three years is in the first year we got to the play-off semi-final, the second year he got us promotion and in the third year we finished seventh.

"This year, despite the fact we have had our blip early, we are one point off the play-offs. We are also ravaged by injuries.

"He is the manager. Don't start putting pressure on him.

"Don't forget they (supporters) were talking of sacking (Sir Alex) Ferguson when he lost 6-1 (to Manchester City) earlier in the season. Then, they were talking of sacking Wenger. Who else are you going to sack?"

Bates added: "If you are chairman, you have to live with pressure. If you win on Saturday, it's, 'Yeah, we're going to win the league'. But if we lose, it's 'We're getting relegated' and they shout 'sack the board'.

"When they chant your name and cheer, thanks very much. But (remember to) take it with a pinch of salt. And when you get the reverse, take it with a pinch of salt and get on with it.

"As Harry S Truman once said: 'if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen'."

Bates also remained coy on any signing during the January transfer window and stated that Grayson will have the final say on which players to sell and buy.

"With our manager, the reason why Leeds are successful financially is that we do our budgets," he explained.

"We have 17 cost/profit centres and everything is okay. We have 220 full-time staff, 700-800 part-time staff and I think we also employ half the police in West Yorkshire - or that is what it looks like when I see the bill coming in.

"We do our budgets. I add up all the income, deduct all the expenditure, use it as a credit balance, take off a sum for contingencies and then say to the manager, 'That's how much we have to spend, wages and transfer fees'.

"I then say to him, 'If you sell any players that money comes into the pot. If you spot any players that money comes out of the pot. You are the manager, you will stand or fall by your decisions, therefore they are your decisions'."