United's players were today challenged to 'step up to the mark' and put the club back on a winning footing in a bid to arrest the recent worrying slide down the division.

In a rallying call, United's chief executive officer, Shaun Harvey, didn't pull his punches as he placed the blame for the recent poor run firmly onto the shoulders of the players.

He called on them to rediscover their self-belief and have the courage of their own convictions to pull things round and put the club back on track for promotion.

United have lost their last three league games and as a result have slipped from second place in League One to eighth and are currently 12 points adrift of leaders Leicester City and 10 points worse off than second-placed Millwall.

Harvey accepted that no one set out on Saturday afternoons with the intention of going home at 5pm disappointed - and that included the players and management.

"One thing is certain, the management, staff and players are working without any distraction doing everything they can to get things eradicated," he said.

"But when the players go out onto the pitch between 3pm and 5pm on a Saturday afternoon, they are the only ones who can influence things. We have to get things right and the players have to step up to the mark.

"We are a big club and there are high expectations and we make no apologies for that. But the players have to step up and it is up to them to make the difference. They have to get themselves out of the run we are currently in.

"At the end of the day the same players at the start of the season were good enough to get us towards the top of the table, playing football that everyone was excited to see. They need to rediscover that, they need to find the belief and I am sure from that stage on they will deliver again."

Harvey said that the United squad, on paper, was the envy of everybody in the division. "Good players and good squads don't become bad players and bad squads overnight. Something's changed and they need to rediscover belief in themselves.

"It is not about desire, of course they want to win, but they have to have the courage of their convictions to be able to go out and do it.

"Bookmakers had us as favourites for promotion at the start of the season and it is worth remembering there are a lot of rich bookies when compared to gamblers. Let's hope that remains true in this case."

Saturday's loss to Colchester resulted in manager Gary McAllister coming in for criticism from some fans and Harvey said: "There will always be one target. Gary is responsible for the players on a day-to-day basis and they work as a unit but even Gary loses control at 3pm when it turns over to the players on the pitch.

"He is there to guide, encourage and advise but ultimately if the issue is one of errors of an individual nature there is nothing anyone can do about that."

Looking ahead to the Christmas and New Year fixtures, Harvey said this was a time for everyone to be united. "We are getting to a critical stage of the season.

"We are outside the play-off places but there are still 26 league games to play, which is more than we have played so far. A good run between now and then will see us safely ensconced back in the play-off positions and our objective this season is promotion and with 26 games left it is still a realistic possibility.

"The mood around the club and the city today is whether we will make the play-offs but we have to be more confident than that. We have to be bolder than that and this is when we talk about players having more belief and fans having more belief.

"We don't want to be accepting a place in the play-offs because they can be a lottery. We want to be in the top two. Leicester are currently looking down on the rest of the division at the moment. Our aspirations are that we be up there with them - or even on top of the pile by now - going into a massive game here on Boxing Day.

"We are not but fortunately our bad run of form has come now and not in the last six games of the season."

The chief executive praised the attendance of over 19,000 for the game against Colchester. "One thing that is unquestionable is the support that Leeds United fans give the club. That was a tremendous attendance for a game on the Saturday before Christmas.

"Fans are the most important part of any football club and Leeds United are no different. At Leeds, however, what we have is a combination of both passion and numbers. It is difficult at the moment but we are all in this together - players, management, staff and fans.

"We have had a bad run but we need to come out stronger at the other side," he said.

United may well add to their squad during the January transfer window and there might also be some departures.

"Inquiries are being made at this moment," Harvey said. "But it is not as simple as just making an inquiry about a player. There isn't one player I have spoken to who has an issue about coming to play for Leeds United. In fact it positively excites them.

"The thing is that we are playing League One football and getting players from the Premier League or the Championship, who still think they have something to offer at higher level, is difficult.

"Those players we are looking at are ones to take us forward, to go on top of an already strong squad. We are in a position where we can support the manager but we have to find the right players. The market is very hard.

"The majority of clubs in our division will be looking to make cuts during January not add to their squad. What we are saying is that if we can find the right players we can add to our squad and, yes, we will probably look to move a few players out but they will be players on the fringes and not directly involved in every game.

"We need to restrict the number of players we have got and then we can concentrate on working with a set group of players and charge those players with the responsibility of taking the club from its current position to as near the top of the table as we can get."

Speaking about the club's best players, the chief executive stressed that United did not have to sell a single player. "That is the key message. We have said previously that there will always be a time when it is right for a club to sell a player.

"The emphasis is, though, that we don't need to sell but that does not mean we won't. But to put fans at ease, we are looking to add to our better players to get us out of this division.

"The stars and better players and those who have been linked with moves away, they will only ever be going when we say so, so there are no fears on that score," he added.

Asked what he would like for Christmas, Harvey replied: "To see Gary McAllister named as Manager of the Month for January."