Nobody needs to tell Sami Hyypia the significance of Albion's fixture against fellow strugglers Millwall at the Amex on Friday night.

He said: "Everyone knows it's a very important game and, of course, for me personally it's a very important game."

Many believe Hyypia's job should be on the line. Many think he should already be gone after only one win out of 16 in the Championship.

They have said so across social media outlets. Hyypia is doing his best to block out the whirlwind of speculation surrounding his future.

"I try to put it to one side and concentrate on what I can control," he said. "I can't control people having their opinion.

"Whether it is going good or bad there are always critics and everyone has the right to give their opinion. I can't do anything about it.

"I just try to put it to one side and concentrate on my work."

Hyypia was as polite, calm and honest as always as he spoke at Albion's training complex in Lancing yesterday, shortly before a regular Board meeting at which the plight of the team and the man guiding them was an inevitable topic of conversation.

His fate is in their hands, not fans frustrated at seeing the club plummet from promotion contenders for the last two seasons into relegation candidates.

The towering Finn, appointed in early June in succession to the fed-up Oscar Garcia with a mass turnover of the squad already under way, is not looking at the clock as he plots a way of beating Millwall with a team still missing several key players.

"I think the time is up to the ones (Board) who decide," he said. "Some are more patient and some are less.

"Of course, the summer was very difficult. I signed quite late. We didn't have a lot of time to put the team together, then after the first two games we signed something like seven players.

"It's not an ideal situation to be in. I am not the kind of person who would try to hide behind injuries. They are always there. You never know who is going to be injured or when it is going to happen.

"I would never use that for myself as an excuse for myself for not getting results. You need to be able to cope with injuries but it doesn't change the fact that the summer was very difficult and we have a lot of new players.

"To get them to play together and gel together takes time. On Saturday after the game we were talking to the Derby management. They had seven players who started the play-off game, we had one, so that tells something about how the situation is.

"I think successful teams have the core of players there and then they add every year one or two who could strengthen the team.

"You would need to have time to have that kind of situation. From last year we had a lot of changes so that wasn't possible.

"How much time I have I don't decide. My job is to work as hard as I can, to get as much out of this squad as I can and that's it.

"Other people will decide then how much time I have. I'm not the type of person who will say to somebody 'Give me this time'. I have the time that they allow me to have. My job is to do my work and not concentrate on asking for more time."