SOMETIMES it’s not the words, but rather how they are conveyed.

Certainly, in black and white terms, Luke Williams said all the right things after another demoralising afternoon at Valley Parade last weekend.

“I never ever will quit. I want this emotion to be over but I certainly don’t want this season to be over, I am not looking to hide from anything,’’ said the Town head coach, after the heartbreak of two late goals conceded at Bradford.

The sort of defiant, fighting talk supporters need to hear from the leader of a group that finds their league status under an ever more perilous state.

The problem is that - much as Williams, his staff, his players and even his superiors would undoubtedly make the case otherwise - virtually everything else about Town loudly screams ‘League Two’ at the moment.

The head coach’s words may well be Churchillian in intent, trying to arouse the sort of response required to lift the club out of the mire, but the current body language and all-round vibe emanating from the club bring to mind the sage words of another British prime minister - Harold MacMillan.

“Events, dear boy, events.’’

Since supposedly being handed ‘the tools’ at the end of the January transfer window with which to extricate Town from their relegation predicament, Williams has seen his side win just twice in 10 league matches - one against a Coventry side almost certainly doomed themselves.

Little about the players’ performances, demeanour and indeed attitude suggest anything other than a team resigned to its fate.

Even Williams himself, loyal to his squad almost to a fault, has shown signs of that faith wavering recently, not helped in the least by the extra-curricular activities of some players, suggesting at best a naive lack of awareness as to the club’s current predicament and at worst, a complete absence of empathy or concern for that plight.

The head coach has been lambasted in some quarters for his steadfast adherence to familiar themes in media briefings, but he’s never wavered in carrying out those duties, which sometimes must be as torturous for him as they are for those listening or reading.

Yet from the club hierarchy? Nothing. Save for an unchallenged national radio interview last month in which chairman Lee Power almost comically claimed there would be no excuses for Town’s failure to stay in League One following his January recruitment and a prior local radio phone-in and almost inevitable ‘club statement’, long on rehashing old talking points, but short on a coherent future plan.

The consistent refusal of Power and indeed Tim Sherwood, before his retreat from his shadowy, ill-defined role as director of football - “one of the biggest appointments the club has ever made’’ remember - to front up with the local media (yes, they have been asked) to be quizzed about this unfolding shambles has shamefully allowed Williams to be used as some sort of flak jacket.

Few would countenance that Town are willingly heading for the League One trapdoor, but even fewer would doubt that they appear to be virtually sleepwalking through it.