Skipper Finnigan has been at Whaddon Road for seven years
Cheltenham captain John Finnigan has admitted staying in League One is unlikely but has said his side must keep on fighting to survive.
The Robins are 14 points from safety and have not won a league match since mid-December.
"You'd be crazy to say it's not a major possibility," Finnigan told BBC Sport.
"But we'll keep on trying and hopefully we can get a few positive results between now and the end of the season to build a platform for next year."
While Cheltenham is engrossed in the excitement of Festival week, the mood is more sombre at the town's football club.
That lifted momentarily for Finnigan when the Robins squad went to the races, although he was quick to point out he did not trouble the bookies on Wednesday - "no winners, just like the football".
Money and defeat are the twin themes of Cheltenham's season as poor performances on the pitch have been compounded by financial woe off it at Whaddon Road.
Chairman Paul Baker has previously admitted to taking his "eye off the ball a bit" in terms of the club's books but Finnigan does not blame the board and has praised them for steadying the ship in recent weeks.
To help balance the books the club have made their whole squad available for transfer, with Alex Russell and Lloyd Owusu already off-loaded.
And Finnigan has applauded the chairman for staving off the threat of administration.
"That lifted a weight off everybody's shoulders," he said.
"Of course we don't want to be bottom of the league but it's important the board run the club properly and if they need to make cuts they have to do that.
"As players we won't be here forever. We move on. But supporters need a club and they don't want to lose it.
"It's been disappointing but the club's more important than any individual.
"I know people locally who have been losing their jobs, you look out at the way things are going in the world at the moment and even though we're not doing so well this season we're still very lucky to be doing what we're doing."
Manager Martin Allen, who has complained of receiving "20,000 calls" from agents after the club's fire sale was announced, sported a smile wider than any winning punter at Prestbury Park when his side broke a seven-game losing run with a draw at Swindon at the start of the month.
He has had little complaint with his squad's efforts, apart from a home defeat to Northampton he described as "pants".
Allen has often bemoaned bad luck, with Finnigan the latest to be taken off injured in the 4-0 loss at Leicester.
That defeat left Town eight points off their nearest rivals, Hereford, and while defender Finnigan also says luck, or a lack of it, has played a part, he knows he does not have to look too far to find the real source of the problem.
The Robins boast a better goal return than three of the four teams above them, including Hereford, but at the other end they are haemorrhaging goals.
In those 14 games since they last won they have picked the ball out of the net 36 times and are on course to break 100 in the 'goals against' column.
While Finnigan has faced relegation before, most notably when Town went down in his second season in 2002/03, he has never known anything like this.
"It's always gone to the last day of the season before, we've always been in there fighting and haven't been adrift as badly as we are now," he said.
"We've been playing some good football and have been a bit unfortunate, but we've obviously got a problem with conceding goals."
We know it's going to have to be almost a miracle for us to stay up but it's important we keep going
John Finnigan
"A few players have had to leave to ease the financial burden and it's tough to get people in so we've been relying on clubs letting us have youngsters for free just to give them experience so it works for both parties.
"It's difficult at any time for 18 or 19-year-old lads to come in, play first-team football and make an impression. When you're bottom of the league it's even tougher.
"If finances weren't a problem we'd be looking at players with a bit more experience, but you've just got to go with what you can afford, work with the who you've got and try and improve.
"It's going to be very difficult but the pressure's off us a little bit now. When you're only a point or two off relegation the pressure's there on every game.
"But people have written us off so we've got to go out, try and relax and see if we can play any better.
"It's got to the stage where we know it's going to have to be almost a miracle for us to stay up but it's important we keep going.
"We're playing for pride and who knows what can happen if you get two, three or four results on the spin. But we've gone through this before and have got through this before.
"When we were relegated from this league before it took a few years to stabilise and go for a promotion push again. That's what we'll have to do again this time.
"But hopefully next season will be a lot more positive on and off the field."
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