When Mick McCarthy was confirmed as Wolves boss on Friday he admitted ‘there’s a big job to do at Wolves’; whilst Sir Jack Hayward described the ‘Ferrari’ days at Wolves as being over. With manager and board singing from the same song sheet and McCarthy’s reputation for being a straight talking, gifted manager, Wolves fans should have cause for optimism. Mick McCarthy took time to share thoughts on his new job with Sue McCann.

“There’s no secret that the Premiership parachute payments have gone and they are the lifeblood for clubs that have gone up, come back down and been able to utilise that to go back up again. It’s coming from the club (that information), it’s not me who’s going around saying it; that’s come from the club. You don’t get a job like Wolves when they’re top of the league and its flying do you? Jobs like that only come up I guess when they are having tough times, so they are relying on me to change that around, which I’ve done before. I’m looking forward to the challenge here and doing it again.”

When you were dreaming of being a player as a youngster and probably even now, Wolves is a club with an aura about it; you must be genuinely thrilled at becoming a part of this club….
“Yes, it is one of those clubs. You can tell by the phone calls I’m getting from people ringing up delighted to see me back in the game and the underlying feeling of all of them is ‘what a great job, what a great club’. That’s from everybody; people inside the game and outside the game. The club’s huge and sometimes that’s a burden when people come in but I think overall, in terms of recruiting players, football clubs like Wolves help get players in because of this. So a great club, training ground, tradition and fantastic supporter which helps in recruiting people.”

The marker has been put down in terms of club resources, you’re on a one year rolling contract; what’s the target this year so that everyone knows the benchmark?
“Well I think we’ve always got to aim high which is what I’ve always done and we’re going to have a crack at trying to get promotion. Is it a realistic target? Who knows until we set off, I’ve not been in and seen the players yet. It’s all well and good everybody saying it’s going to be hard and of course it is. I wouldn’t be getting the job unless it was going to be hard; it’s been hard for Glenn and every other manager in the Championship is going to have it tough this season. But you set your targets high and I think sometimes if you make too much of it ‘it’s going to be tough, we haven’t got players’ then it gives people excuses. I’m not looking for any excuses; the squad needs strengthening, we need players. I’ve not been in yet and seen them (the squad) but I know the club got shot of 11 players from a squad that didn’t reach the play-offs; well that tells its own story doesn’t it. So it’s going to be tough, but let’s not start making excuses already, let’s go in there, get the players at it and see if we can be successful.”

Wolves Chief Executive Jex Moxey referred to your tremendous achievements at Sunderland in the Championship; do you think most people with ‘nouse’ in football realise that Sunderland’s run in the Premiership wasn’t down to you being a poor manager?
“I know it and that’s the main thing and I think other people recognise that. We won the Championship with players from the lower leagues and reserve teams who came in and did wonderfully well for us. Maybe it was just a step up too quick (to the Premiership) and maybe there were mistakes made by all parties. But no, I don’t think for one minute it made me a bad manager, the experience has probably made me a better one.”

Managers often feel there’s not enough time in the close season to do everything that needs to be done, well you‘ve got a fortnight so what do you start with on Monday?
“Speak to the players; give them an understanding of how I do things. I’ve got over the hill because Gary Breen, who’s has gone in there of course, has been with me for a long time, although that was going ahead before me going in and I just confirmed it. Get the players organised and into my way of thinking. Does that all happen in two weeks? Probably not but it won’t be rocket science, it’s can’t be can it, in two weeks? We’ll get them working hard, trying to play football and being committed to it because from what I’ve seen, a lot of people have left and I’m sure there’s a bit of unrest. So let’s try and get that team spirit together firstly because, without it, we’re going to struggle.”