Wolves captain Karl Henry has paid tribute to Mick McCarthy ahead of his former boss’s return to Molineux with Town on Saturday. McCarthy was with the Midlanders from July 2006 until he was sacked in February, leading them into the Premier League as champions in 2008/09 and keeping them there in the following two seasons.

Henry told the Birmingham Mail: “Mick contributed a lot to the club in the six years that he was here. I think that he’s easily the most successful manager Wolves have had at the club in recent years.

“In Wolves’ modern era he deserves a lot of respect for what he did. He brought me to the club and signed some good players and did a great job and I don’t think that anyone can deny that.”

The 30-year-old midfielder is expecting a difficult afternoon: “He’s certainly turned things around at Ipswich and we know that it’s going to be a tough game for us.

“We know what they will be about and I’m sure that Mick will think he knows what we will be about. So yes, it will be tough, but after [Wednesday’s 3-0 home defeat to] Peterborough we need to bounce back, and quickly.

“We know how well Mick did here but for us at the moment it’s not about wanting to beat Mick McCarthy’s team any more than beating anyone else.

“Right now we are embarrassed about where we are in the league [14th] and we need to do something about it. We had started to make a little bit of progress and then we go and perform like that against Peterborough. We need to look at ourselves and buck our ideas up.”

Photo: Action Images

alfromcol added 11:01 - Dec 28 You can buck your ideas up all you want after Saturday
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Lennyboy added 11:03 - Dec 28 After losing to Peterborough and Karl Henry's comments. it looks as if they are a little worried by our upturn in form. Plus the fact that Big Micks going back with a little that most to prove, would suggest we have the psychological advantage here. Hopefully another away win on Saturday. COYB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Lennyboy added 11:04 - Dec 28 should read" a little more than most"
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StuartBrett8 added 11:25 - Dec 28 It'll will be weird for Big Mick having a whole crowd cheering for him, he should have never been sacked to be honest but Wolves loss is our gain COYB!!
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runningout added 11:33 - Dec 28 they are trying to soften him up with flattery..
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patrickswell added 14:36 - Dec 28 I looked at the Wolves forum yesterday to see what their feelings were about the game and how they felt about getting beaten 3-0 at home by Peterborough. It is a deeply conflicted place at the moment. Plenty of their fans are still behind Stale Solbakken and feel that he needs to move on more of the players left over from Mick's era due to the losing mentality that a lot have them have gotten into. There is also a frustration that their players don't seem to be able to perform in the way Solbakken would like them to. He has spoken of wanting players who are able to think for themselves but it doesn't look like many of them have been able to do this and they've had some fairly listless performances and results as a consequence. Again, a lot of the blame for this has been put on McCarthy's players not being up to the job of playing under this new system although some of Solbakken's signings like Doumbia have also been criticised for going missing in games. The Peterborough defeat means that a lot of them aren't looking forward to the game for a mixture of reasons. Some fear McCarthy putting one over on his old club, others are worried that sections of their crowd who have started to turn on Solbakken, will use McCarthy as a stick to beat him with, despite having been baying for his blood a year ago. All in all, it sounds like Town need to adhere to the strategy you need to follow when you go to Molineux: keep it tight and if Wolves aren't leading after 20 minutes, their fans will turn on them.

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Sindre94 added 17:50 - Dec 28 Solbakken is a fellow Norwegian, so the press here are always talking and writing about him. It seems they are worried about tomorrow actually, and I actually think we have a fair chance of leaving there with 3 points in the bag!
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RetroBlue added 18:03 - Dec 28 Town historically dont have a particularly good record at Wolves, so for me personally a draw would be a "good result". We know there are no easy games in this division, with every one capable of beating each other on any given day. Town will need to be at their very best tomorrow to get all 3 pts and we simply cant afford to gift goals to them or it will be curtains!

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