Mick's message before showdown

The manager admits he has been "grumpy" in a bid to protect his young side and keep growing expectations in check.

But, with the team now just three points short of promotion, the Molineux chief wants the whole Wolves family in the sell-out crowd to join as one to roar the team over the finishing line.

McCarthy said: "The message to supporters is 'make sure we do it.' Don't sit back and expect us to entertain you - be part of it and make sure you play your part.

"Make it a brilliant, great day and a great atmosphere. Just make sure we do it.

"We all want special days in football and we've had a few this season. But if we don't do all the things we've been doing all season, then it could turn out to be a damp squib.

"So let's have one more special effort so we can have another special day."

As for where the promotion will rank in his long list of achievements as player and manager, McCarthy was far less forthcoming to avoid tempting fate.

He said: "If we do it, come and ask me then – and even then, I won't tell you! That's the kind of nonsense I don't like.

"What if we get beat and the other teams win and I'm getting booed when I go down the tunnel? So let's not tempt fate, let's get on with the job in hand.

"I've probably used the word 'if' more than anyone – 'when' is the word that's annoyed me.

"If we win, we don't need 'when'. It's me trying to keep a lid on expectations."

McCarthy will remind his players that the worst thing Wolves can do is underestimate opponents QPR's role as party-poopers.

Mid-table and managerless, Rangers are in a state of turmoil with caretaker Gareth Ainsworth in charge again.

But they come to Molineux looking to secure the double after their 1-0 win at Loftus Road in December.

McCarthy said: "We lost there in one of Paulo Sousa's first games. When we played there, they certainly defended well and played well. Gareth has done well whenever he's been asked to take over.

"He got a great result last week against Sheffield Wednesday after going behind. I don't know why the changes happen but that's none of my business."

As for how McCarthy will feel if and when Wolves clinch a place in the Premier League – you can forget it.

He said: "How do I know how I'm going to feel? It's just nonsense – I can't do it. I can tell you how I'm going to feel if we don't win, that would be a lot easier. I might get a new ignition for my chainsaw!

"It's really difficult to talk about. Anyone who knows me knows I won't start talking about how I'm going to feel, it's nonsense."

Victory will clinch promotion with two games left, but McCarthy has refused to shift from his stance that the race could still go to the last match.

He said: "It still could go to the wire. It's a lovely position to be in and everyone else would be envious of it.

"But I said it after Monday's game and I meant it, we haven't won it yet.

"I can sit here waxing lyrical about it but I'm not into all that. I'm a hard-nosed professional who wants to win the game.

"It's a great, lovely position to be in with three games to go knowing if we win, we're up.

"If I didn't say it was a lovely position to be in people would say I was nuts anyway, because it is. But that's as far as I'll go on the subject."

That said, McCarthy understands all the hype and mounting excitement among the fans who will pack Molineux to the rafters for the game.

He said: "I understand it but I also understand the other side of it as well, what happens if it's not done on the day?

"That's what football fans come to watch their team for, to get into the position we're in. I've never seen as many scarves and flags coming out of people's car windows. It's fantastic."

McCarthy's caution is culled from 30-odd years' experience in the game, all of which he had to draw on during Wolves' winter slump of one win in 11 games.

Despite that slide, such was the momentum of Wolves' early charge that they remained top as Birmingham and Reading also struggled with their form in the muck and nettles of the Championship.

He said: "We tried our level best to even it up all the way through January and February!" said the boss. "I've never done anything easily and I wanted to try to even it up but no-one wanted to take it on!

"People kept saying no-one wants to win this league and someone said you must be picking other teams' results. I said someone must be picking ours because we won one in 11 games."

But the players triumphed through adversity and McCarthy was today full of praise for his young squad.

He said: "The players have been great since day one.

"A lot of them have come from far more humble beginnings than here, such as Andy Keogh from Scunthorpe, Michael Kightly from Grays, Matt Jarvis from Gillingham, Sam Vokes from Bournemouth and Stephen Ward from Bohemians and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake from Plymouth.

"But they've been hungry for it right from the start and I've got nothing but admiration for the way they work – whatever happens.

"There was a great picture of Andy Keogh in the paper the other day after he'd scored at Derby with his shirt off, which the lads have put up and there have been a few witty comments underneath now.

"But his physique shows how hard they have worked."

Fear is a strong word and McCarthy's uncompromising reputation prompted a question whether Wolves players fear their manager.

But the Molineux chief insisted that's never been his way of managing.

He said: "No. I wouldn't know anyway but I wouldn't want anyone scared of me. I don't know but I don't run around asking them 'are you scared of me?'

"I treat people with respect."

But, as his players will verify, he can be a fearsome character, especially when it comes to the business of winning.

McCarthy said: "I'm playing the game – that was me as a player. Sometimes I overdo it with my players and they give me a 'rubber ear' and then I take a step back and realise.

"But that's just me taking my frustrations out. I'm sure if I was all fire and brimstone and kicking off all the time then it would affect the players.

"I don't just turn up and be part of the team. I want to win and anyone who doesn't want to win or who doesn't put a shift in doesn't get to play."

The Wolves boss' fire and brimstone demeanour leads to suggestions that he is naturally grumpy.

He's an uncompromising, always challenging and - at times - confrontational character, a trait that has led to the odd spat with the local media.

But, on the eve of Wolves' biggest game of the season, he wasn't holding back with his feelings on this newspaper.

He said: "We've played 43 games and for 43 games the Express & Star has been doom and gloom all the time – you always portray the negative.

"Then with three games to go and we're waiting to do it (promotion), I'm supposed to be dancing up and down on the table with my knickers in the air smiling like an idiot!

"I won't do it. It's amazing, for 43 games I've said after we've lost 'don't worry,'been upbeat and positive.

"Then when I'm not being all positive and 'we're all great' I'm perceived as a grumpy so and so. It's an amazing turnaround.

"I prefer to have my disposition for 43 games when I was upbeat."

McCarthy added: "What other people think doesn't bother me one iota. It's what I believe in and what I do here that counts.

"But we've got ourselves into this position and my judgement is the one that matters."

The manager refutes the idea he is naturally miserable, merely saying it comes with the territory of being a stubborn Yorkshireman.

He said: "That's me, it's not an act. I have got a sense of humour that would leave most of the media trailing in their wake but I'm professional and we have to do a job.

"It (grumpy reputation) suits me. I love the banter with all the press but it's about winning football matches.

"That's me and there's an honesty about Barnsley and there's an honesty about me.

"But I didn't have any hardship – I had a wonderful upbringing and that's what made me what I am and they (parents) did a decent job. I've had to work hard. Nothing has come easy and I think that approach is reflected in the team here."

Whatever happens, there is no doubting Wolves have come a long way since McCarthy's appointment almost three years ago.

He said: "I think I came in on 26 July 2006 and I can't remember when there hasn't been any pressure to win games.

"We managed it particularly well in the first season because I said people were off their heads talking about promotion, which dampened the euphoria of someone coming in.

"But it was the thing to do. Then having finished in the play-offs in the first season and as that season went on, the pressure was there. Last season, that expectation was there again.

"This is just one of these clubs where it (expectation and pressure) is the norm."

But for all the pressure and hype, McCarthy insists he loves what he does.

He said: "It's like pushing treacle uphill – the only time it gets worse is when someone starts heating it and it starts running through your fingers!

"I'm still enjoying every minute of it. If we manage to go up I might give it another year!

"I'm very conscious of saying 'if' because we're not there yet.

"I'll be honest. In January when we weren't winning, there were times when it was slightly less enjoyable but you have to take it in its entirety.

"Of course, the defeats hurt, but if you allow the defeats to upset you so much that you don't want to do it, you can't do that.

"Just like you can't get too euphoric about the wins. I keep an even keel and I'll continue to do that.

"I love coming in every morning bright and early, I do my own training, it's great.

"So I shall continue to push the stone up the hill. But I've had a lot of good assistance this season to help me push the stone up the hill, like I always have had from people working with me, which has helped.

"You have to work bloody hard at it – it's a hardworking job and it doesn't come easy.

"I'm sure Sir Alex Ferguson won't for one minute tell you it's easy. I've managed to do it the hard way on a number of occasions. Monday was the same – the hard way.

"In January, everyone was telling me we were home and hosed but if what happened next – winning one in 11 – isn't making it hard then I don't know what is, and losing to 10 men at Birmingham.

"But then after 46 games, you'll never have it easy. It's what you end up with."