Danny Batth is the voice of experience

Making his debut more than five years ago, the centre-half has already experienced plenty of ups and downs in his Wolves career.

In a youthful squad, he's one of the more experienced members too. It's a responsibility the Wolves captain clearly relishes – whether he's wearing the armband or not.

Becoming a more senior member of the team, particularly alongside his new young centre-half partner Kortney Hause, hasn't changed the way Batth approaches a game.

He told the Express & Star: "I think I've always been a bit of a loud-mouth anyway. I've probably annoyed a few of the players I've played with!

"The lads are good enough so they obviously play their own game, I'd probably talk to them anyway regardless of who it was.

"I've stepped into the captaincy and learned on the job and it's been a good experience, it's something that comes pretty naturally to me.

"I'm not the sort of person to be calling the shots and going crazy at everyone.

"But when something needs to be said or there's an issue with the dressing room, lads being late for training or anything like that, it's up to me to take responsibility."

Batth, who grew up in Brierley Hill, is deeply proud to be club captain.

And you sense he's also proud of the role he's played in reinvigorating Wolves, on and off the field, in their revival of the past two seasons.

Living in the area, fans are not shy in being forthcoming with their views.

Batth is well aware of the repair work that needed doing on the relationship between supporters and players after successive relegations in 2012 and 2013.

He said: "It's been a big turnaround. We've come through a lot as a team and between the fans and the players it's a relationship that's taken a lot of rebuilding.

"I'd like to think it's going in the right direction. I speak to a lot of fans and they're always pretty positive towards me and I really appreciate it.

"To have come through (into the team) at the time it was difficult and you learn a lot from situations like that.

"It's how to deal with it, how you don't want to make a negative impact and make sure you keep going no matter what's going on."

Has he learned from mistakes made by other players during that turbulent time, when public spats and negatives headlines were commonplace?

He said: "It's important to learn the good things and the bad things. At the same time, it's about being your own man and standing up for what you believe in.

"I live in the area so I know when fans aren't happy, or are happy, so it's more than just coming to work and being able to drop it, it's part of what I do every day."

After a frustrating spell out injured the defender is nearing full fitness. Batth's return has coincided with Wolves winning two matches, drawing one and earning two clean sheets.

He said: "I've watched a lot of the games so I knew where we were at and what was needed. The first priority for myself was to go out there and play well.

"I could have come back and been a disaster, so I've primarily focused on my own performance, that's the best way to influence other people."