Wolves owner says Mick McCarthy under pressure, but will be given time

(PA)

Wolves owner Steve Morgan admits manager Mick McCarthy is under pressure to improve results during the second half of the season but insists there will be "no knee-jerk reaction".

Morgan is disappointed Wolves are hovering just above the Barclays Premier League bottom three just past the midway point in the Barclays Premier League season.

A game against in-form Tottenham at White Hart Lane tomorrow is hardly the ideal task for McCarthy as he bids to arrest a run of seven matches without a win in all competitions, but it seems the Wolves boss will be given time to turn things around at Molineux.

Morgan said: "Is there pressure on Mick? Of course there's pressure on Mick. He's in a pressure job, absolutely 100%. But that's the nature of the job. There's pressure on everyone.

"Management is not for the faint-hearted. We're all under the same pressure. None of us want to be where we are, and we just have to sort it.

"But we'll sort them in our way. We are a stable club. Our management style is to work through problems.

"Our style is not to make knee-jerk reactions which end up costing a fortune, provide no stability and unsettle the whole club and everybody.

"It's not the way I do things in any other business and it's not the way we do things here. We're not a hire-and-fire club. But at the same time we have to improve."

Morgan added: "We have as a team under-performed. We're capable of doing a lot better - and we have to do a lot better in the second half of the season.

"As a club we haven't performed as well as we could and should have done.

"Yes, we've had injuries, but we had injuries last season, and probably worse injuries last season.

"If you're asking whether I'm happy with our points tally from 20 games, then no I'm not. Mick, the players, no one in the club is."

Morgan has defended Wolves' spending record since they were promoted to the Premier League two and a half years ago.

He said: "This club is in the top five or six net spenders in the Premier League since we were promoted.

"We're seldom given credit for that. If you ask the fans who turn up here every week, they're probably unaware of that.

"We brought in three quality players during the summer (Roger Johnson, Jamie O'Hara and Dorus de Vries). We got a very good-quality stand-in goalkeeper (De Vries) and two quality, established Premier League players.

"You can't keep bringing in five or six players every transfer window. It just doesn't work that way."

Morgan also confirmed Wolves are to offer a new contract to defender Christophe Berra, who has 18 months left of his current deal.

He said: "Christophe is a good player and there are a number of players who are at a similar stage of their contracts which we're reviewing.

"We will be offering the vast majority of those players something, and Christophe is an excellent player.

"He's becoming Mr Consistency really so yes, in due course, that will happen."

PA