Doyle: We’re in a good position to beat drop

Wolves striker Kevin Doyle believes Mick McCarthy’s successor will have a “fighting chance” of ensuring the club guarantee Premier League survival for a third successive season.

Club owner Steve Morgan and chief executive Jez Moxey yesterday interviewed Alan Curbishley and the ex-Charlton and West Ham boss is the favourite to replace McCarthy.

Neil Warnock and Steve Bruce are also in contention and have had preliminary contact with the Wolves hierarchy who are desperate to climb out of the bottom three.

But the feeling remains that Curbishley is holding all the cards and Doyle insists whoever takes over will not be inheriting a lost cause despite Wolves looking shambolic when beaten 5-1 by West Brom.

The Republic of Ireland international said: “We’ve had ups and downs. But we seem to be reasonably good at bouncing back. We got beat badly by Liverpool and then came back to beat QPR.

“We’ll go to Newcastle thinking we can bounce back in the same way. We’ve got games to go where we can pick up points.

“There are a few teams around us we can get above and we’ve 13 games in which to do it so let’s be positive.

“We’re not cast adrift in any way, we’re not really struggling. We are in a good position to get out of it. We’ve given ourselves a fighting chance. We feel we can pick up points along the way.”

Doyle echoed the sentiments of club captain Roger Johnson in admitting the players were to blame for McCarthy’s departure on Monday.

He said: “We all feel culpable, we’re all part of it and I just wish we could have played that bit better and not ended up with the manager having to leave. It’s not nice for it to end like that.”