Taylor warns Wolves of tough times

Graham Taylor has warned Wolves to be ready for a return to the Land of the Giants in the Premier League next season.

The former Molineux boss, genuinely thrilled to see Wolves back in the big time after a five-year absence, is keeping his fingers crossed his old club can survive the daunting challenge now awaiting them.

But Taylor has watched England's top division advance at a "frightening pace" in this first decade of the new Millennium and is urging Mick McCarthy's players to ready themselves for a physical challenge they will not have faced before.

"There is an awful lot of energy in this Wolves team and there is pace and hunger as well. I like that, it gives them a good working base," says the former England boss.

"But the athleticism they are now going to be up against is a big concern. I always feel that when I see the TV cameras panning down the line of players before games I don't need to be told what match I'm watching.

"It's there staring back at you. They boys in the Premier League now are 6ft 2in-6ft 3in athletes; they are bigger and more powerful than ever."

Taylor, who missed out on taking Wolves into the Premier League when his side lost in the play-off semi-finals to Bolton in 1995, is full of praise for owner Steve Morgan.

The Wolves supremo stuck with McCarthy during last season's rising tide of criticism.

"I've always maintained that a manager needs three years to be properly judged.

"At the end of last year, I was so pleased Steve Morgan didn't cave in to some of the pressures that we were hearing about.ÊI've always had a lot of time for Mick. He never really got a chance at Sunderland."