Mick McCarthy is relishing returning to his former club Wolverhampton Wanderers tonight, although he admits things have changed at Molineux since his spell as manager ended there in February 2012.

The Blues boss, who celebrates four years in charge of Ipswich later this year, steered Wolves to the Premier League during his time with the club and subsequently kept them in the top flight for the next two seasons.

Wolves are now managed by much-travelled coach Walter Zenga, who McCarthy came up against for Republic of Ireland during Italia ‘90, and have recently been taken over by Chinese company, Fosun.

McCarthy said: “Walter Zenga has taken over, I have seen both their games now - they were 2-0 down against Rotherham and came back with a man short and drew two-all.

“I watched the game against Reading and they have not suddenly changed and got loads of new players in, they have got two or three, but it’s predominantly the team we played against last season.

“It’s hard to suddenly put a load of new players in a team, that’s a recipe for disaster, we are seeing it at Newcastle I guess with the best Championship players. Seven or eight have gone there and they have lost two games which seems incredible.”

Asked who he would be looking forward to seeing at Wolves, McCarthy explained: “I have got a lot of friends still there, but I will be looking forward to seeing my team in the dressing room if they have won.”

Wolves have been linked with a move for £20m-rated midfielder Anderson Talisca, from Benfica, and Fosun are keen to be significant players in the transfer market to try and ensure the club can return to the top flight.

McCarthy recalled his time at Molineux and said he was well backed by former owner, Steve Morgan, although acknowledged that the riches the club has now were greater than during his spell,

“When Steve Morgan was there I bought Christophe Berra and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, we got promoted and had a great time.

“I’m not bemoaning it. We did not have it (money) particularly lavishly in the Premier League but nevertheless we stayed there for two seasons and may well have stayed a third, I’ve got to say they would have had they not sacked me.

“I had done it for the two seasons prior.”