Woverhampton Wanderers' Karl Henry has no worries over local rivals Blues' spending power

Nov 22 2009 by Bill Howell, Sunday Mercury

KARL Henry insists Wolves cannot afford to be distracted by the potential for Blues to be catapulted into a different financial stratosphere in the January window.

Carson Yeung has pledged between £20 million and £40 million for manager Alex McLeish which is likely to dwarf anything allotted to Mick McCarthy for team rebuilding.

That would appear to heap even more pressure on Wolves with the two teams meeting at Molineux next Sunday in what is already viewed as a crunch relegation six-pointer.

But skipper Henry – a real shining light in what has been an up and down season so far – is unconcerned.

“Do I worry about Blues money? No. We are aware of it but we can’t be worried about other teams.

“I know it is an old cliché but you have to worry about yourselves, that’s all we can do.

“We can only control what we do and the games we play. If we continue to play as we have done and pick up more points then I am confident that we will stay in this league.”

Henry believes it is high time that Wolves’ long wait for a league win against their fierce neighbours is brought to an end.

Wolves have not beaten Blues in the league for eight years since December, 2001, when Nathan Blake and Alex Rae were on target either side of a Marcelo leveller.

Wolves have won an FA Cup tie in that time – 2-0 at St Andrew’s in January with Andy Keogh and Sam Vokes on target in last season’s third round.

But Wanderers came off decidedly second best in the latest encounter between the two which was billed as a title decider last April.

“That was disappointing but I feel we are a stronger team now,” warned the 26-year-old.

“The manager has added some good quality players to the team and I am thoroughly relishing the chance to play against Birmingham.”

Wolves went into the Blues fixture last year five points clear at the top and eight clear of Reading and Sheffield United with only six games remaining.

But despite Lee Carsley’s first half sending-off Blues were triumphant with Cameron Jerome and Garry O’Connor netting for the ten men.