Wolves manager Mick McCarthy admits he cannot escape the mounting excitement surrounding the Championship promotion run-in.

He returns from a battery-recharging, week-long break in Dubai to begin preparations for the six-game climax to his team’s Championship campaign at Birmingham on Monday night.

But McCarthy revealed the “buzz” around his team’s five-point lead going into the St Andrew’s crunch against second-placed Blues was all consuming.

He said: “You want to switch off and forget it about it for a few days but it’s impossible. You don’t want to talk about it – but it’s the first thing people want to talk about when they come up and speak to you.

“You don’t want to be looking at the tables but every time you open the paper there they are. You don’t want to hear about it – but you switch on the radio and the TV and you don’t have any choice.

“I’m not complaining. It’s nice that people come up and say ‘You’re having a good season aren’t you?’ as opposed to ‘You could be getting the sack when you get back.’

“But it’s impossible to escape. There is a big feel-good factor around the club at the moment, but it’s important to remember we have achieved nothing.

“We’re not going to get promoted with the points we have now – there are six tough games facing us which we have to be right for.

“The amazing thing is that we have had a 16-day break and now face three games in eight days.”

McCarthy, confident that Sylvan Ebanks-Blake will be fit for the Blues game despite illness adding to the calf injury he picked up in England Under 21 training, will only begin considering his line-up for St Andrew’s when his international players have reported back.