Express & Star

Kenny Hibbitt: Wolves' Kenny Jackett can be a Molineux great

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Wolves legend Kenny Hibbitt today claimed Kenny Jackett can become a Molineux great – but urged fans not to get carried away with their League One title triumph.

Hibbitt reckons Jackett can make his name as a manager at Wolves after leading them out of a slump with the League One championship last season.

But the former Molineux midfielder insists a mid-table finish in the Championship next term would be a successful second season for Jackett.

"Now they've got to stabilise it," said Hibbitt, who was reunited with his fellow 1974 League Cup winners at a charity golf day yesterday.

"Next season they need to finish in the middle of the table and that would be good in my eyes.

"I hope the expectation level doesn't go through the roof because the fans have been great and there have been 30,000 people there at the end of the season and the town is buzzing, so they just need to be careful about where they go from here.

"Steady progress builds foundations for the future and that's what they should be doing now – building for the future and not just the present."

But Hibbitt was full of praise for Jackett, who inherited a side that had been relegated in successive seasons from the Premier League to League One.

He said: "Kenny Jackett has done a wonderful job and he's now got an opportunity to make a big name for himself at a big club.

"This is a club that everybody strives to get to – at least the people who are not international managers who keep being employed in the Premier League.

"Now he's got a great opportunity to show himself as a top manager at a top club.

"It wasn't just on the field of play he had a problem – he had a problem off it as well.

"He had a lot of work to do and he's been able to do that, together with the club, and they have worked hard and collectively got their rewards."

Meanwhile, Kevin Doyle has admitted that he is not sure where he will be playing his football next season.

The Ireland international spent the second half of the last campaign on loan at Queens Park Rangers, but is due to report back to Wolves if no deal can be struck.

"It would be very attractive to play for QPR in the Premier League," Doyle said.

"But there are lots of ifs, buts and maybes and a lot of scenarios.

"Come July it will be the usual merry-go-round. I have to go back to Wolves and see where I stand."