When Mick McCarthy walked in for his first morning's work as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers nine months ago, he had just 12 days to prepare for the new season.

But, regardless of what division they are in come August, the Wolves boss will be a lot better prepared.

McCarthy has already put together his pre-season package ahead of the start of next season's domestic fixture list when, unlike the fortnight that separated them this term, the Prem iership and Football League will kick off on the same day on August 11.

Wolves face four domestic away matches either side of a two-game tour of Ireland, followed by a high profile friendly at Molineux on August 4, on the final Saturday before the start of the season. But, although Wolves are still owed by a friendly with Celtic, as part of the arrangement which took Henri Camara two years ago, it will not be this year.

"We want to host Celtic at Molineux," said Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey, "on our traditional date for the 'big' home pre-season match, which is usually a week before the season starts."

But it is hard to imagine when that game will ever be played, given that the Scottish season generally kicks off a week before the English one, as is indeed the case when they kick off next term on August 4.

Another 'deal' which has instigated a pre-season fixture is the trip to Grays Athletic on July 14, part of the arrangement that took Michael Kightly to Molineux.

Wolves then head for another of McCarthy's old haunts Dublin, where they will play two matches against Bray Wanderers (Wednesday July 18), followed by a trip to Stephen Ward's old Bohemians (Sunday July 22).

Wolves will then travel home to England to prepare for a friendly at Michael McIndoe's old club Doncaster Rovers the following Wednesday night (July 25).

And they will take up invitations from two former Wolves caretaker managers at John Ward's Cheltenham on the Saturday (July 28) and Stuart Gray's Northampton Town (July 31) on the Tuesday night.

In the short term, McCarthy's biggest concern is how to make his defence more watertight in preparation for his side's final two games of this league campaign - to increase the chances of Wolves getting the two wins they need to guarantee a place in the play-offs.

After 16 clean sheets from their first 37 league games this season, Wolves have now shipped 18 goals in their last seven. And McCarthy has made the players sit through a video re-run exposing their defensive frailties in Sunday's 3-2 defeat to Birmingham City.

"I had a pop at the officials and I think I was entitled to," said McCarthy. "But we had a huge part to play in what happened too.

"I had a whinge and a growl over us not being awarded a penalty when Michael Kightly was through, but we defended the corner badly for Birmingham's equaliser and got punished when we tried to play them offside for the winner.

"We're where we are because we kept loads of clean sheets earlier on in the season. And we've had to make changes in defence recently but we should not have conceded as we did, so we're not trying to lay the blame anywhere but on ourselves. We made too many errors."

McCarthy hopes that Gary Breen will have recovered from the dead leg that forced him off against his former club Blues.