Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy believes his team’s pre-season trip to Australia will help his players build a strong bond ahead of their bid for survival in the English Premier League.

Wolves were runaway winners in the English Championship last season and McCarthy said survival in the cut-throat Premier League was the club’s “lofty ambition”.

Wolverhampton Wanderers, whose pre-season only started a week ago, take on A-League outfit Perth Glory in Western Australia on Friday night before facing off against North Queensland on July 15.

With several new additions to Wolves’ squad, including club-record signing Kevin Doyle, McCarthy said the trip Down Under would help the team gel ahead of the Premier League season.

“When you travel and you’ve got new players in it’s great for bonding,” McCarthy said in Perth.

“I’ve found when you’re away you get away from the newspaper, the news … it just helps the guys.

“You can concentrate on the training, spend a bit of time with each other and do some things.”

McCarthy, who led the Republic of Ireland into the second round of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea, said survival in the Premier League would be a dream result for the club.

“Of course we’d accept 17th, we want to stay in the League,” McCarthy said.

“Finishing 17th in the Premier League is like winning the Championship, and you should have seen how happy we were when we won the Championship last year.

“That means staying in the Premier League.

“It is a lofty ambition to finish 17th.”

McCarthy said Republic of Ireland international Doyle would prove to be a vital asset.

“I’m delighted with Doyle, it’s a real coup for the club,” he said of the striker.

“There was a number of clubs interested and it was brilliant we managed to persuade him to come to Wolves. When we signed Doyle it got a great response.

“It looks like we’ve got a much better squad (with him in there).”

Doyle said he was confident Wolves would survive.

“I’m happy with my decision (to sign with Wolves),” Doyle said.

“Time will tell but I’m pretty confident we’ll do well, I wouldn’t have signed otherwise.

“I had a chance to go to a team who’s in Europe this year and I came to Wolves instead so I think that shows my confidence.

“Everyone will have different opinions, that’s their entitlement … my family and people who I get advice from all told me it was a good move.”

© AAP 2012

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