KENNY Hibbitt says the situation is ‘grim’ – but it’s not the time to part with Mick McCarthy.

The club legend has called on the players to roll up their sleeves and dig deep to get Wolves out of the mire.

“To see them drop into the bottom three, with the games coming up – it is a worrying period,’’ said Hibbitt.

“It’s looking pretty grim but I don’t feel as if they really need to make a change at management level. I’d like to see Mick stay because he’s done a lot of groundwork over the period he’s been there, but we do want to see them away from the relegation zone.’’

Hibbitt, 61, was relegated three times from the top division with Wolves in 1976, 1982 and 1984.

“I’ve been there myself as a player and you look at the table and say: ‘Are we playing well enough to be out of there?’ The answer is I don’t think so,” Hibbitt said.

“They’ve got some hard work ahead of them. We need big hearts and we need sleeves rolled up and we need to get stuck in. We need to grind some points out from somewhere.”

Karl Henry will be missed for the next two games following his red card against Villa.

“It was a calamity – it is not like him,’’ said Hibbitt. “He likes to tackle full-on. It was a rush of blood and it cost the team. But we can look for excuse after excuse and I know that Mick is not looking at excuses – he never will – but it doesn’t matter how you look at it, whether it’s about getting referees’ decisions, or missing the target or kicked off the line, it doesn’t really matter.

“It’s about winning matches and, at the minute, they are not.”