Wolves defender Michael Mancienne admits he was a big fan of West Ham United boss Gianfranco Zola when growing up.

Mancienne is on-loan at Molineux from Chelsea and followed Zola while a ball boy at Stamford Bridge.

"I used to love watching Zola play as a kid," Mancienne told the Sunday Mercury ahead of tonight's huge game. "I used to go down to Chelsea and watch him. He was just a little wizard on the ball, just a joy to watch.

"I also used to look up to Marcel Desailly. I've taken bits of my game from him, because he was a defender who was very comfortable on the ball.

"I never had chance to speak to him or Zola personally because I was only about eight or nine at the time.

"But when they were playing at the club, I'd go along and be a ball-boy at the games. It was something all the lads used to have to do at Chelsea, we'd end up doing about two games a season.

"I can't say any of the games I worked at were memorable, but I certainly remember seeing some of my favourite players up close at the time."