If McNamara gets the England job, How many of you would like Noble back. The latest rumour is that he could be on his way back, with Harris and Sharp taking over at the Crusaders. Personally i would have him back.

I would be happy with him, I don't think he's the best man for the job but at least he's an improvement on macca.

Does this need a thread of it's own?

Me, I would.

No way.

If McNamara goes then it depends who's available. He's got plenty of experience and knows the club inside out but I wonder if bridges have been burnt. I think he's probably had his time with us and we need to look elsewhere.

If Nobby remained coach we wouldnt have dropped from near the top and if he came back we'd return right back up there.

Deluded.

We've had this debate in another place, young Michael - more than once!

Noble was fine coaching a team full of seasoned professionals. The sort that cost a lot of money. The sort that a club losing over £1/2m p.a could not afford. When the money ran out, how did Nobby react? Noble was not fine at developing young players (I read only the other day a quote from JP in his book which bore that out). The sort that this club needs plenty of going forward, with the reduced overseas quota, the "home-grown" requirement and the financial constraints on the club.

Had the club been in the situation it was in the early noughties, where we could have loads of overseas players and the coach could spend without having to worry unduly about financial constraints and could afford (although not, as it is now clear) to sign seasoned professionals in preference to developing in-house, then I would not have disagreed with you. But the whole playing field has changed since then. And in my opinion Nobby is not best-equipped for the new reality in which we find ourselves.

Interesting to see how Wigan have soared on a change of coach?

If Macca goes (and I have heard things from several different sources now), we surely have to look to Oz? And hope the club can afford to put together a package sufficiently attractive to give us a chance at some decent ability and expertise.

whilst I'm sure nobby would be tempted to come back and take the credit for the currrent team and youngsters about to break through put in place by macca ( and didn't he basically do this last time, getting credit for work done by smith and elliot) don't think its the right move for the club going forward. Cant see an english coach who'd be a significant improvement on macca so if he goes then we need to look to Oz.

I don't see much point speculating until a decision is made regarding McNamara but I can't help feeling our next Coach should be a complete fresh start.

Indeed.

Didn't Noble have a fall out with Peter Hood when he left ???

You thinking of Gareth Davies? Dunno whether there was any truth in that rumour though.

No thank you. Never go back.

PGF did ok.

I recall he said some things when he left, to the tune of that he had been forced out by Davies IIRC?

I have always assumed that Davies was the one who had to explain the financial realities to one or two people.

I know that Noble and Davies didn't get on but some people also said he didn't see eye to eye with Hood ethier, Any ways it would be great have nobbie back at the Bulls but would he bring back same impact as he did when he was here last time.

Noble is thee man. Saved Wigan from relegation and made them the team they are today and Maguire is now reaping the rewards, Built a team out of nothing in a few weeks at Crusaders who have proved not to be the walkover everyone expected. How anyone can knock BN with his record I don't know!

Terrible coach, not the type we need at the club.

Only won 3 out of 5 titles with us last time because of the work done by Smith 5 years before he took over and inheriting the superb Elliott 2000 team which conquered all before them to come 3rd and get hammered out of sight in the play-offs.

He then only took Wigan from probable relegation to the final eliminator each season by building on the superb platform laid by Ian Millward, further adding to his good luck in these things.

Now he looks to be turning the Crusaders into a reasonable SL outfit despite having built a squad from scratch after practically all the other teams in the league had been able to complete their recruitment for the campaign, but only a fool would suggest that this isn't really down to the foundations laid by John Dixon.

Wigan had the team, Noble just got them playing again.

Maybe thats what we need. Someone to get the team playing like they could! Would be interesting to see if he could get some improvement out of them and move them on to the next level.

However its a big risk and he could end up sending the club into self destruct mode.

Im not sure returning to your previous club usually works, although foxy disproved that somewhat.
I've not heard anything about noble wanting to come back, im not convinced he would want to.
He's undoubtably a good coach but there were a few spats from both sides when he left & like one or two have said i think its time for a completely fresh coach... from oz.

Dave Parker flying kites according to TotalRL.

Rumour on our board that Mcnamara is the new england coach and Menzies be your coach...

From one person (Catalancs).

I suspect most of us on here would be happy to see Beaver on the coaching staff next year. In some capacity. Did you see the pic of him lifting Platty high up in the air after he scored the match-winning try on Monday? This is the sort of guy we need here. I suspect the history books will record he was the most important recruit, by far, of the McNamara era. I guess its not impossible we may have yet to see just how important.

But as for Macca...well I suspect we will hear something official from the club - one way or the other - in the near future.