When Noble got moved on from the head coaches position and was offered a role as Director of Rugby wasn't there talk of his replacement already being lined up and being a big named star if he declined the job?

Unless I've missed this we haven't appointed anyone too the role. You'd think that a position such as this would be quite crucial too the preparation for next season both on and off the pitch. Be that in recruitment, pre season training/games and too a lesser extent marketing the club. Think getting the right person in is a massive appointment and one that can be of equal value to the organisation as any single player can.

Do you not think that maybe MK was just dangling it as a carrot for Noble?

Don't think Nobby has reached a settlement yet.

As I understood it at the time, one of the main roles of the DoR was to provide the link between the Academy and the first team - not a role I thought Nobby was best suited for, as he had shown little interest in the Academies of any of the clubs with whom he had been associated.

The other thread on Academies is disappointing as SRD are clearly seen to be the worst in Super League and, as I understand it, because there is no link between Academy and first team and no defined progression path between the two. Joint top academies, Wigan and St Helens, can boast homegrown players in double figures, week in and week out, while, even when skint, Salford seemed to prefer to buy some over-rated Aussie or the product of some other club's Academy.

The latest proposals for Youth Development want to reduce the number of "tier 1" Academies from 14 to 8. I fear that Salford have missed the boat, with Wigan, Saints, Warrington and now, even Widnes, ahead of them in the north west, while Cumbria, North-East, Midlands and London are also in the mix together with the usual French and Yorkshire suspects.

That's not to say that MK couldn't have his own Academy, but there would be no central funding for it.