There's no doubting his past record, what he's done for the club and how far he's took us, but i just think he has took us as far as he can. Although i am willing for him to prove me wrong and win us a few trophys this year

Win a trophy.

Change your name. I cannot tolerate the desecration of a legend

You keep making silly comments re the squad. I thus deem you unworthy of my time.

Well if YOU deem me unworthy, then I guess I must........


Or alternatively I ask you again to explain specifically why you argue against my post.


I'll tell you what, as you are clearly struggling with the principles of debate, I will make it easier for you:

1. Explain specifically why my opinion is in some way a desecration of a legend.

2. Explain specifically how my "comments" about the squad are "Silly".


Now personally I am heartbroken about not being worthy of your time. Please treat me more gently in future........

Still avoiding the subject though.

I got some major stick last year for doubting Noble and expressing that opinion, but it still boils down to one simple fact for me. I look at performance not results, i can stand losing if we play well, but under Noble we very rarely have, in fact as the squad has become more "his" the worse the performances have been.

The playoff run papered over some massive cracks, i do not think he should have had his contract renewed and i think he played the club like a fiddle when he did, with the leaked stories of him being interested in the Les Cats position.

He took over a team that the previous coach had lost the dressing room, and were totally underacieving, arguably his best spell as Wigan coach regards both performance and results was in that spell after he took over. Have we reached the consistency since that point, has the points for and against improved or deteriorated?

I personally am not convinced he is the man to take us to the next level, i feel he is very limited but has done a job stabilising the club, for me he has taken us as far as he can, and done his job.

I do feel he has earned a chance to prove me wrong in 09 and hope he does.

For those who back his record and use it as an example of his greatness, i would counter he took over a team at Bradford that were dominant and had the systems in place to ensure success. He left the club in a worse state than he did when he arrived there. With GB i think he walked away from the job with the team in a worse state than he took over. That to me is the measure of a coach.

With Wigan he took over with us at a very low ebb, but he has brought stability to the club, so for me it is job done. I said at the time we employed him he was not the man to take us to the top level and i still doubt he can, but he has done the job he was hired to do, and i would actually say had his contract not been renewed for this year his time would have been remembered as a success. I feel this season and taking the contract extension is a major career risk for him and a true test of his ability.

To reitterate what Jon said,

The legacy left by Smith/Elliott at Bradford meant virtually any coach could have ben successful. Interstingly the legacy Noble left behind for McNamarra was far worse. So on that basis hardly a success.

Noble has never built a team. Indeed, he is now telling porkies about his time at Bradford. He claims he was very good at developing young players. The evidence contradicts this claim. Chris Caisley states in terviews that it was Bradford's policy during Noble's time to waste as little money as possible upon youth development. IS THAT GOOD FOR A WIGAN COACH? Noble inherited a great team and he simply signed ready made players to keep it going.

Wigan pre Noble. Until the end of 2004 were always a top 3 or 4 club. Thrashed lesser teams, played good RL. It went pear shaped. Under millward the players threw the towel in and stopped playing for him. Injuries to Hock/Lockers did not help. Whomever came in for Millward was going to have a positive impact.

For Brian Noble to achieve an impact we cheated the salary cap. ML/DW gave him eveything he asked for. we escaped relegations. Was Noble as important as Dobson? Since then we have played poorly despite having better players han nearly every other club, the best player in SL and a great youth policy. Dave can show you statistically that 2008 was poorer than 2007. We went backwards.

Lions led by donkeys sums Wigan up.

No we didn't.

So you agree with the other points raised?

Noble is maintaining mediocrity at Wigan. The whole "he saved us from relegation" thing is quite funny - you would have missed the drop with no coach as long as Millward left, and done so without rinsing a huge proportion of the cap on a spent prop.

I hope he stays, Wigan will win nothing under Noble.

You'll do ok with Nobby, who else could do better

Do we (Wigan RLFC) do anything wrong in your eyes?

The worst part of Noble is he seems the first coach we have ever had who is incapble of understanding the importance of the Wigan v Saints derby. It's importance has meant that being the better team often counted for little when it came to the derby. When we had great teams in the 80's / early 90's, Saints still turned us over on several occasions. In SL, saints were dominant but we regularly turned them over. However, since Noble came it has been

Anderson in particular had Noble in his pocket. He comprehensively outcoached Noble match after match.

Numerous Australian Coaches,

Shaun Edwards

Ellery Hanley

Nobody could do better at getting owned by Saints for years.

As much as it pains me

i have to agree.

Jon you are rational

Now convincing Brett Kenny of anything is a monumental task

What a stupid statement

Sorry, he's excelled against Saints.

Arguing about the pro's and con's of playing style is a seperate issue. It's a personal, subjective opinion. As I have said I sometimes disagree with his decisions - e.g. if he plays Lockers at 6.

What you cannot argue with is Nobby's record in SL both at Wigan and Bradford.

If you honestly think that any coach could have turned us around like he did then I think you need to open your eyes. Teams just don't gain form/systems overnight.

Also given our squad imo 3rd was about the best we could have hoped for in the last 2 years.

Were you happy with the performances, did you think that we closed the gap on the top 2 at all?

For me we did not.

You keep alluding to his record but again do you think when he left Bradford he left them in as strong a position as when he took over? Same question regards GB.

I have stated i am not his biggest fan but i do think he has earned a shot at proving his doubters wrong regards his limitations this year.

I agree he has met his remit with Wigan, he has done what he was brought in to do, now for me as i said earlier he is taking a huge career risk into 2009, there can be no more excuses.

His record with Wigan is not too bad, as said he saved us from relegation, and got us into 2 semi's in the playoffs.

However, the standard of rugby we have played has gone down hill dramatically. To say we play negative rugby is the biggest understatement out there.

We definitly go out not to lose, rather than going out to win.

I like Nobby and have backed him 100% since he's been here. He has turned the club around and turned us into a very competative side again. The rugby is not the most entertaining but nobody would complain if it led us to a trophy. If he had the right quality of player around him i think he'd get us back amoungst the silverware but the salary cap restraints have held him back from building the squad he wants.

On the downside though he seems unwilling to give the youngsters a 'real' shot unless his hand is forced. I really hope he'll use a couple of them this year or we risk losing them.

It's a big year for him.

I am not anti Noble in any way, however all this talk about he saved us from relegation irritates me a little bit.

What helped us was naming a fully fit side for the last ten or twelve games of the season, the fact that nearly all these games were at home and also breaking the cap when signing Fielden.

I believe that if Wigan hit a similar injury crisis this year to the one in 2006 then we will be bottom 3 regardless of who is coach.