As I said before, be careful what you wish for.

I doubt Noble would want to come back and work under the same conditions as McNamara has. At both Wigan and Celtic he had experienced assistants to work with and a large coaching team at his disposal. It seems pretty unlikely that we could offer similar budgets for both the playing staff and coaching staff.

I think some still find it hard to accept that our spending during the successful years wasn't and isn't sustainable for a club like ours. I'm glad we had those years but if we're to get back up there it needs to be via a different route this time around. Is Brian Noble the man to work on a tight budget and spend time developing and scouring the market for junior talent? From what I have read and heard from people within the game.. he probably isn't the best man for the job at the Bulls right now.

...is the [iright[/i answer.

Spot on, that. People are not criticising Noble, certainly for what he did for us. They are (in the main) seriously questioning, as you and I are, whether his skill set would be appropriate to the new reality that the club is in.

Not that I'm aware of.

In fact the inside story of Noble's departure was kept pretty much just that: inside. There is no doubt though, that Nobby along with the then chairman Caisley, were the guiding hands behind the cutting back on junior development at the time, done to facilitate more funds for the first team squad. It was madness and totally unsustainable; no organisation can carry on losing half a million per year indefinitely whilst cutting back on the one resource, junior development, which might have saved them. Fortunately the club is now in the hands of people who have priorities based more on the realities of life and above all is solvent.

I don't hold any grudges against Nobby. I did say elsewhere that ultimately it is the board who provide the framework in which a coach operates, and that being so, it's difficult to be too scathing on the coach; he may have spent it, but he didn't sanction it. Within the framework in which he worked he was very successful, but that framework has changed vastly, that said he is a still a good tactician and clever coach though how successful he might be in the much changed financial position which the club now finds itself is very much open to question.

Hood certainly seems a little worried r5egarding Maccas future in todays T & A article.

From what McNamara said at the fans forum, i'd be surprised at this move.

If we get McDermott or Lowes in then i'd be very disappointed. Macca's saving grace has been his youth development and his complete overhaul of the junior structure. McDermott & Lowes are probably at the same level of coaching as McNamara, and if McNamara hadn't achieved anything at junior level (the youngsters coming through) I doubt he'd still be here.


If he goes, we want a top quality coach!

As af says PG Fox made a great return when he came back for a second spell at the club and he had issues with certain directors when he departed first time around.

I'd be surprised to see Nobby back though. He seems to operate best at clubs with money available to spend on bringing players in rather than bringing them on. The turnaround during his time at Wigan was down to him being able to recruit players rather than his record at bringing through the youngsters. At Crusaders I see Kear has been dropped for the 35 year old Schicofske. There's no denying that he's a good coach when he has good players and that's not as easy a job as it sounds but I think he's probably wrong for us.

I'd prefer to see us target a young thrusting assistant coach from Australia in the McGuire mould who's methods have transformed Wigan. Either that or a proven coach from over there. What's Hagan's plans after Origin? I'm sure I read somewhere that Tim Sheens is OOC at the end of this year too, certainly worth a punt.

I expect that if/when Macca goes we'll be looking to get Beaver involved somehow. I just hope the club don't go for the McDermott/Lowes route as both of those are less proven than McNamara and would be a step backwards. McDermott has had a real struggle with the resources at his disposal at Quins but even so their fans in the main want to see the back of him. As for Lowes, I'm not sure he's cut out to be a head coach, his record at Warrington isn't worth mentioning! A great player yes, possibly a good assistant (though some Salford fans may disagree!), a head coach? Nope.

Appointing etheir Lowes or McDermott would be another step backwards IMO Lowes proved nothing when he was coach at Warrington and McDermott is proving nothing at Harlequins.

Being a great player has never meant that you will automatically be a great coach, some are, some aren't; often it's the unsung 'lesser' players who make the better coach, Peter was the least decorated of the Fox brothers, but neither Neil nor Don made it as coaches, whilst he was one of the best of his era.

Leaving that aside, it's far too early to say whether Lowesy or Brian Mac will be successful head coaches. For Brian in particular, you say he "is proving nothing at Quins", though you don't qualify this, but he was highly regarded at Leeds when second in command to Smith and has taken on a difficult role at Quins (a role which in all fairness, I don't think compares to the job at any other club, tbh) and not only that has seen his squad cut to ribbons before the season even started.

I don't think Brian was ever expected to win SL: much of what he has achieved is behind the scenes (a bit like Stevie Mac at the Bulls, in fact), putting systems into place and getting the basics right, and though I guess he'll be pretty disappointed with the way his team has performed on occasions, given what has happened to his team on the injury front, it's difficult to think anyone else would have done much better.

Maybe both Brian and Jimmy would have been better starting in the traditional manner, in the lower divisions? Coaching, in any case, is a job with a wide variety of tasks within it, coaching juniors, intermediates, top-end amateur, professional level and up to head coach in SL and the skills required are many and varied. The best junior coach in the world might not cut the mustard with pros and by the same token the best SL coach might be rubbish with the kids. So which is the best coach?

I think its pretty difficult to make an assessment of Brian McDermot judged only by his time at the Harlequins. You can only work with what you have got and to be fair Brian mac has not been able to recruit the calibre of players to Harlequins that other clubs have. Whether that is due to financial constraints or the fact that quality northern based league players are reluctant to up sticks and settle in the south is anyones guess.
A couple of years ago John Kear was a crap coach and now with a change of club he's suddenly become a top coach again. If we did appoint McDermott I wouldn't be disappointed and I believe he is a good motivational coach that could get the best out of a squad that is streets ahead of what he has got in London!

Yeah right.

With well laid out retorts like that, you should be on Question Time.


I agree with Andy Capp to be honest. I don't think you can judge McDermott's ability purely on his Harlequins results. He has been up against it since taking over down there.

Not saying he should definitely be hired, but I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people are making out.

I do however believe McDermott will be the best man for the England job (assuming you want an English coach). His commitment to bringing on young english players is second to none in Super League.

Agreed. Kear's case just highlights that if you are prepared to learn from your mistakes then, ultimately, you can succeed. To be a top coach you have to have ability but you also have to have quite a bit of luck, something I'm not sure that either SM or BM have had much of!

But I would class Kear as a average coach (and yes I do realise he's won two Challenge Cups with Sheffield and Hull) but personally I think we should be looking at the NRL for our next coach I don't believe that Lowes or McDermott would take us forward.

I think people are simplifying the situation way too much. It's not just a matter of "well he's best, so we'll have him". There are a number of other factors involved in it, and the two most important of those are:

1) Does the coach want to come to Bradford?
2) Can we afford his wages?

If either of those is a no, we can't have them.

We can only pick from those available and affordable.

I always regarded Kear as an average coach when he was with Sheffield, England, Huddersfield and Hull, his two good cup runs (in 10 + years) somewhat inflated his reputation IMO.

However, the job he has done at Wakefield has been nothing short of superb, possibly a case of the club and it's situation, fitting the personality and style of the coach perfectly.