i would like to see Noble in but at the same time have Long as attacking coach and Cunningham as Defence coach. You then get that blend of fresh from the coal face of playing which long as already brought, mixed with experience and in-depth knowledge. All 3 are winners and know what it takes and eventually it can lead to us having Noble's ready made replacement with these 2.

Well you can forget that ever happening. Cunningham will never leave Saints! They call him the King for a reason!

Why are you guys apparently ignoring Alan Hunte - as the Doc himself said "“Alan Hunte will take charge of the team for the time being and I will be interested to see how things go for him. He, too, could become a strong contender. "

Personally I'd be delighted if Hunte shows the old guard how it should be done!

No chance at all of Hunte being appointed full time.
Firstly,we are apparently looking for a high profile coach to attract high profile players.
Secondly,as far as I'm aware he's never coached a team.
The good Doctor can't really say much else as Hunte could be doing the job for a week or two.
Noble just gone to Oz. Coincidence?

Who cares who the new coach is. I’ve heard the standard and service of hot beverages has really improved since the Doctor marked her card.

I think Daryll Powell has done really well in short time as a coach. Take over till end of season to give him superleague coaching experience because what "big name" coach is going to come to warm the seat for Tim Sheens. Think Hunte should carry on with the great job he is already doing because at the moment being in charge of Salford could set his future coaching career back 10 years.

What coaching career? He hasn't been the coach of the U18 or U20's teams he just overseas them and decided who is retained, puts coaches in place and recruits!

BTW hes done a bloody good job in all of it since he took the position and the academy over the last 2 years especially has started to show the fruition of all the good work he has done. Even if the retaining of them by 1st team bosses has not

Correct - the coaching has been done by, Lee Spencer, Pete Carey and Jason Viller as far as I know.

But lets not forget that Hunte put them in place. Have to say I was really disappointed with the retention of academy lads last year. I really think we should have held onto some more. Especiialy Adam Walne and Marriott.

Would think that Adam Walne and Marriott, have Super League get out clauses in their contracts. So Salford could re sign them

hope so and marriotts at oldham so we can keep a close eye on him

So why is Hunte in charge then if he has no coaching experience? Thats all I was saying. Daryll Powell has actually first team coaching experience and would probably take the opportunaty to be an "interim" coach to work in Superleague.

Reported in MEN today that the club are bringing in a young technical coach from New Zealand with a big reputation for developing quality young players. Apparently will be staying on when the new head coach is announced. Good move this imo.

This is a stick that some Wigan fans used to beat Noble with. It is not really that cut and dried though. Some criticised him (and still do in some cases) for in their words "not giving Sam Tomkins a run in the team and picking Tim Smith instead". This despite the fact that Sam had made as many appearances as Smith at the point when Smith got injured in 2009, having only made his debut in the previous season. Whilst Noble did have his favourites who got picked every week and his favourite scapegoats including Kev Brown (whose confidence was wrecked and then left) and Darrell Goulding (who came back a better player when given a chance by Maguire after a loan spell with yourselves) who always got dropped. This annoyed many fans but he did steady the ship which was what we desperately needed at the time and got us to a lot of Semi Finals. He just couldn't take us any further which is why we replaced him with Maguire, who although he won us trophies was not much better in terms of squad rotation and giving youngsters a chance, as he played his strongest 17 almost every game as he wanted to win trophies and build his reputation (which then got him his NRL job). We now have a coach in Shaun Wane who does give youngsters a good number of games but is often pilloried by some of our fans when we lose a match (rare though that has been so far in his tenure) due to having a weaker team with youngsters in.

If you got Noble as coach your fans may be in for some frustration as he signs (for example) Paul Wellens and Paul Sykes and refuses to pick Evalds and Fages ahead of them even when form dips but you would get a team out of it that could sit comfortably in mid table rather than fighting to avoid the wooden spoon. It then just depends how long you are happy to put up with that.

The coach that is ultimately appointed will depend on what Dr Koukash, Graham Lowe and co. want and expect in terms of progression and how quickly they privately want it to occur (regardless of what is said publicly). If they want to (for example) get 7th or 8th in the league and to the last four of the Challenge Cup this year, then become regular 4th to 6th in the league for a couple of years while getting at least to the last four of the cup while they wait for big name players to take an interest. And then look to become a top 2 team, contesting and winning finals each year from 2016 onwards ie a steady upward curve getting a bit better each year until reaching the top then they will go for a coach like Noble/Kear who can do the steadying of the club and turn them from also rans into dark horses and maybe win a Challenge Cup whilst doing so and will then replace them with a big name coach in 2 or 3 years.

If they want to do the best they can this year but make the top 4 in SL from 2014 onwards and at least contest one final each season from next year on then they will appoint someone like Sheens for next year (maybe bringing in the man who will be his assistant to run things and lay the groundwork this season). They will then shout it from the rooftops to make the top level stars they are targetting take notice and to sign with the promise of working under a star coach from next season. My only concern with such a situation is that it could lead to the same situation we had when Mo Lindsay and then Whelan were regularly sacking coaches for not getting instant success and bringing in duff signings like Vaeliki who ate up the cap space to try to buy success. The instability of that era led us to the mess in 2006 that only improved when Noble arrived and got 3 years to do his job. Hopefully your chairman and those around him will not fall into the same trap once they have managed to get you competing at the top end and will have the patience to give coaches time to mould the team and win trophies.