Quote: XBrettKennyX "Not sure I follow your logic.
On this particular issue though, which is the relative importance of the early vs late part of the season, I think the evidence speaks for itself.
Sure everyone has an opinion, but to come out with such simplistic statements as "Nobby is wrong" when he clearly IS the most successful coach under the SL rules, is clearly nonsense.
It's great to see Wigan doing well early on, it's great to sense the enthusiasm that is running through the club at the moment, but we need to perform at the business end of the season. That is the key. I hope we do, there is nothing to suggest that we won't, let's see.
Nobby was (quite rightly in some circumstances) often criticised for not having a "plan B". I didn't see any plan B on Friday either, but the same people that berated Nobby were strangely silent.
For what it's worth (not much since I am another faceless internet poster), I actually like Madge as a person, (as much as I can do without actually knowing him)j He comes across as honest and knowledgable. I really do hope it all works out for him (and Wigan), but I will not fall into the same trap as some on here and not criticise where I feel it is needed.
It's like the Emperors new clothes on here sometimes.'"
You keep quoting Nobby as "the most successful coach in SL" as if this was reason enough for us to have kept him.
He was far from the best coach in SL during the three and a half years he was at Wigan. Okay, we always finished strongly under him, but we never won anything. The teams that did win trophies, started strongly as well as finishing strongly. Doesn't that say anything to you at all?
And really ... do you expect fans to start getting on Maguire's back after we've played only 40 minutes of poor rugby (having just won the previous four matches, three of them at a canter)? Folk started getting twitchy about Nobby after three years of mostly indifferent performances, not to mention regular comments to the press indicating that neither he nor his team seemed to feel they were at fault.
I really think you need to get Nobby out of your system. If every time Wigan lose this season you're going to make posts implying that he wouldn't have lost, you're going to become very unpopular on here very quickly.
Nobby stabilised Wigan after our nightmare under Ian Millward. But he never kicked on from there. Compared to the likes of Saints and Leeds, his team lacked fitness, tactics and motivation. I don't know about you, but as a Wigan fan, that was unacceptable to me.
Who knows where Wigan will go from here - an awful lot now rides on Friday night - but personally I think we're playing a much better brand of football under Michael Maguire. It's frankly irrelevant what Nobby says from the sidelines. He had his chance, and he blew it.
