Many years ago Alex Ferguson was being hounded out of Old Trafford by the fans after finishing in the lower half of he table for two years.

However, in 1990 they managed to win the F.A. Cup and the rest as they say is history.

Could a Challenge Cup win do the same for Brian Noble?

Food for thought, and discussion.

without the restrictions imposed on RL and the correct marketing then maybe. but in the present climate, not a chance

What ? Suck their boyfriends toes and get caught doing it by the media ?

Oops, oh you mean the footie ?

I don't think there's any real comparison. As someone else said, maybe in an earlier era, when Wigan - like United now - went on a spending spree each close season, and brought in the best players available.

There's no doubt Fergie's been a top manager, but look at the quality he's had at his disposal.

I can't help thinking that had the SC never been introduced, with Maurice Lindsay at the helm and Whelan's money in the bank, players like Vainokolo, Lauititi, Morley, Lyon, Pryce etc, and maybe a couple of Union conversts - Brian O'Driscoll was said to have been interested at one time - would all have come to Wigan. Players at other clubs who are known to support Wigan - like James Graham, Martin Gleeson (when he was at Saints) - might have been tempted to defect, as Connolly and Platt were.

But as things are, I seriously doubt Noble has the coaching skills to produce a multi-trophy winning side out of the current Wigan team. That isn't to say that others couldn't do it, but I'm sure that, if it wasn't totally beyond Noble, we'd have seen promising signs by now.

No I don't think the coaches are similar at all but I believe the situation we are in at the moment is similar.

Manchester United had a brilliant set of talent coming through at the time - David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary and Phil Neville etc

Wigan at the moment do as well. Michael McIlorum, Sean Ainscough, Sam and Joel Tomkins, Paul Prescott, Eamon O'carroll etc

It was United's or rather Fergies foresight to see the immense talent he had at his disposal and the abiltiy to be able to develop the lads to realise their full potential that subsequently has brought him the success he has had.

Can we say this with Noble? No IMO.

Sam Tomkins deserved to be ahead of Mark Riddell last week and the squad was not picked on merit. Riddell just walked into the side after only having one impressive game for the club and Sam Tomkins the other week scoring the match winner. In such a tight match you need players like Sam Tomkins who are match winners in the squad. Could you honestly say Mark Riddell is a match winner?

Look at Darrell Goulding as well. Once dubbed the next GB centre and a future Wigan centre for years to come and now fans wont give him a passing glance. Where has that talent suddenly gone? Nowhere is the answer - he was given the number three shirt - granted but I believe that he took his chance and was in fantastic form the earlier part of last season. Yes he did have defensive issues but excluding him from the first team squad is not the answer. I thought he was solid when he played against Castleford at home - he did dash out of the line but he read the play very well and made the tackles. He evidently made the effort in the off-season to really slim down and looked much more physically fit in the friendlies more so that any other player and look at the way he has been treated. He is on loan at Salford now because we have Martin Gleeson and George Carmont however earlier in the season we were not in such a healthy position. I think Bailey was moved to centre and got torn apart against Leeds and Karl Pryce had that damp squid of an effort in France - Could Goulding have done better than the above? I still really rate the lad and I cannot understand his exclusion from the squad. Tony Smith has wanted him throughout his career and I believe many other clubs are interested as well simply because they recognise his immense potential and talent. I get the impression Brian Noble doesn't. We maybe in the fortunate situation at the moment of having two quality centres in Gleeson and Carmont but we wont be forever and that is where Darrell Goulding comes in. IMO we would not have needed to have bought Gleeson had we stuck with Goulding and allowed him to keep on progressing in the first team. Had we been consistent with him I believe he would be at a far greater stage than he is now. A bit like what we see from Michael McIlorum and Paul Prescott. Some fans seem to like lambasting him at any given opportunity - could you imagine the stick Goulding would have got had he had made them two mistakes that Carmont has made 1 v 1 tackles. The latter being a match winner.

Sean Ainscough is another one. He is top of the clean breaks and scored the most tries. He is a match winner and can create something from nothing. His sheer enthusiasm lifted the squad to their first win of the season at Harlequins. His ability and confidence to back himself down the touchline is something the Wigan fans have not seen since Brett Dallas and yet now finds himself excluded from the squad because he has made mistakes fielding high kicks. He has also taken high kicks but this fortunately seems to have been forgotten by some. It is a factor in his game the height issue but it is not a reason to keep him out the squad. We make exceptions with Tim Smith with his centre covering for him most of the side and the winger coming on the inside for him to have a breather FFS. Why cannot we just have the centre protect the winger when a high kick comes about? Is not that what they used to do? Jason Robinson was never the most safest guy under a high ball but his ability to turn chances into tries and create things from nothing is something that cancelled out the odd defensive error. Could we not have done with this against Hull KR? Also why does the coach feel the need to point out fault in the young lads game after he has just scored four tries? It not only highlights the areas in his games he needs work on to the rest of super league but it also appears as though the coach does not back the young lad which is evident in his omission from the first team squad since the Wakefield game.

I agree largely, but I think your argument falls down a little when you cite Goulding as an example. He's young and local, yeah, but for me that doesn't put him ahead of Carmont or Gleeson, who are both proven, quality centres. In any case, he's only gone out on loan. I don't think wev'e seen the last of him at Wigan, unless he fails to take his chance at Salford as well, in which case we might look past him to young Thornley. I agree that Noble makes some very odd decisions, but it seems to me that he gave Goulding a big chance to claim the 3 shirt as his own. It's still in the lad's hands, IMO. If he can prove to us that we made a mistake to loan him out, then I'm sure we'll claim him back.

All the other points you make stack up well.

same goes for liverpool, chelsea, nal and probably now city.
They've all had bucket loads to spend but only one has won title after title.

i was just thinking the same thing this morning!

funny seeing a post devoted to it

You feel we need a trophy soon to get any sort of ball rolling in terms of Noble having a 10+ year future here.

If we get that i feel the confidence that would bring to alot of our more senior(but still young-ish like Lockers, Hock, Leuluai etc) players would take them on a level and produce more of a confident and winning mentality around the squad for more youngsters to come into.

I really do think this next 5-6 months is a huge period for the club.

I dont think Noble tends to be feared by his own players as Taggart seems to be at man u, the thought of Noble becoming of the same ilk is exciting and id love to see success coming Nobles way i just doubt it..

But hey, i remember the cup final in 1990 and old bandy legs Leighton being dropped which was a brave decision that paid off ala Ainscough being dropped so heres hoping

IMO if we win a trophy in the next 2 seasons that will be the moment to push these players confidence over the edge.And could be the start of something good at wigan. always seems a confidence thing with most of the players.a trophy and they will start to believe

This year is our best chance to wi the challenge cup if we get past salford the semi will be at a neutral venue and than it would be the final.

Is there something missing from this post?

Admit he is Bi Sexual

I think that the sheer expectation from the fans when Noble was appointed is a major factor in the pressure heaped on the team and him from us (granted we have the squad capable of winning or at least challenging for honours). DW's quote during the press conference was something along the lines of "I am 100% positive Wigan Warriors will win a trophy in the next 3 years."

That in itself is a very risky remark and one that has blown right up in BN's face. Now this isn't an excuse for our lack-lustre (sp?) performances, nor is it questioning the amount of pressure we heap upon our club to perform.

Wigan Warriors winning the SL again is a long way off - I think we all realise that, however I do believe we are in with a massive shout to lift the CC this year.

We have a fantastic youth development system in place;
-Lockers
-Hock
-Hansen
-McIlorum
-J + S Tomkins
- Ainscough
-Mossop

but to name a few who have/still are progressing through our ranks succesfully and making a name for themselves. In waiting we have talent such as;

- Liam Farrell
- Iain Thornley
- Flanagan
- Gerrard
- Davies

and many more.

To compare it to Ferguson's Man Utd isn't a bad shout IMO, but in order for Wigan to enjoy long-lasting success, this talent we have at our disposal needs to be handled correctly.

Is Noble the man to do that? I can't decide.