Predictable but utterly misguided posts on this thread from the Noble defenders....

IF we get to the GF it will be DESPITE Noble, not because of him.

This team is not one he expected or wanted to pick at the start of the season, and he has ended up with this side by default rather than flexibility and adapting as the season developed.

I've said before that we actually have a pretty decent squad (well, relatively anyway, its poor compared to the squad of 10 years ago let alone 20 years ago but standards in SL are pretty low at the moment); its been held back by poor coaching, poor preparation and poor fitness levels amongst certain players.

What is does have is a core of Wigan lads, led by Lockers (easily the best LF in the country and who but for injury would have been a deserved winner of the MoS, where are you now Lockers knockers? ) and supported by some overseas players like Paat and Phelps that want to play for this club as much as legends like Dean Bell did in the 90s.

We are on a roll now and do seem to have more in the tank than we did last season.

BUT with a better coaching and backroom set-up, WE could have been playing at home next weekend. The team is having to do it the hard way because the first half of the season was an embarrassing failure.

Utter nonsense.

i have a good friend that works in the coaching set up within the club, he told me before the game last night that michael mcguire is the new coach with sean wane his number 2, announcement obviously will be after our season finishes.

Not read all of this thread, but surely we'd be better having this argument AFTER we've won the Grand Final?

I don't understand why any Noble supporter would think his point is proved because we've got to another semi-final. We've been to four already under Noble, and have been woeful in all of them. That's either because we were ill-prepared, or because we'd left ourselves too much to do before we got there - in both of which cases it is the coach's fault

I will gladly congratulate Brian Noble if we win the GF, and it would be a great way for him to sign off his Wigan stint and stick a V-sign to those who've had no faith in him, but it would require us to beat both St Helens and Leeds for that to actually happen.

If Noble gets you to the GF will that be a success?

It would be better than not getting there, and considering that three years ago we were fighting relegation it would be an undeniable improvement. But no-one remembers those who came second. Winning it is obviously the main thing.

This is what i can't quite understand, he has taken you from cannon fodder, given you some stability, put you in a position to challenge for the biggest prize, yet from what i can see most of you want rid?

I think Nobby has done a decent / good job with your lot....when he took over you were going nowhere, he then gets you with 80 minutes of the grand final in the each of the last 3 or 4 years....not bad.

Superleague is evening itself out and teams can beat each other week in week out...gone are the days of one side dominating from when the first ball is kicked to lifting the trophy at the end of a season.

We finished SIXTH.............................Nobby out!

It's the 34 league games Wigan have lost in three seasons that has frustrated many. He simply has not improved this aspect of the team.

As Cruncher says we can have the discussion IF we get to and win the GF. If we fail to do either then it will have been another season similar to the last two and many have already decided those sort of performances are not enough for him to keep his job.

As to the relegation year the side wasn't that bad. We only brought in two players, Fielden and Dobson and along with Nobby they an the rest of the squad went on to avoid the drop. If we were that bad we would still have gone down.

One of the big reasons IMO we have not kicked on from there under Noble is we never replaced Scott Logan who left at the end of 2006. Add to that Fielden's lack of form and the front row has never been as good as it was back in 2006. Some will blame IL for that as he did say we had enough props so would not be bringing any more in but Noble should have insisted this problem be rectified. There have been enough contracts signed for players since then that one of them should have been for a prop.

Dave

He has, on numerous occasions requested a prop forward be signed.

If he wins the one that matters then this will fade into insignificance will it not. I don't watch you week in week out obviously but it seems a steady building process is what he is trying to put in place. In nearly all of the most successful teams in the world in any sport, continuity is key, espescially in management terms, yet just as he seems to be putting things in place its looking like its going to be starting all over again for your team.

If as a complete new comer to RL, I looked at what Noble has achieved at Wigan whilst at Wigan:

- 3 SL play off semi finals
- 2 CC semi finals
- Saved from relegation to come within a whisker of a P/O place

It looks pretty good - which it is. So I'd be begging the question "Why the do we want to get a new coach, when this one is undeniably taking us to semi finals so often?"

Then I look at the league form, our league positions:

2006 - 8th
2007 - 6th
2008 - 4th
2009 - 6th

In a league of 20 teams, not too bad - then I find out that the league is made up of 14 teams and look at who we've beat -

Saints
Leeds

The apparent two best in the league which we have beaten them once convincingly on each team.

Then the teams we've lost too

Celtic
Wakefield
Hull FC
Catalans

3 very average teams and one very poor team.

In a league of 12 teams from 06-08 and 14 in 2009 the final league positions show us up to be what we really have been throughout the league season - Average. Teams like Wakefield, shouldn't be finishing above us.

Thats why BN needs to go, the consistent inconsistentcy in SL is hindering our GF attempts and it's this inconsistency that makes us an average team when we really do have the playing staff to be a good SL side throughout season.

Continuity isn't everything. St Helens broke continuity when they sacked Millward, but the guy they replaced him with made a very good outfit into a team of clinical world-beaters. Under Colin Clark and Alan McInnes, Wigan were finally recrystallising as a major force in RL, but it took Graham Lowe - a coach who was streets ahead in his thinking - to make them REALLY fulfill their potential.

As you say, you haven't watched us "week in week out". We have, and the majority of those who think Noble's time has come do so because they feel we're close to being a top side again but are still unable to put together a consistent run of the sort of form that would see us cruise to cup finals and be fresh for the big day - the way Leeds no doubt will be. Again.

The other thing to remember is that Noble only wanted one more year. That wouldn't have been much good to us either. In replacing him now, we're only doing what we'd have had to do at the end of next year - so much for continuity.

Of course it all depends now on who the new man is. And in that respect, there is still potential for a big embarrassment at Wigan.