A psychologist would have a field day analysing you if you've read that far into it

Thought he talked about player's contracts and not his own. Graham Lovett didn't pursue it and moved on.
I'm more convinced he's staying by IL's article on the Wigantoday site.
IL surely wouldn't say those things if he was negotiating with a replacement coach.
I do now think Noble will stay.
In fact I'd be quite flabbergasted if IL went and sacked Noble after saying all that!

Unless he's already sacked him, and is now the process of bigging up the team for the final run-in, which thus far is more successful than he could possibly have anticipated.

One swallow doesn't make a summer. A few wins do not make a good team, and even less a good coach. And going back on a difficult but important decision you took for the good of all several weeks earlier, purely because there's been a brief upturn in fortunes, is not the way to make a success.

I'm not saying he HAS sacked him. I don't know. But I don't think you can read anything into that interview, which to me was the usual encouraging spin that you'd expect any club chairman to produce in the week running up to two very big matches.

Without reading too much into his own situation he does seem a little more flat than usual especially in the build up to the Saints game.

This interview sums up exactly what i find frustrating about BN, he tries to be smart and ends up looking silly..."Father Time takes his......time"?!, but also his lack of consistency in the messages he puts out.

I remember this time last year he was banging on about having to remove all emotion from a performance in his interviews, stating we had to go into each game as calculated as possible etc etc etc.....now in this interview he is saying we have to play on the emotion of the occasion and use it as the best performances generally are produced when we harness emotion.

As a coach you have to have and establish key theories that you build your ethic on, this seems to me a fundamental shift as and when the occasion suits him, it makes me wonder if his inconsistent theories are contributing to our inconsistent performances.

Also interesting to cross reference the Tomkins and Noble interview, Noble seems to credit the turn around with getting beat by Celtic, something which should never have happened, while Tomkins credits Locky for bringing the players together to assess the situation.

I do get the impression from his interviews ST is not BN's biggest fan from the odd comment he throws in now and again.

I've always liked Brian Noble as a person. I've met him several times and he's a very decent guy. But I don't rate him as an intellectual of the game. And this, I think, is his key weakness. What you state above indicates a scatter-brained approach to team prep. I know that sometimes you have to change your plans and tactics depending on the opposition, but I think it's becoming very obvious that he's not the best planner.

We so need someone who can out-condition, out-muscle, out-motivate and, above all, out-think his rivals.

Noble out coached Justin Morgan a few weeks ago at HKR and he certainly our coached McLennan last week. Although that wouldn't be too difficult!
If Noble had got the signings he'd wanted maybe we'd have out muscled more teams this year than we have.
We have the basis of a very good settled squad with perhaps just one going and maybe one or two coming in.
Although there will always be injuries etc we have lost our seasons mainstay back three in Hock, Bailey & Lockers. With Hock gone for while Joel has stepped up a gear and is playing very well. Get Bailey & Lockers back and we'll be a formidable out fit for the rest of this season.
As for next year, a quality prop would perhaps be all that's needed although we do need cover for the halves.
I still think Noble will stay and should stay!

To be honest, I think those assessments are merely a matter of opinion.

I agree, Wigan have run into some uncanny form of late (thus far), and looked more than a match both for Hull KR and Leeds. It'll certainly be interesting to see what happens tonight.

But I just don't buy that it's because Noble's long-term plan is coming to fruition. I'm not giving him NO credit for what's happened, but it's no use to us just winning matches in the last third of the season, which is what's occurred nearly every year under his command. I still don't think that it's even planned that way. To me, it's more to do with the team coming together naturally over a period of intense match-action, and responding with a backs-to-the-wall mentality to the inevitable deluge of criticism that their crap early season form always attracts.

Wigan have proved in the last few weeks that they can be far better than the sum of their parts. They've shown they have the talent and numbers to seriously challenge for silverware if only they could gel more regularly. But surely that's a reason to be disheartened by Noble rather than encouraged?

Just think about the way the top sides play. They hit the ground running at the start of the season, knowing that, if they can maintain that momentum most of the way through, by the business end - when it gets really tough - they'll be well ahead of the field. They also make sure that the matches they SHOULD win, they win superbly in order to clock up a big points margin. This is how you cement yourself into the top two, and are thus in the driving seat when the play-offs commence. To battle your way to the Grand Final from fourth or below is a fairy tale that may happen once in a lifetime, if that.

I'm surprised that anyone can genuinely believe that Wigan's hit-and-miss form under Brian Noble is the way forward.

Cruncher's right. I'm back and forth with the Noble issue - there are several arguments why he should stay - the stability factor, how he has a track record of winning English trophies, how we have played at times during his tenure such as recently.

There are other reasons too but I keep coming back to one point when people say to me how good Noble has been at timing Wigan's run of form to perfection over the last couple of years. That point is we may have had a run - but we've not got to the final have we? And essentially that means its pointless. By performing at the start of the year, the late 'run' at the end of the year could actually have meant something.

I have to sit on the fence on this issue. I wouldn't like to be the one making the decision. Giving Noble another year and seeing if a bigger front row will help him makes sense to me but I could also understand starting afresh, especially if it were with someone like Michael Mcguire - a coach with a huge rep who would have huge incentive with his first job.

I share a very similar view where by yes it's brilliant to have a surging run however were still a fair distance of where we want to be and thats the top 2, this for me comes down to the poor start to the season and ultimately we leave are selves to much to do and this is why we run out of steam towards the end.

As for the building of the team I get a different feeling to what most others do, in my view this team is being assembled more by Lenegan than it is by Noble, for me this is obvious by looking at certain signings we've made, as well as comparing all the signings to what Noble used to sign at Bradford.

I do agree were only 1 or 2 good players off having a great team, but I'm probably a little bit in the minority of thinking that we also need to new coach next year regardless of what happens this year to take us to that next level, and no matter what happens my view on that will not change.

Regards peaking, over the course of a 8/9 month season, it should be easy for a club to peak twice, we have only ever seemed to be able to peak once at the end of the season, which ultimatley has meant nothing due to the poor season the occured prior to this peaking.

In my opinion you should aim to put together 2 peaking periods at the start and end of the year and also have the ability to id individual weeks throughout the year when you can also look to peak for 1 off performances.

If you start the year in top form picking up a good win rate, come 5 or 6 weeks into the year when form will drop off but so will that of the opposition and you have the psychological advantage on your oponents of being in a stronger position. You will be on the end of the odd shock throughout the year like Saints and Leeds often are but they are usually in a strong position when these happen ie top 2 not wallowing in 10th!

I think you have to look at more than the first team when deciding the Noble in or out arguement.

Look at the Academy and the reserves. Noble, although not the 'coach' of both of these has a massive input and if you look at where they are now to 3 years ago, the difference is massive and the production line is stronger than any in SL.

As time passes these 'better than the rest' reserves and Academy guys will come through meaning we will have to rely on oversees and signings from other SL clubs less than others.

This makes Wigan a strong force going forward. Noble hes to have a major influence in this and deserves credit.

Look who is either young in the first team or is in the reserves and Academy.

3 Tompkins
Davies
Farrell
Vivers
Mossop
Flanagan

The list goes on a nd on.

I bet there isn't a club in SL who would not swop reserve and academy teams with us at the moment.

Add to this the first team is on the up, our half backs are starting to gel and you start to think 'who do we need'. Someone has just said 'get a prop' and some cover for the halves and we are on our way.

If the confidencxe keeps flowing we are going to be right up there with the best (assuming the big prop comes in).

Noble to stay for me.

I don't know exactly how much input Noble has with the junior sides, which are among the best in the competition. But when Noble came to Wigan, and for a time after he'd arrived, he had a reputation for ignoring youth and opting for older, mainly overseas selections.

I'd ask two questions here. First of all, is this sea-change in policy down to Brian Noble, or down to Ian Lenagan? At the very least you've got to credit the chairman for the better contracts that he's awarded to our youth players. (Again, I'm not saying Noble has NO input there, but from what I hear it was the arrival of IL that spurred a series of better deals for our kids, and seems to have halted the annual exodus in its tracks). Secondly, has this sea-change actually occurred, or are appearances deceptive? There are some who regularly post on here who feel that Nobby would still select older, experienced players ahead of youngsters if he could. I'm not saying I totally agree think that's the case, but the 'Ainscough faction' would argue that there's evidence for it.

For me, congratulating Nobby for our youth management is possibly a tad over-generous.

But surely even if IL gives a contract to the youth guys he will only do so on the coaching teams say so. IL is owner and a fan but not the professional regarding coaching, team selection and spotting ability.

I would imagine that Noble has to have input along with the respective teams coaches into deciding who stays goes and gets better contracts.

Ultimately the reserves and Academy are breading ground and driven towards producing players for the first team and to that end all these guys have to be approved by Noble.

Say what you like, Noble is in charge of team afairs and currently the reserves and academy are flying.

I'm not saying all, but some credit has to go to Nobel.

I just wish two things of the man.

1 Get a 18 stone no nonsense prop
2 Stop talking utter garbage to the press (look after the cabbage etc etc)

I've no quibble with the basic jist of this, particularly not the last two points. And I'm grateful that you're giving your support for Nobby some thought, rather than just shouting that he should be shown loyalty and dismissing the views of those who disagree as if they're idiots.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. I too can see advantages in keeping Nobby - especially if there's no-one better available. I wouldn't ditch him for just anyone. But I still think we're long overdue a Graham Lowe-type appointment, where we suddenly get a scholar of the game rather than a respected ex-player who's solid but unimaginative.