I got some major stick last year for doubting Noble and expressing that opinion, but it still boils down to one simple fact for me. I look at performance not results, i can stand losing if we play well, but under Noble we very rarely have, in fact as the squad has become more "his" the worse the performances have been.

The playoff run papered over some massive cracks, i do not think he should have had his contract renewed and i think he played the club like a fiddle when he did, with the leaked stories of him being interested in the Les Cats position.

He took over a team that the previous coach had lost the dressing room, and were totally underacieving, arguably his best spell as Wigan coach regards both performance and results was in that spell after he took over. Have we reached the consistency since that point, has the points for and against improved or deteriorated?

I personally am not convinced he is the man to take us to the next level, i feel he is very limited but has done a job stabilising the club, for me he has taken us as far as he can, and done his job.

I do feel he has earned a chance to prove me wrong in 09 and hope he does.

For those who back his record and use it as an example of his greatness, i would counter he took over a team at Bradford that were dominant and had the systems in place to ensure success. He left the club in a worse state than he did when he arrived there. With GB i think he walked away from the job with the team in a worse state than he took over. That to me is the measure of a coach.

With Wigan he took over with us at a very low ebb, but he has brought stability to the club, so for me it is job done. I said at the time we employed him he was not the man to take us to the top level and i still doubt he can, but he has done the job he was hired to do, and i would actually say had his contract not been renewed for this year his time would have been remembered as a success. I feel this season and taking the contract extension is a major career risk for him and a true test of his ability.

To reitterate what Jon said,

The legacy left by Smith/Elliott at Bradford meant virtually any coach could have ben successful. Interstingly the legacy Noble left behind for McNamarra was far worse. So on that basis hardly a success.

Noble has never built a team. Indeed, he is now telling porkies about his time at Bradford. He claims he was very good at developing young players. The evidence contradicts this claim. Chris Caisley states in terviews that it was Bradford's policy during Noble's time to waste as little money as possible upon youth development. IS THAT GOOD FOR A WIGAN COACH? Noble inherited a great team and he simply signed ready made players to keep it going.

Wigan pre Noble. Until the end of 2004 were always a top 3 or 4 club. Thrashed lesser teams, played good RL. It went pear shaped. Under millward the players threw the towel in and stopped playing for him. Injuries to Hock/Lockers did not help. Whomever came in for Millward was going to have a positive impact.

For Brian Noble to achieve an impact we cheated the salary cap. ML/DW gave him eveything he asked for. we escaped relegations. Was Noble as important as Dobson? Since then we have played poorly despite having better players han nearly every other club, the best player in SL and a great youth policy. Dave can show you statistically that 2008 was poorer than 2007. We went backwards.

Lions led by donkeys sums Wigan up.

No we didn't.

So you agree with the other points raised?

Noble is maintaining mediocrity at Wigan. The whole "he saved us from relegation" thing is quite funny - you would have missed the drop with no coach as long as Millward left, and done so without rinsing a huge proportion of the cap on a spent prop.

I hope he stays, Wigan will win nothing under Noble.

You'll do ok with Nobby, who else could do better

Do we (Wigan RLFC) do anything wrong in your eyes?

The worst part of Noble is he seems the first coach we have ever had who is incapble of understanding the importance of the Wigan v Saints derby. It's importance has meant that being the better team often counted for little when it came to the derby. When we had great teams in the 80's / early 90's, Saints still turned us over on several occasions. In SL, saints were dominant but we regularly turned them over. However, since Noble came it has been Anderson in particular had Noble in his pocket. He comprehensively outcoached Noble match after match.

Numerous Australian Coaches,

Shaun Edwards

Ellery Hanley