I would like Noble to stay. My fear is he will walk away at the end of his contract. Hope not, but he may!

I cannot agree with you here, FT.

I'd love him to do well and prove to the world that he's actually a great coach, but time is surely running out for him.

We're not a bad team. Individually, we've got plenty of good players. But we don't play well as a team - for all the reasons so eloquently outlined on this board already - and we don't seem to have any motivation. There is also the persistant problem regarding the youngsters. There's no point the chairman improving all their pay-packets if the head coach is still not going to pick them. They'll go somewhere else in due course.

I hear what you say about us needing another big prop, but if we bought one and hung onto Noble, none of the above problems would go away.

I too would like us to keep Noble - but only if he can turn this situation around very, very quickly. We started this season full of hope, as usual. But nothing has changed. We seem to be stuck in a time-warp with him at present, and are desperately in need of new, revolutionary thinking.

Possibly the most sensible post regarding Noble I've read on here in a while. Pretty much sum's up my view on Noble too.

Preferably I'd want him to stay but this obviously depends on results/team performances.

Cruncher et al.

I'm in the pro Noble camp, but understand and agree with some of the posts and charges against him.

So how long do we give him?

Personally, I would give him to mid season and see how things are.
I still wouldn't sack him then. I don't see the point as I can't see anyone available to take the job.

If we are underperforming mid season then I would tell him that his contract would not be renewed for 2010. I suspect he would already know anyway.

It's difficult to make informed comments on the Noble situ at Wigan, because throughout his tenure there've been stories that he's unsettled and looking elsewhere. There've also been reports that he doesn't like the chairman and has had rows with him.

Are these true? If so, maybe it won't come as a wrench for either party if his contract is not renewed. But telling someone they won't have a job in four month's time is bound to cause some kind of fall-out, and who knows what form that could take.

If we're at rock-bottom by mid-season (and it's far too early to assume that yet), it won't matter. The management won't have any choice and Noble won't have an argument.

The problem for IL will be if we're there or thereabouts again, with a reasonable chance of making the top tier but not looking particularly impressive on the field.

How do we respond to that?

Sacking the coach under those circumstances could mess things up big time. Given that most fans' frustrations at present seem to be centered around our lack of improvement rather than our lack of trophies, I don't think they would regard it as too high a price to pay. But it might be too high for IL if no other coaching options are available - and they may not be if he leaves it until the mid-season stage.

It's a very difficult balancing act that needs to be struck here, and all I can say is that I'm glad it's not my choice.

I'm in the results camp, but its to early to panic yet although I have my doubts that Noble will deliver

I don't think IL will terminate early because it will involve cash, so I'm going for his contract not to be renewed

I was told by an ex-player yesterday that the payoff that would be required should Noble be sacked is the single biggest reason that he's still at the club. Now whether this comes from genuine inside knowledge or is just guess work I couldn't tell you.

this seems the most likely, however if performances don't improve in say 10 game's time, then surely he has no option

Ten? I'd say half that.

His contract is up for renewal at the end of the season so lets for the sake of argument say he earns £100K a season (could be more, could be less but whatever).

IL has a choice. He can either pay it him in one go if he sacks him or he can not sack him and pay it him anyway as his wages for the season which he will have to do if he stays. Either way this season Noble will pocket that £100K.

If he had several years to run on his contract that would be different but since he hasn't and only has this season to go sacking him would not involve paying him any more money than he would get if he saw the season out.

Of course IL would have to pay another coaches wages but I'd hazard a guess Noble is on a huge deal due to the way he was recruited and the circumstances at the time. So a new coach may not cost as much to run.

If things continue to go badly and IL won't sack Noble because of the pay off then while he will be prepared to sit there and watch the side be badly coached he might find the fans are not. So it would be false economy anyway.

Dave