DaveO wrote:Finally got around to listening to it on Sunday. They both came across very well and answered the home grown player questions with conviction.
I thought one interesting comment was when asked about Noble's position was that you don't sack a coach for losing three matches (or words to that effect) but IL then went on to say losing 6 or 9 in a row was a different matter. Perhaps Noble doesn't have a guaranteed job for the season if things go belly up!
Dave
I think it would be difficult for any club with aspirations to stick with a coach who loses 9 in a row. By this, I'm not implying that IL and MH are no different from anyone else, just that ... I guess we all have our cut-off point. Even if IL is inclined to be more patient with a coach than someone like Whelan would be, he can't be infinitely patient.
For me, Wigan have sufficient good players to make a decent fist of SL. I don't think they're good enough to win it (unless they hit spanking form at just the right time), but they definitely should be up there challenging. As we've said in the past, they'vd frequently been unconvincing under Noble; quite often the weaknesses on the field are the sort that even a layman like me would expect top-level coaching to correct.
For these reasons, I still suspect that - even if we have an indifferent season rather than an out-an-out poor one - I wouldn't be surprised if IL and co started looking further afield.