Watching the Widnes game last night and wondering why people are making so much of Salford I found myself wondering if Nobby has lost his touch. There are many Bulls fans who believe he took over a good team with us and has done very little elsewhere. Looking at the Doctors reactions at the end I wonder if Nobby has 3-4 months to prove himself before his boss looks down under for a top coach. That Salford team has a few players who went there for a pension (30+) and others who I simply don't rate. Has Nobby spent wisely? Should he be worried?

People awash with money investing in sports teams are generally prone to knee-jerk sackings in all sports. Losing isn't terrible in itself but I'm not seeing any progression in Salford and that's what Noble should be bringing.

I will be surprised if he makes it to the end of the season.

Please have some consideration for the feelings of people who maybe older than Mr Noble

I don't think so. I think Marwan is expecting a bit to much with a top 4. Salford will be a decent team and difficult to beat once they get going.

Agree with this - expectations were set too high for this season, and I think they are heavily reliant on Chase at the moment.

To build a successful team, I would like to think that BN will be given another off-season to recruit the 2nd half of his team, lets see what he can do from there. Salford have a good first 13 on paper, but when the injuries start, they look pretty average. I think they are currently without 5/6 of the off season recruits atm.

Nobby has been a success in almost every role he has undertaken after leaving the Bulls, although i'm not sure the Wigan fans will be in unanimous agreement.

I think Noble didn’t get enough credit from some quarters at Wigan for rescuing them from the mess Millward made there. He took them to a respectable level before Maguire came in and took them one step further and made them into trophy winners.

He might be able to do the same at Salford but IMO they need to build a proper junior set up that can be the basis of future sides. Simply buying a team doesn’t work and never has if you want to win trophies though it may gain mid table respectability. I think most sane Salford fans see mid table as good achievement for this season.

Phil Clarke’s tip of them finishing top is really just a way of him to grab a cheap headline but further devalues his contribution as a pundit.

You can buy a certain degree of success in any sport but it will never be instant success.

Whether or not Noble has lost his mojo it isn't something anyone could sensibly gauge until he's been in that job for at least 2 seasons.

In the first season he settles down to end up with the squad he wants, which will no doubt develop more as the season goes on. MAybe by the back end of the season they may have started to gel into something like the beginnings of a decent squad, but buying and paying expensive players is no guarantee.

If however he turns out to have got it basically right, then a full off season and next year they may start to develop as a squad and become increasingly competitive, compared with the better teams/squads.

During those 2 seasons (as mentioned above) they also need to work on their junior setup as there is only so much you can buy, you must also produce.

In the 3rd year maybe the odd one or two of the young players might be ready to be gradually introduced into the now cohesive squad.

Anyone who actually thinks Noble can be judged after the first 2 or 3 games is just plain nuts. Anyone who genuinely thinks they could challenge at the top this year isn't far behind. A good cup run with a fair wind and a fine draw would be the limit.

Koukash may talk a brash game but he ain't nuts, and Nobby is going nowhere. One thing I'm sure of is that many people underestimate Dr.K. I reckon he's a much shrewder guy than many give him credit for.

Is Nobby past it?

No, but there's question marks over some of his squad.

I think it's fair to say they have brought in one or two to, 'do a job', for a season and not for the long term. With a largely, freshly brought together group of people, it makes sense to have some experienced guys to hang it all together.

Has Nobby lost his mojo? Far, far too early to tell - ask again at the end of August, though I suspect the answer will be, no.

Don't know what the problem is Phil Clarke said Salford were outstanding on Thursday night so noble has nothing to worry about

The majority of Nobby's success has pretty much been down to breaking the salary cap.

i.e. by cheating.

He did it at Bradford, he did it at Wigan.

Therefore, the question is not so much as is he "past it" or whether he actually "had it" in the first place.

After all, it is easier to win with an opoen cheque book at your disposal.

Noble relies entirely on Plan A. When that doesn't work, his teams come apart as Plan B is "Try more of Plan A"

Wigan got away with it largely because of Trent Barrett, O'Loughlin & later on Tomkins being able to win games by themselves, but he never won a big game with Wigan really. When it doesn't go their way this season they'll lean heavily on Chase expecting him to produce something out of nothing.

Which Chase is more than capable of doing. However, if the opposition stick to their game plan, Chase is likely to be the player who gets constantly closed down and will find himself lacking the time and space to actually produce anything.

Not sure Chase is the wisest signing Nobby has made. For sure he's a big draw on the gate [at least, you'd expect him to be and an exceptional individual who can win games for a team. Probably shows up best in a team with low expectations and few other individual talents.

Have to say though If I were one of the playmakers in a team with Chase in it, I'd soon be pigged off with the way he plays. Even more so if I'd ever been any good, and particularly so if I were an international class player like some of the ones at Salford.

Though the title asks is Nobby past it perhaps the question is are some of the older players brought in past it?
It is very unusual in the modern game to be able to match the pace of matches once you get over the 30 mark and legends like the Beaver who can maintain their standards up to near the 40 mark are exceptional.
So for all the chest beating and declarations of love for Salford I suspect a few of their signings were taking advice from their pension advisors prior to signing - good look to them you should never look a gift horse in the face.

I think I mentioned something about it earlier in the piece, to be honest NR.

To look the new players in the mouth, as it were, you'd probably have to agree with what you suggest, however to look at it from the coach's perspective, he's trying to assemble pretty much whole new squad, so it makes sense to bring in some solid, [only just, former internationals. These 'been there, done that', type of players, to whom fitting into new systems may well come more easily, are just what he needs to hold the squad together in the first season.

I say to early to make judgements as takes time to gel a new team.Look at Widnes in the first season in Superleague getting thrashed every week. Make judgements come june time.

Noble is one of the best British coaches the game IMO we all know what a fantastic job he did at the Bulls has we all know, he also did a great job at Wigan keeping them in SL (although breaking the salary cap in the process) and making them Super League competitors in the process the only thing he couldn't do was deliver silverware which led to his sacking, did a great job Crusaders with a slim budget and got them into the play offs in their second season in SL and did reasonable job has GB coach too, but I do think he is IMO a short term plan to Koukash's ambitions for Salford a bad string of results and I think he will get the sack.

Perhaps it shows you need more patience to build a team with solid foundations with your backers cash - though not necessarily taking a 100 years like Huddersfield

Absolutely. To be honest, it's pretty daft looking at the teams in Salford's position after just three or four games. As for Nobles job being in danger, well Koukash didn't make his money by being stupid so I'm sure he has nothing to worry about ....yet.

2 seasons would be sensible. 4 seasons would be lunacy.