3/10. Must try harder.

Try and be factual.Noble was in charge for 12 months - his replacement for 2 months.

His replacement hasn't had the opportunity to succeed like Noble - [url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/gleeson-salford-red-devils-primed-6374190New Facilities and confident players[/url
Pre-season meetings with suppporters who were told that if they were not successful it would be down to the players.
[url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/brian-noble-discusses-salford-red-6470823Team spirit - physical preparation-mental toughness - team cohesion[/url

Then I see the Wigan signings - Jordan James - from the wooden spoonists.Sarginson from London and Bateman from Bradford all with new body shapes suggesting Mark Bitcon didn't just work his magic on Piggy Riddell and Feka but those named,and the Academy players,suggest Salford are light years behind in matters not within the skill-set of a head coach.

Hardly the fault of Iestyn Harris.Nor the fact that the squad available to him was injury-depleted and appeared so languid.

If Harris can work with Moss,Roberts and Rod Findlay he can work with anyone.His apprenticeship is complete.

He just need a little more time at the biggest most challenging job in his career.

Go talk to Youngquest and Bryant.Were they ever on a winning side against Wigan?

Fair comment. I did notice when Harris was at Wigan, in the televised games when the camera panned to the coaches Harris was always well apart from Wane and they didn't appear to talk much.

I consider the two signings for next season to be absolutely the quality of signing the club needs. They each address the very specific problem of our devastating lack of pace. However, their signings have no bearing on the policy of looking anywhere bar Salford, because, frankly, there aren't too many young players out there, not compared to Wigan, Leeds and Hull anyway. And the reason for that is surely that neither of the city's two professional rugby teams have been attractive propositions in the past 30+ years. To get kids interested in the sport, you need to give them an attractive, successful team to support. Both Salford and Swinton have manifestly failed to do that. The only way to get us out of this situation is to buy a successful team and, hopefully, in years to come we'll be able to have a team full of Salfordians playing at the highest level.

As for the signing of old players, this, again, is manifestly untrue. Some weeks ago, I put a list up on the VT of all Brian Noble's signings together with their ages (I'll leave you to search for it). It was in response to someone who, like you, thought he'd signed a load of pensioners. The person in question didn't get back to me on that one, because, in truth, most of his signings were young. The problem is that too many of them - regardless of age - were no better than the players they were replacing. Elsewhere on this forum, someone posted a list of some of the players he released: Broughton, Godwin, Jewitt, Sneyd, Owen (albeit the last two on loan)... are the players we replaced them with better than these? I'd argue not. (By the way, I think Tony Puletua has been one of the more successful signings.) I think that's where the problem lies. With the signings made for 2015, I'm now more hopeful that we're heading in the right direction.

Changing coach mid season was not ideal, and was handled badly, but I'm not convinced Nobby was the right man for the job in the first place. Maybe the choice of replacement was knee-jerk, but the releasing of Nobby was, I fear, the right thing to do, Just at the wrong time.

I would agree there RJ - his future has to be where Harris put him last night as well - at Prop. Blimey dare I mention `improvement`? Cue the new #1 Noblephile Mr Talent Spotter - drum roll - entrance stage left -

Bizarrely, I have made my views known on our apparent improvement on the thread titled 'improvement.'

Who me or[u coolcash [/u?

He clearly has more money than sense, otherwise why pay well over the odds for a coach who has done nothing since the highly successful days at Bradford, and then get rid at the first sign of things not going to plan, and then in desperation turn to a coach who hardly set the rugby world alight at Crusaders.

Deary me. They're out in force today.

Most people at Wigan recognise that he did a good job it just needed Maguire to take us to the next level. He also got Crusaders into the playoffs, no mean feat.

It's simply not true to say he has done nothing. Brian Noble knows more about Rugby League than all of us on here put together. Let's give him due respect.

If he'd stayed you'd have got into the playoffs this season then top 4 next. MK is just a little too impatient, like many self made men. His prerogative though.

He was so good that when Lenagan went to Wigan,part way through the season from London Harlequins,one of his first decisions was NOT to grant him a further contract.
So enamoured was he,with Noble,that when [url=http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jun/22/wigan-brian-noble-stephen-kearneyKearney let slip[/url Lenagan had to go all the way to Australia to find an assistant who could take the head coach role and took Maguire.

Strange,but I just cannot recall any of those rugby league experts spouting off and suggesting Lenagan should have given Noble more time.

I'm not sure what you're talking about with the majority of this post, but Harris has absolutely no pedigree or track record as a head coach. He took Crusaders from a top 8 team to bottom of the league within one year (external factors there I know but Noble had assembled the top 8 team in similar circumstances the previous year), and his time as coach of Wales ended with 3 losses from 3 at the World Cup despite the draw being clearly manipulated to give Wales the easiest possible fixtures. He's also arrogant, is known to play favorites and has poor man-management skills - while at Crusaders he actively drove players like Jamie Murphy away from the sport.

Noble was in charge of the new Salford team for a couple of months, he'd struggled with injuries and had some poor results but was in a decent enough position at that stage of the season all things considered. Since Harris has taken over, apart from a scrappy win against Bradford in the first week AFAIK the club is yet to win a game. I don't know how you can argue that the decision to sack Noble in favor of Harris was anything other than idiocy from Koukash, who up to that point had mostly done the right things.

Why this witch hunt against Harris? Shocking. He's had only a Castleford handful of games with a big injury list. Lets look again at the end of the season when he has proved one way or other what he can achieve.

As for his past - first at the Cru - Moss & Roberts were not paying the players - RL players don`t go for that one iota.

As for your comment on Nobby. Did you watch his style of RL? Dinosaur tactics. This is an Entertainment based business. MK knows that and he quickly realised the errors of his appointment. Nobby`s £1.8 mill spend of the Warchest has been appalling but now Harris has to pick up the pieces and somehow plait them into a winning side. Good luck to him.

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Quote ="Red-Devils-PAW"He was so good that when Lenagan went to Wigan,part way through the season from London Harlequins,one of his first decisions was NOT to grant him a further contract. So enamoured was he,with Noble,that when [url=http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jun/22/wigan-brian-noble-stephen-kearneyKearney let slip[/url Lenagan had to go all the way to Australia to find an assistant who could take the head coach role and took Maguire. Strange,but I just cannot recall any of those rugby league experts spouting off and suggesting Lenagan should have given Noble more time.'" Lenagan extended Noble's contract in 2008 - www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news Thankfully he saw sense the next season and didn't take up the 2010 option.

Quote ="Red-Devils-PAW"He was so good that when Lenagan went to Wigan,part way through the season from London Harlequins,one of his first decisions was NOT to grant him a further contract. So enamoured was he,with Noble,that when [url=http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jun/22/wigan-brian-noble-stephen-kearneyKearney let slip[/url Lenagan had to go all the way to Australia to find an assistant who could take the head coach role and took Maguire. Strange,but I just cannot recall any of those rugby league experts spouting off and suggesting Lenagan should have given Noble more time.'" Lenagan extended Noble's contract in 2008 - www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news Thankfully he saw sense the next season and didn't take up the 2010 option.

Quote ="Wigan28/Leeds18 Andy"Lenagan extended Noble's contract in 2008 - www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news Thankfully he saw sense the next season and didn't take up the 2010 option.'" Thanks for that,Andy. Seems Ian Lenagan arranged the previous October to take charge from the December and while he hed things to sort out kept Noble as head coach,as he was already in place [url=http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/oct/24/rugbyleague.harlequinsrlStory[/url Interestingly,having got his feet under the table he then gave it a lengthy timeframe for the club to get itself sorted out [url=http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jan/15/wigan-warriors-ian-lenagan-super-league3 Years From The Year He Decided To Replace Noble[/url The assistant who he made head coach,Maguire,may have speeded up the process.

Quote ="Wigan28/Leeds18 Andy"Lenagan extended Noble's contract in 2008 - www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news Thankfully he saw sense the next season and didn't take up the 2010 option.'" Thanks for that,Andy. Seems Ian Lenagan arranged the previous October to take charge from the December and while he hed things to sort out kept Noble as head coach,as he was already in place [url=http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/oct/24/rugbyleague.harlequinsrlStory[/url Interestingly,having got his feet under the table he then gave it a lengthy timeframe for the club to get itself sorted out [url=http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jan/15/wigan-warriors-ian-lenagan-super-league3 Years From The Year He Decided To Replace Noble[/url The assistant who he made head coach,Maguire,may have speeded up the process.

I'm surprised Salford went with Harris to be honest.

You'd think the Dr. would have gone for a good, proven Aussie coach rather than an unproven SL assistant.

As for Noble - awful rugby, but it gets results. It definitely has a ceiling though (knocked out early in the playoffs), unless you happen to have the Bradford team of 10 years ago.

I see Harris as someone who was available to come in straight away. A decent Aussie would have had to wait for Visas, and most other decent Coaches are already tied-up with Clubs that have already started the season. Rather than have more disruption, my thoughts are that he went for the best available at the time.

If Noble had gone at the end of the season (Which was when his contract was up anyway) I'm pretty certain that Harris wouldn't have been the first choice.

I agree,Butcher,but the decision for change without disruption would surely have been his original plan.
Noble stays in place but with Harris as assistant,rather than the botched Director of Rugby sop

I'd like to think that there's probably more to the story than we're privvy to. I'm sure that MK was stuck between a rock and a hard place and he tried to make a decision that would soften the blow for all parties. The decision was plainly not on performance/results but due to 'other' reasons.

It's certainly a factor in our run of defeats as more disruption was forthcoming.

Do you mean a proven Aussie coach in Australia or one already in this country? A new appointment would mean a new set of assistants.

Iestyn Harris came to the club for an interview to be yet another assistant to Brian Noble.He obviously didn't have enough with his first choice(s) of Andy Hay,Stu Donlan and later,Sean Long.
That wasn't sufficient for him.Noble also brought in the new strength and conditioning team.

Iestyn Harris was appointed head coach and has not brought anyone 'new' in to assist.
Sean Long is still here so the disruption has been kept to a minimum.

Very good point RDP - Too many Cooks weren`t there?

When is Shane Flanagan coming over?

Correct. Which makes the whole saga even more baffling.

Not really.

Harris has found himself the default Coach through a happy chance of circumstance and good timing. It's up to him to prove he is worth it or MK may change his mind come the off-season, when a better quality coach can be tempted away from wherever they ply their trade.

I believe some bloke by the name of Wayne Bennett is regarded as a bit of a good coach.
He has been at Newcastle Knights far longer than Iestyn Harris has been at Salford and he has had the backing,until a day or two ago,of a multi-billionaire,or certainly a rich guy,and glancing at the NRL ladder I see that Newcastle Knights are 2nd bottom of the NRL ladder.

The coach won won the thing last year was Trent Robinson - who didn't win anything at Catalan Dragons (ESL) and was an assistant for a good few years before that.

Watching the side held together as best he could,without money and having Matty Smith taken from him,makes me think that the brother-in-law of Wayne Bennett did just as good a job as Noble;if not better - and he is struggling for victories at the moment,in The Championship,even with dual-reg with Wigan.

I take it the physical testing - and subsequent improving - in the pre-season was overlooked?

If so,it ain't the fault of Iestyn Harris.

If there is a coach out there with a magic wand who knows the magic words then let us all know...

There's a Salford lad who's doing a decent job of building a side not far from here. Denis Betts. Don't know whether he would have left Widnes but would've liked to have seen him in charge with Moz as his assistant.