What a ridiculous thing to say. Of course there's no guarantees he will be a success however he looks like a great appointment for any side and I predict he will deliver some silverware.

Would you have been happy with him at Saints after Anderson left?

Never mind that. We're still waiting to hear who all the other candidates were who the job was offered to first. And don't say Kearney again; we know about him.

It wasn't me who talked about other coaches being in line, that was BW

ok - other - one definitely confirmed.However it was rumoured Morgan , Lam etc. Some people on here get so worked up . You have just got rid of a former international coach who has taken you to five semi finals and lets be honest with a pretty average playing rota. All these people on here raving about Maguire. Do they have the inside knowledge from Melbourne Storm on him...Have they watched all the Melbourne games this year... have they heard it off the Melbourne team that he is such a special coach. Lets be honest the answer is no. People on here are hyping this fella up with no evidence at all.
If he was so good he would have been offered a job in the NRL. He may prove to be a very good caoch but I dont think he will be striking fear in to the rest of the league.
WithNOble a little extra quality added to the squad and you could have done something. I think this appointment will put you back several years again.Good luck but dont expect to see you anywhere near any finals next year.

Devastating news. Absolutely devastating.

I could just about handle the fact that the ENTIRE playing squad is younger than me, but not the coach. Oh god no, not the coach.

Not being disrespectful to the guy but he does look older than 35.

35, I thought he was 32?

All I'm going on is the fact that it says 35 on the official site.

Probably right then. Cool. I'm a spring chicken. Yay!

Good piece on the Guardian website with some different quotes and more detail on how it came about.

Lenegan would have extended Noble's contract had we won the Challenge cup.

[urlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/oct/07/michael-maguire-wigan-warriors-league[/url

We know why (or should I say have our opinions why)he has gone and part of the problem was the "pretty average rota" ought to have performed better than it did which Noble carried the can for.

We don't need to go over all the reasons Noble was let go, you can read them all in various threads on here but the majority of us think they were valid reasons and that his time was up.



Who the new coach was going to be was a different issue. Now he has been appointed we can look at his CV and speculate what sort of impact he will have here. It's all part of the fun of being a fan.



He was I believe being chased by Brisbane. As to the add a bit more quality to the side and Noble would be OK idea I find this comment very ironic coming from a Wire fan. Wire were adding better players to the side such as Morely and King before Smith arrived but needed a new coach to realise these players potential.

It's the same here. We need a new coach to get the best out of what we have got. If assuming he does that we still don't win a trophy in 2010 I am sure by getting the best out of the team we will have had a more enjoyable season.

No one is as naive to think success is guaranteed but I don't think the optimism is as baseless as your post implies.

Dave

Ok so there's no confirmation that we offered it to anyone other than Kearney and even that wasn't confirmed as a firm offer.

A playing rota that he signed.


I've seen enough of Melbourne storm in the last 4 years to know they're one of the best teams in the world as I'm sure you have.

He was rumoured to have been offered the Brisbane job last year but wanted to see his contract out at Melbourne.


He had 3 years to build his team. As I said above, all the players in the squad were players the he signed or re-signed.

Thanks for your concern but we'll be fine.

with regards to Kearney does it not occur to anyone else that IFL might have been going for both him and Maguire as joint coaches but Kearney decided he'd stay put as he wanted the NZ job?

I also thin Kearney used the approach to restate his claim to the NZ role.

My view is this has been sewn up since the whole Kearney thing came out but people have just been keeping quiet.

From the Guadian article you linked to:

Lenagan admitted that the visa issues have caused him some sleepless nights over the last few months, revealing that if Wigan had won the Challenge Cup in August, he [size=150may[/size have extended Noble's contract by another year.

A close call none the less.



Interesting the article also says his fate was sealed by the CC loss regardless of what happened in the playoffs. Ties in with the opinion of many on here that had we won the GF Noble should still have been let go.

Dave

Love the posts from Billinge Wires, very pleased to see that IL's recruitment of a very highly rated Australian coach has got fans of other clubs worried.

They should be. The current side was already pretty much a match for Saints and Leeds on its day despite the obvious areas for improvement in fitness and preparation.

When you add into the mix the excellent young players we already have in the 1st team and the quality in the reserves - a golden generation of playing talent for Maguire and Wane to bring through - the future is looking bright for Wigan.

I would imagine that the "feel-good factor" of Maguire's appointment will help bolster season ticket sales. We should see bumper crowds next season.

I don't know about glass half-full, its looking pretty full to me...

Can't wait for next season....

Congratulations on being the first troll to take this piece of news badly.

Sky Sports: IL, what do you see in Mcguire that makes you think he will be a success?

IL: Well hes available whereas our number one target kearney wasnt.

LOL

Wtg Pollard, im sure Mcguire can feel the love after that little beauty

Shouldn't you be lurking round on your board and debating whether Harry Potter should be hung drawn quartered or publicly flogged?

Ah, forgot you don't spend much actual time there.

p.s. This is not a generic dig at saints, only this particular 'fan' of yours.

Millward, Raper, McRae, Elliot, Tony Smith

All of these coaches came to these shores as relative unknowns from the reserve / assistant coaches grade in Aus and all have a familiar silver theme running through them.

MM has a good repuation and Melbourne certainly have the right pedigree.

But Storm do have a lengendary Head Coach, the current Kiwi world cup winning coach & a quarter of the Australian team in their current squad including two of the best & most exciting players in the world - they should be quite easy to coach.

He deserves to be given time by everyone involved and the chance to sign the players he wants. 2011 will be when he can be judged, if tansfer rumours are true 2010 to a large extent he is working with what he has been left with so any drastic improvement is a bonus and a feather in his cap.

While i do think some on here are going way OTT about a coach that has yet to have a full time head coaches job, it certainly looks a very positive step for Wigan.

Thanks mate, it's good to see that true fans of the game can see the positives of this move

Every coach has to start off somewhere, every successful club has to take risks to get them to the top, Maguire and Wane are the perfect combination of passion and brains to get us to the top, cant wait too see how we develop as a team under them.

Anyone know whos the new reserves coach?

I don't know but personally I hope Lam or Radlinski!

Gonna be a klass signing for us. He's learnt from the very best in NRL Champs coach Bellyache and WC winning coach Ste Kearney.

Would like to see Radlinski get the job.