So you think Wakefield's squad was better than ours last season?

Depends how you look at it. I agree with the four semi-finals but three 3rd place finishes? Sounds better than it actually was. However, I do wish him well at Crusaders. Just glad he's gone.

No I am not "a typical example of our fans being used to the best in the late 80s and early 90s and expecting similar things now."



I am simply someone who recognised that what Noble's sides were serving up was not good enough with respect to the competition it has been playing in over the last three years. My opinion on Noble's tenure has got nothing to do with how the side played in the past.



Anyone could see how poor the team played at times in absolute terms not benchmarked against any past Wigan team.







Quality performances were few and far between and to say we were inconsistent is an understatement. Winning one week and not just losing the next but getting beaten by obviously poor sides was as frustrating at it was inexplicable. Losing is not a problem if the effort in there but the manner of far too many losses was not acceptable.



As to no one doing much better with this team we will soon see what it is capable of under different coaches because it is virtually unchanged for 2010.



Noble had three years to get a team together and playing as he wanted and yet for three years we put in three similar standard seasons that were sub-standard.



And for the record I don't expect miracles from the side just because we have a new coach for the very reason it is virtually the same side as 2009 but I do expect some improvement because I believe Maguire will address several issues Noble never got to grips with.



I can not see why anyone considers the 2007 to 2009 seasons as reasons to give Noble a warm welcome.



Dave

Crusaders are an absolute shambles at the moment, even if they do get a load of good players on board in the next couple of weeks they are going to struggle early on in the year. Shame on the RFL for allowing them to continue when there are clubs with a decent set-up waiting for a place.

Maybe its more to do with the way he conducted himself, the passion and pride he always represented the Wigan club with, the fact that he (along with IL) restored alot of integrity to the club ater DW/Millward, the work he did at all levels of the club with regards the setup than something purely based on results.



But stick to your agenda Dave, you normally do.

He left the club in a much better state than when he took over. That is worth a warm welcome if nothing else!

I can see both points of view though id mibbe side with the view that during 07,08 and 09 the league form was 2nd classs and we were , as said before treated to quite a lot of pathetic performances from a group of players punching below their weight. Il certainly give him a round of applause but not for the tripe he served us in 60% of games he managed us..



What i will say is that the ends to the three aforementioned seasons were outstanding and i wont forget those dramatic playoff match wins at Bradford, Hull, Perpignan and Hull KR

Could not agree more, Nobby should be given a good rousing reception IMO. He did indeed save us from the brink under Agent Millward and I think it is churlish to have a pop now that he has gone. I think we need to keep everything in perspective here. The regime under MM appears to be developing well, but we have yet to put "boot to ball" so lets see how it goes. I hope that MM is everything that we have been led to believe he is in terms of getting the best out of the players but lets see the first 6 games or so and then start to analyse both the regime and the players.

He tried his best, and he was committed to the cause. He just didn't seem to have the scope to evolve his coaching methods. He stuck with what worked at Bradford, and we didn't have the size or quality to do it. He tried it with GB and it failed there too.



Good luck to the guy, I bare no ill will towards him.

On the subject of former coaches, who would you give a standing ovation to if they were announced prior to a Wigan game.



For me it would be Graham Lowe, John Monie (Both for obvious reasons), Graeme West, Frank Endacott. After that I'm struggling.

I could not agree more and part of that is saving us from relegation needs to be kept in perspective as well. He could not live off that forever and it was no excuse for the performance over the next three years IMO.







I agree. There are no guarantees that MM will be a success but the number of posts on this board that go on about the change in attitude in the camp, the new approach to training we hear about and so on highlight that people think there has been a revolution in the off season which unfortunately for Noble highlights his weaknesses.



Dave

Given the problem he has building a squad should we lend him a few players?



If so who?