In 2006, Brian Noble received Bradford’s highest honour when he became a freeman of the city.

The award was bestowed in recognition of his distinguished career in rugby league, both as a player and later as Bulls coach, and his close association with the city.

Noble made his debut for Bradford Northern in 1978, played more than 400 games in almost 15 years for the club and went on to enjoy a hugely successful coaching career with his home-town team.

That tumultuous chapter in his life closed when he left to join Wigan in 2006.

After a stint at Crusaders and then a lengthy sabbatical from the game, the 52-year-old was recently appointed as Salford boss.

“When you cut me in half, I probably bleed red, amber and black,” said Noble, who was born at St Luke’s Hospital and lived in Manningham.

“I played over 400 games and coached nearly 250 games for Bradford. But as a professional, my heart and soul is now with Salford.

“It was the same when I was with Wigan and Crusaders because you have to commit fully to everything.

“When I’m at looking at results, I do look out for Bradford. But if they’re playing Salford? You’re damn right I want Salford to win – every day of the week.”

Noble’s success in guiding the Bulls to five successive Grand Finals, winning three of them, has been well documented.

It was a golden era in the club’s history and his return has been mooted more than once in recent times.

He offered his services on a voluntary basis when Mick Potter was made redundant last year.

But it did not materialise and Noble said: “I’m where I am and the Bulls are where they’re at.

“I’m a big fan of all the coaches, all the clubs and all the fans because we have a wonderful product. It’s important we keep promoting that.

“I don’t think along those lines of what might have been. I’m very happy at Salford but I’ll hopefully bump into a few familiar faces tomorrow night.”

The man universally known as ‘Nobby’ was handed an 18-month contract by the City Reds’ multi-millionaire owner Marwan Koukash on April 15.

Koukash, who rescued the club from the brink of administration when he completed his takeover at the end of January, has pledged to utilise the full £1.8million salary cap in 2014 and even led calls for it to be increased.

But there will be no quick fix for a club who lie bottom of the Super League table and were thrashed by Warrington in the Tetley’s Challenge Cup last weekend.

“Tomorrow’s game is probably bigger for Bradford than ourselves,” said Noble.

“I understand Bradford’s recent form hasn’t been the best but they have shown glimpses of how good they can be all year. They will be wanting to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

“Nick Scruton is back playing regularly and going really well. If you leave Luke Gale and Jarrod Sammut alone they will break the game open and I’m a big fan of their back-rowers too.

“Bradford have got all the credentials and will be disappointed with what they’ve dished up in the last few weeks. They will see Salford as an opportunity to put that right.”

Noble’s overriding aim this season is to avoid the wooden spoon and lay the foundations for next year.

He said: “I think our job at the moment is a little bit bigger than Bradford’s. Bradford went through their adversity last year and had all their distractions.

“It’s happened to Salford this year and it’s no different. But we’ve just got to get everybody together and get them pointing in the right direction.

“I wouldn’t have thought there would be any big names coming in this season. There are reasons for that: which big names can you get and not many people want to release them before the end of the year.

“I need to get some stability in the joint and try and get the team playing in a manner which gives them the best chance to win.

“That’s all you can do – introduce some principles and procedures that will probably stand us in good stead for next year as well. The bi-product of that is a couple of wins.”