Salford Reds owner: Noble has 48 hours

Brian Noble and Marwan Koukash Credit: PA Images

Salford owner Marwan Koukash has given Brian Noble 48 hours to accept his offer to become the Red Devils' director of football.

Noble has made way at the AJ Bell Stadium for the appointment of Iestyn Harris as head coach but has been offered an alternative role and has until 5pm on Friday to give his answer.

"I want to make it clear that Brian has not been sacked," Koukash told a news conference at the AJ Bell Stadium. "He's been moved from one part of the organisation to another.

"It's a genuine offer and it's up to Brian whether he wants to accept the job. If he doesn't - and I can't wait forever - there are other candidates I want to speak to. I will bring somebody else in to help us build a club."

Harris, the Wales head coach was left his job as Wigan assistant last Friday, began his job on Monday and has been given a contract to the end of 2016.

"I'm obviously really excited about the opportunity to be here at Salford," Harris said.

"There are some challenges ahead which I'm looking forward to. The players been really responsive to some of my philosophies and visions and they've and trained exceptionally hard."

Salford chief executive Martin Vickers told the press conference that the rest of the Red Devils coaching staff would remain unchanged and that an agreement has been reached with Sean Long for him to go full-time after initially rejoining them on a part-time consultancy basis.

Vickers also said that Australian Shane Flanagan was expected to arrive at the club next week to take up a three-month consultancy role and that Salford are hoping to create a partnership with Flanagan's NRL club Cronulla.

Meanwhile, Harris announced that he is to step down from his position as Wales head coach but insisted it was unconnected to his appointment at Salford.

The dual-code international has been in the job since 2009 but Wales lost all three matches at the 2013 World Cup.

"I won't be doing the Wales job," Harris said. "It was a decision I made very early in the year.

"There will be an announcement this week with the reasons why but that's not for today."