Mark Noble kicks off his 13th season in the Premier League for West Ham this weekend and despite winning Hammer of the Year twice, he believes he will not fully appreciate his career with the Hammers until it is over.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, as cited on the club’s official website, Noble discussed his career and achievements with the Hammers as the new season gets underway.
I don’t think I will fully appreciate it until I have retired. When you are involved in the bubble of the Premier League and with West Ham United then the wins and the losses, the highs and the lows, take up all your brain space.
And then to play the most Premier League games for the club and have a Testimonial and do all the historic things, I don’t think that will get fully appreciated until I finish playing.
While Noble is living out his childhood fantasy, he sometimes needs reminding of what he has achieved.
If you look at it another way, my Dad will ring me after a game and if we’ve lost it’s the end of the world for me but he will say ‘I don’t think you realise – you are captain of West Ham. You grew up supporting the club’.
It’s one of the biggest clubs in the world. I mean that. I was walking along somewhere in the Maldives and there were West Ham fans there. It’s crazy – and to captain this club and to lead them from Upton Park – the last ever game there, what an atmosphere that was – and to lead them into the London Stadium. That’s history. That is never going to get taken away from me or us as a family.
There had been some concerns among West Ham fans as to where the player would fit into Manuel Pellegrini’s plans with the likes of Jack Wilshere and Carlos Sanchez joining the club this summer.
Noble started against Liverpool in the Hammers’ first game of the season, alongside former Arsenal midfielder Wilshere in a midfield two.
