Mark Noble Retirement

Mark Noble has written an open letter to West Ham fans to say that the 2021/22 season will be his last as a player.

I haven't read it yet as the website appears to have crashed under the weight of fans trying to access it, but I get the feeling it'll be a bit of a tear-jerker.
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Comments

  • It keeps crashing for me too. Keeps coming up with something about Dupral.
  • edited March 2021
    Works fine on the app. If posting this is against the rules, please delete.
    Hello everyone,

    First of all, on behalf of the players and the staff here, I would like to send you our very best wishes and hope that you are all keeping safe and well at this time.

    I wanted to write this letter to personally tell you that I am delighted to have accepted the opportunity to extend my contract with the Club, until the summer of 2022.

    I have also decided, after much consideration, that the 2021/22 season will be my 18th and final one as a first-team player at West Ham United. It is a decision I have made following a lot of discussion with my family, my friends and people at the football club. I’ve also had conversations with the manager and it’s clear that he and the Club want to build something and continue to take the football club forward in a positive way – a way I fully believe in – while my desire to keep pushing the ethos and values of West Ham United, especially to our new signings and young players coming through our Academy, is as strong as ever.
    First and foremost, I still firmly believe I have a lot to offer on the pitch. I would not have signed a new contract if I didn’t feel I could do myself justice or bring value to the team.

    Fortunately, I have been generally lucky in avoiding any serious injuries throughout my career. I feel really fit and healthy but, most importantly, I still wake up every morning with that excitement in my stomach, eager to work hard alongside the players and keep pushing the changing room on.

    This past year has, without doubt, been the most unusual of my career. The COVID-19 pandemic has obviously had a huge impact on everyone’s lives and made us all appreciate what we have a lot more. Although there are definitely more important things in life than football, we have also seen how much it can help bring joy and happiness to people in difficult times. Coming back from lockdown and fighting to ensure our Premier League status was one of the hardest times of my career, but the players and staff from then until now have been second to none – the way we fought for each other brought us all even closer together, something which has helped drive us on this season.

    What makes it easier is the fact that we are all pulling in the same direction and want the same thing. In all my time at West Ham, the spirit among the squad and everyone at the Club is as good as it has ever been.

    I am so proud of how everyone at West Ham United has come together in the past 12 months. We’ve done some great work to help those in the community most at need, and we have also made fantastic progress on the pitch in that time. It has been tinged with sadness that you have not been there with us to enjoy so many great moments, but I know from speaking to friends and family that you have been enjoying watching us, and we really do feel that support.

    As I have said on a few occasions this year, I don’t focus so much on myself or my own situation nowadays. What gives me more satisfaction than anything is seeing the team do well. I have always put the football club before myself and I will continue to do so.

    Our motivation now is the desire for us to continue that next season. This year has already been a great one, whatever happens between now and the end of the campaign, but we want to build on that consistency and progress next year, when you are hopefully back alongside us to enjoy it.

    I, for one, have missed you so much. Walking out at London Stadium in front of 60,000 people, listening to Bubbles ringing out and the roar when it stops just before kick-off – there is nothing quite like it. It’s also another part of the reason I have signed the contract extension. The thought of finishing my career playing for West Ham in empty stadiums is something I can’t comprehend and the recent positive news means we hope to have you alongside us again before this season is out.

    Throughout my time here, I’m immensely proud to have captained the team these past five years, from an incredible last season at the Boleyn to the first one at London Stadium – that’s something I’ll always remember and is history for me and my family.

    A truly unforgettable testimonial and reaching 500 appearances for West Ham are two things in particular I would like to thank the Club for their magnificent support in celebrating, and what made those moments even more special was the love that came from you, our supporters.

    As you know, I am simply one of you, a fan who grew up just around the corner from Boleyn and used to stand on the forecourt asking for players’ shirts! I never imagined I would go on to play for this Club so many times and have the honour of wearing the captain’s armband for so long, but every single minute of it has been made special by the fact I am representing you.

    Next season is going to be very emotional for me, but right now is not the time for reflection or looking back on my career. I’ve made this announcement at this time so that I can now just get back to focusing with the players and staff on finishing this season as strongly as we possibly can.

    My final wish as a West Ham United player now is simply to experience the thrill and honour of stepping out in front of you again. We’ve had amazing highs and, of course, difficult times, but the one thing that has kept us united has been our love for West Ham.

    I don’t know what my future beyond that holds just yet. If there is one thing I have learned in football, is that you can’t look too far ahead, because things can always change very quickly.

    The extension will take me into my 18th season in the first-team at West Ham – I’ve not always been the easiest to live with, especially when results haven’t gone for us, and my wife Carly and my children, Honey and Lenny, have had to bear the brunt of that at times!

    Watching Lenny as an Academy player has enabled me to spend more time in recent years at Chadwell Heath, alongside the coaches and staff there who do such a fantastic job of developing our youngsters, both as players and, more importantly, as people. I’m looking forward to spending even more time at what I regard as one of the best Academies in the world and continuing my affiliation with a Club I hold so close to my heart.

    My connection with and love for West Ham United will be forever.

    Lots of love,

    Nobes
  • It works on the official app. I did get quite emotional reading it! Such a fantastic servant to the Club and a really nice guy too.
  • Mark NOBLE IS WEST HAM
  • Always gave 100% and should be lifted around the ground by the players on a lap of honour. It would be fantastic if he can end on another great season next year in front of a packed stadium
  • Even better if he could lift a cup or two
  • steve said:

    Even better if he could lift a cup or two

    The Champions League trophy will do. 😎✌️🏆
  • Geezer is a Hero!
  • Unless I read it wrong, he doesn't say he's retiring

    Meerly that next season is his last at West Ham

    But really happy, he's a bit part player right now but he means so much to this club and is the type of character we want around the club, even if he's not on the pitch
  • I hope he at some point is part of the coaching staff.
  • If I don’t love him, it’s a very serious case of like. I hope his career going forward is still with westham. He is not so much part of the furniture, more like the really comfortable chair in front of the tv by the radiator with a nice view of the garden. Perfection.
  • There's a nice interview on the club youtube channel

    <3
  • Never been the greatest fan of his football but never doubted for a moment his commitment, his work ethic and love for the club. I hope he gets offered a coaching job in one capacity or other and remains at West Ham.
  • Just reading an Athletic article about Conor Coventry, in which he says that Mark Noble spoke to him after his Peterborough loan spell to rebuild his confidence, and that he has always stayed after training to watch the academy kids train and chatted with them and stuff.

    I really, really hope he joins the coaching staff in the summer, because we will miss him a lot when he’s gone.
  • edited April 2022
    I think in an interview Moyes said that there may well a job at the club for Mark but that he ( Noble) may not want a coaching role.

    He might want to spend more time with his fishing gear.
  • Did I read or hear that he’s more interested in a technical role? Like Director or Football?
  • Does he not fancy playing down the league's somewhere else for a year or two? You're a long time retired and I think he'll miss it
  • yoyo said:

    Does he not fancy playing down the league's somewhere else for a year or two? You're a long time retired and I think he'll miss it

    As much as that may be true, after spending his whole career with us I just can't seeing him moving somewhere else.

    I strongly susect there will be a role at the club for him, next season if he wants it, or after a year or two break.
  • From an interview on vibe with FIVE YouTube channel, January this year

    "I will be 35 in May and I have always said I want to go out when it is my decision, I don't want to be told by an agent or a club 'you are done, your legs have gone.'"

    To me that says he's retiring from playing rather than simply leaving West Ham
  • From an interview on vibe with FIVE YouTube channel, January this year

    "I will be 35 in May and I have always said I want to go out when it is my decision, I don't want to be told by an agent or a club 'you are done, your legs have gone.'"

    To me that says he's retiring from playing rather than simply leaving West Ham

    Interesting. I've been wondering about this because the wording has tended to be about his last season at West Ham rather than outright saying he's retiring.

  • Noble spoke to the press before Moyes this afternoon
    My son's in the Academy, I know the staff from top to bottom, I know nearly all the Academy players by name, so my affiliation with this Club will always be strong. The gaffer's made it clear to me he wants me here, but I do owe it to my family and kids to go away in the summer and have a holiday, because they haven't seen me in the last 20 years!

    I'll take some well-earned rest, hopefully as a winner, and then see where we go from there."
    John Lyall started out coaching the kids then worked his way up
  • Top bloke.
  • If you cut him, claret would come out. Oh wait a sec....
  • I’m sure people have seen it already, but Noble did his best XI on the club site with James Collins.

    Lukasz Fabianski; Lucas Neil, Winston Reid, James Collins, Aaron Cresswell; Mark Noble (Collins made him have himself), Declan Rice, Scott Parker; Yossi Benayoun, Carlos Tevez, Dimitri Payet
  • Letter from Noble to the media
  • Whatever anyone thinks of him as a player I think its crystal clear he's a top man and a credit to himself and our club. I am assuming after a short break he will come back to West Ham and it'd be a crime if he doesn't have a permanent role for as long as he choses as he will only ever be a positive influence on everyone who plays and works for West Ham
  • alderz said:

    I’m sure people have seen it already, but Noble did his best XI on the club site with James Collins.

    Lukasz Fabianski; Lucas Neil, Winston Reid, James Collins, Aaron Cresswell; Mark Noble (Collins made him have himself), Declan Rice, Scott Parker; Yossi Benayoun, Carlos Tevez, Dimitri Payet

    More than a touch of quality running through that 11!
  • And still not much pace in the team. 😂
  • Lucas Neil is a funny one, he was a total leader and a massive character...but just didn't think he was any good...but other players talk highly of him

    Think it sums up our past RBs that he makes the team of the last 18 years
  • edited May 2022
    Well, it's not done on any scientific basis. Just Noble's opinion, and who knows what criteria he used. Could have included massiveness of character. Which is, I guess, one way of summing up the past.
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