Mark Noble’s top five moments for West Ham United

After months of speculation and hints from the man himself, Mark Noble has announced that the 2021/22 Premier League season will be his last as a West Ham player.

Noble has decided to hang up his boots at the end of next season after signing a contract extension that will take him up until the end of next season. Our captain has given us 18 years worth of undying loyalty, leadership and passion on the pitch, in which he has amounted 520 appearances and 60 goals in all competitions so far according to transfermarkt.

He will be always regarded as a club legend at West Ham.

"“My connection and love for West Ham United will be forever.” – Mark Noble"

During Noble’s West Ham career there have been many highpoints such as the Playoff final and the final season at Upton Park. There have also been low points, including relegation in 2011 and being robbed of his first England cap by Roy Hodgson in 2015. Roy you have blood on your hands!

But today we will be focusing on just some of the many positive moments in Noble’s West Ham career.

In no particular order, here are my top five Mark Noble moments:

First West Ham goal

We may as well start at the beginning, with Mark Noble’s first goal for West Ham. Noble made it onto the West Ham scoresheet for the first time in 2007, in a 3rd round FA cup tie against then League one Brighton and Hove Albion side. The Hammers were in dire need of a confidence boost, having lost six of their last eight league games.

Noble opened the scoring and his West Ham account with a well taken volley set up by Carlos Tevez in what was the first goal of a 3-0 win against the Seagulls. The young Argentine headed the ball down to Noble who struck his first-time volley into the bottom right corner to give West Ham a 1-0 lead in the second half.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the start of another cup run for the Hammers as they were then knocked out by Watford in the 4th round after losing 1-0 at Upton Park, meaning there would be no repeats of the previous year’s journey to Wembley. Noble had played no part in the previous year’s cup run as he was out on loan at Hull City and Ipswich Town respectively.

The FA cup may not have been of much use to us that year but it served the purpose of giving our future captain his first goal for the club. The pure delight and passion on a young Noble’s face when he ran off to the corner flag celebrating, was an indication of the many years of passion and joy he would bring to the West Ham fans.

Goal against Spurs

The second goal on this list is Noble’s terrific volley against Tottenham Hotspur in a dramatic 4-3 loss, just two months after his first goal against Brighton. The Hammers were winless in their last 11 Premier League games and were in desperate need of a positive result to help them get out of the drop zone.

The then 19-year-old opened the scoring with a first-time volley from the edge of the box which rocketed past Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson into the bottom left corner. Funnily enough, it was Tevez who again controlled the ball perfectly for Noble to smash his shot beyond the keeper.

Despite the great start to the game with West Ham carrying a 2-0 lead at one point, Hammers hearts were broken late on when Paul Stalteri tapped in a rebound in the dying seconds of the game to make it 4-3 and to give Tottenham all three points. The result condemned Noble and West Ham to a fifth successive league loss in a row.

This goal has made it onto the list because for one, it was a cracking goal and two despite losing, it was an important game that sparked West Ham’s great escape. The Hammers then went on to win seven of their last nine Premier League games including a great 1-0 away win at Manchester United, to escape what looked like almost certain relegation.

Plus, what sort of West Ham fan doesn’t love a goal against Spurs? I’m sure Noble enjoyed it as much as we did.

Carrying Ander Herrera off the pitch

This is a moment that West Ham fans will always remember and love Noble for. It was a 6th round FA cup replay against Manchester United in 2016 and the Hammers had found themselves 2-0 down, with just 14 minutes left to play.

In the 76th minute, Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera had sat down with an injury and was refusing to get up, in an apparent attempt to run the clock down. Noble then did what many fans have always wanted to do when an opposition player is timewasting and just picked Herrera up and carried the Spaniard off the pitch so play could resume quickly.

This was met by thunderous applause from the West Ham faithful and just confirmed what most already knew. That he was truly one of us. In fact, Noble’s eagerness to resume play got West Ham back into the game as James Tomkins then headed home from a corner just minutes later to make it 1-2. West Ham were inches away from levelling the scores in the final couple of minutes when Cheikhou Kouyate’s header beat David De Gea but it was cruelly ruled narrowly offside, ending our FA cup dream.

Despite the result, it is a moment that West Ham fans loved and it just enhanced the fact that Noble is like what many of us dreamed of becoming; just a West Ham lad playing for his boyhood team. If our skipper didn’t already have legend status before this game, he certainly did afterwards.

The goal against Leicester City 

The last and hands-down best goal on this list is the 33-year-olds wonder strike against Leicester City back in 2018. This is a goal that Noble and West Ham fans will remember for a long time, not just because of the goal itself but also because of the significance behind it.

The Hammers had been battling relegation for most of the year in our second season at the London Stadium. Slaven Bilic had been sacked and David Moyes had been appointed for his first spell in charge of the club.

Despite picking up some form under the management of the Scotsman, West Ham were still dangerously close to the drop zone and survival in the League came down to the penultimate day of the season. The Hammers shocked many and came out 2-0 winners at the King Power Stadium and it was Noble’s goal that consolidated the victory and confirmed their league safety.

The goal came in the 64th minute following a freekick which was cleared by the Foxes; however, the clearance fell perfectly to Noble outside the box who fired his first time, driven volley into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out. It was, to put it bluntly, a worldie.

The only reason it didn’t win West Ham’s goal of the season award was that it, unfortunately, came in the same season that Pedro Obiang scored a thunderous effort against Spurs from around 35 yards out, which rocketed into the top left corner. So understandably, it came in second place but not by much.

Testimonial

The last moment on this list and arguably the most special, was Noble’s testimonial at Upton Park in 2016. Only a few players have had testimonials at West Ham and Noble joined that elite list which included names of West Ham legends such as Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking and Billy Bonds.

It was a fantastic day for Noble and his family, as well as West Ham fans as they got to see some former Hammers stars return for the game of West Ham XI vs West Ham all-stars. The likes of Dean Ashton, Paulo Di Canio, Rio Ferdinand and Trevor Sinclair were just some of the names playing in a sensational all-star team.

It was a very entertaining game to watch and it had some great moments ranging from Di Canio scoring return, Adrian running the length of the field to score, Ashton’s spectacular bicycle kick and Taylor Tombides scoring the last goal of the game in memory of his late brother and academy product Dylan Tombides.

Thankfully the West Ham XI side came out eventual 6-5 winners as it would have been a little bit embarrassing if the current side had lost to a team filled mainly with retired ex-players.

The day wouldn’t have been complete however if Mr. West Ham hadn’t gotten himself on the scoresheet and he did so in the 25th minute to level the game with a clever outside of the boot effort. It was a great day and it was a fitting tribute to one of West Ham’s greatest and loyalist servants.

It will be a sad day when Nobles final game in Claret and Blue comes around, not only for West Ham but for football in general. They just don’t make them like Noble anymore and it will be a long time before we see another one-club player in world football.

There have been calls from some West Ham fans to retire Nobles famous number 16 shirt out of respect for our captain but it remains to be seen whether or not this will officially happen.

There were rumours that Noble was set to retire at the end of this season but it is clear to see from the Englishman’s recent comments on why he has decided to extend his deal for an extra year.

"“My final ambition as a West Ham player now is simply to experience the thrill and the honour of stepping out in front of you again.” – Mark Noble"

It is quite clear that Noble is waiting to retire in front of the fans and that is completely understandable. If any player deserves to have the full 62,000 fans on their final game, its Mark Noble.