TalkSport pundit Simon Jordan has given his views on West Ham United captain Mark Noble following news that has emerged about his future.
Having come through the academy at the club and going on to make 540 appearances and counting for the Hammers, this will be the last season that Noble plays for his boyhood side, as he announced last year that this would be his final campaign.
What the future holds for him at this stage is as yet unconfirmed, but there have been claims circulating that the club are in talks to make him an executive at the club once his playing days are over.
The Daily Mail has claimed: “Dialogue between the club and their skipper, who is known to have a close relationship with the club’s hierarchy, is now underway with a hope that Noble can stay on in a leading football operations position ahead of next season.”
However, speaking on TalkSport, Jordan expressed his disbelief over the claims. He claimed that the link between the fans, Noble and the board at the club might not be all that it’s cracked up to be, referring to an incident back in 2020 when the skipper took to social media to express his disgust at the club’s transfer business.
He said: “I can’t concur with Trevor [Sinclair]’s view that he’s been helpful in a relationship between the owners and the fans, if that’s the kind of help that you want, then I don’t know what kind of help that you’re seeking.
“What he did was unfortunate last year about the departure of a player, Grady Diangana to West Bromwich Albion, had a lot to say about it, and he was wrong, because neither the player nor the club that he went to prospered, and West Ham did.
“So the decision that was made by the manager and the owners, much to the chagrin of the fans – because whatever Gold and Sullivan do that fans don’t like will bring them back into the territory of being vilified – I don’t think Mark Noble had any right.
“He was wrong about this particular player. And what he perhaps should have done, was keep his mouth shut and understand who pays his wages and who he works for.”
TIF Thoughts on Simon Jordan’s comments about Mark Noble and West Ham United…
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Given the anger and toxic atmosphere that there has been in the past between the owners and the fans, you would understand why appointing someone like Noble to the board might be a way to help keep things amicable, even if things have been looking better in recent years.
And whilst Jordan might not be too happy, having been the owner of a Premier League club himself, with the way that Noble conducted himself, as long as that incident isn’t something that will continuously dangle over the board and Noble if he does move upstairs at the club, then you can’t imagine that it will play too big a role in proceedings.
And as long as the club can continue to move forward as they have in recent years with Noble acting as a prominent figurehead for the board, it might well be that a lot of the animosity from the fans could start to ebb away at the London Stadium.
In other news: ‘Tells me that’ – TalkSport man drops worrying claim ‘West Ham fans don’t want to hear’