FROM a one-club hero to a one-of-a-kind sporting director.Mark Noble’s nickname of Mr West Ham was well earned over an 18-year stint at his beloved boyhood team, racking up 550 appearances in the process.
Mark Noble with newly appointed Academy manager Kenny BrownCredit: West Ham
Having hung up his weathered boots at the end of last season, the 35-year-old admitted to needing some R&R on a beach with a beer in his hand and his family by his side.
That lasted all of a few months, returning to east London with a dapper new title and suit to match in January, learning the boardroom ropes and attending European draws in Nyon.
Behind the scenes at West Ham’s infamous Chadwell Heath academy, however, is where he is having the biggest impact – and it involves napping on sofas and two-footing teenagers.
For the first time in 24 years, the Hammers have representation in the FA Youth Cup semi-finals – their U18s taking on Southampton at the London Stadium on Thursday.
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It was back in 1999 that the likes of Joe Cole and Michael Carrick lifted that youth trophy, going on to become a part of West Ham’s very own Golden Generation of academy products that also included Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Glenn Johnson and Jermain Defoe.
Since then, Declan Rice aside, there have been few opportunities for the fans to idolise one of their own for club and country, while the last academy grad to make his debut starting in a Premier League match was Jeremy Ngakia back in January 2020.
His role may be first team based, but Noble – who signed as a 12-year-old in 2000 – is working around the clock to ensure West Ham’s ‘Academy of Football’ tag to be reinstated.
Kevin Keen – club legend and now U18s manager – explained: “Noble is here two, three times a week. Of those, he’ll train with my group once a week.
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“He’ll train with the U16s. He’ll train with the U15s. He knows nearly all the kids in the academy.
“He pulls them to the side and gives them nuggets of info. That is priceless.
“When he trains, he trains properly. If there’s a tackle, there’s a tackle. It’s a proper training session.
“Then you’ll get an U10 walk in who wants to talk to his coach about Saturday’s game.
Kevin Keen has led the U18s to an historic FA Youth Cup semi-finalCredit: West Ham
Noble is desperate for West Ham’s academy to produce first team stars again
The aim is to make this wall of senior debutants in the Premier League
“Mark will go: ‘I saw that one!’ It’s a vibe that’s been created.
“That is something I would say is exclusive to West Ham. I don’t think you’ll have too many academies where you’ve got a bloke who played over 500 games for the first team and is now sporting director doing that.”
Kenny Brown – who played for West Ham between 1991 and 1996 – took over as Academy Manager in February.
He said: “Noble will play two hours of five-a-side, it is carnage, then he’ll come here, have a shower, half has a sleep on the settee.
“Only last week, he trained the whole of the session with the U16s, then moves over to his son Lenny’s group in the U13s.
“He’s got a lovely big office at the first-team training ground but he’s never in it. You’re thinking he should be in a suit or something, but he’s in a tracksuit more than he’s ever been.”
Noble was renowned for his sweeping and cleaning of changing rooms during his playing days, born from his upbringing at Upton Park.
It is now a tradition that academy products stepping up into the first team follow – and Noble still finds time to confirm it is maintained at all levels.
Brown added: “I went into the scholar dressing rooms as I was leaving once and they were both s**tholes.
“I rang Kevin to give him a heads up so he said he would nail them in the morning. He gets them in and then Noble walked in. All the scholars were rinsed by the sporting director.
“From that day, it has been immaculate. That is the power of his presence.”
Despite having to compete with the likes of London rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, there remains a unique expectation for West Ham to produce young top flight stars.
You only have to walk around their newly renovated £5m academy base in Romford to see that. Every inch of wall is donned with frames of success stories.
Chadwell Heath is full of odes to past glories and local heroes
Stars from past and present fill the hallways of the academy
The latest crop of U18 stars made their debuts in Europe this season
From Lampard and Cole to Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst, and most recently Noble and Rice – the latter still making time to visit the academy on a regular basis.
There is always space for more frames, with hopes some of the current U18s could fill it.
One enlarged photo shows a select few of that group who got their chance in a Europa Conference League group stage dead rubber away to Romanian side FCSB in November.
Since taking charge in his second stint in east London in 2019, boss David Moyes continues to do his part, handing out 16 senior debuts, nine of which have come in Europe.
Keen believes the U18s are the “best they’ve had for a while”. He added: “We haven’t got the all singing, all dancing training ground.
“You look at some of the facilities that some of our rivals in London have got and even outside of London. What we sell ourselves on being a real family club.
“That’s our big selling point, that’s why you come to West Ham. You look at the boards, you look at the people around the place, the people who have come through the academy.
“It’s not about flashy cars, being on the telly, tricks, having everything done for you – no, to get to that, is f***ing hard work.
“If you’re good enough, you’ll get a chance to play in the first team. It’s just how a proper football club is run, when you’ve got people at the top who want to do things properly.”
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Brown chimed in: “We haven’t built a £5m training ground to go and buy £160m worth of players every summer. We have to produce players.
“The Golden Generation was so special, but it was a long time ago.” More
