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Coaching, football executive or academy role: What the future could hold for Mark Noble at West Ham
LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 09: West Ham United's Mark Noble during the UEFA Europa League group H match between West Ham United and Dinamo Zagreb at Olympic Stadium on December 9, 2021 in London, United Kingdom.
There are 73 days and counting until Mark Noble plays his last competitive game for West Ham United.
Brighton & Hove Albion will be West Ham’s hosts on May 22, and supporters will be aware the countdown is fast approaching.
There will be those who attended Noble’s first-team debut against Southend United in 2004, or who witnessed his first goal, also against Brighton in 2007, the moment he was appointed captain in 2015 and the impressive milestone of 500 club appearances he reached against Watford in 2020. But in three months’ time, his impressive playing career comes to an end.
So as he prepares to hang up his boots, what’s next for Noble?
There are a number of options available. Following reports the 34-year-old midfielder is in talks with the club over a football executive role, it is possible he could also be open to the possibility of joining David Moyes’ first-team backroom staff or becoming an academy coach.
First-team coaching
Having made 540 appearances in all competitions for West Ham, Noble has the knowledge and experience to adjust well to a coaching role. He has hinted previously it is unlikely he will pursue a career in management.
West Ham have a number of former players in coaching roles at the club: Carlton Cole (under-15s coach), Jimmy Walker (under-18s goalkeeping consultant), Paul Konchesky (assistant manager for the women’s team), Kevin Keen (under-18s lead coach), Stuart Pearce (first-team coach), Zavon Hines (under-14s coach), Steve Potts (under-23s assistant coach), Mark Robson (under-23s manager) and Kevin Nolan (first-team coach).
Although Noble has featured sporadically under Moyes this season, we have seen the influence he has had on Declan Rice, who is thriving as the club’s on-field leader. Ben Johnson has also benefited from learning under the midfielder.
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Mark Noble and Declan Rice celebrate together (Photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
“When I got my opportunity, for him seeing me do well – he’s a bit like a proud dad,” said Johnson. “He’s helped me so much.”
In an interview with Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, Noble offered insight on how he tries to lead by example.
“If I’m the captain of the club and setting the standards high for everything, then how can a player turn round say, ‘I’m not doing that’. If I’m not playing on a Saturday and the boys are running on a pitch after, I’m not going to go, ‘I’m not doing that’. If I’m out running after a game, then so should they be. That’s how I’ve always tried to lead by example.”
Moyes’ coaching team consists of Nolan, Pearce, Paul Nevin, Alan Irvine, Billy McKinlay and Xavi Valero.
Slaven Bilic, who managed West Ham from 2015-17, could see Noble adapting well to a coaching role.
“I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t stay in football, and it would be a shame for West Ham,” Bilic tells The Athletic. “It’s his club, and whether it’s as a coach, manager or an executive, he has the qualities. He was a leader in the dressing room and also very helpful to new players, like Manuel Lanzini, Dimitri Payet and Cheikhou Kouyate. As a coach, he would be able to lead a group of players.
“Me and Mark spoke openly about coaching sessions. It was important for me to hear how the players felt, so Mark would let me know if the atmosphere was good, or if the training sessions were too hard. But he was always very balanced. Some stuff stays in the dressing room and Mark never crossed the line, which is important.”
Football executive
If West Ham were to appoint Noble as football executive, he would join a list of former players who hold similar positions. League Two side Tranmere Rovers recently appointed James Vaughan as sporting director while Juan Roman Riquelme is the vice-president of Argentinian club Boca Juniors. Oliver Kahn is the chief executive at German giants Bayern Munich and Edwin van der Sar has the same role at Ajax in the Netherlands.
“I think Mark has other ideas, maybe a role as a sporting director or a technical director rather than on the footballing side,” Moyes said last August. “We’re already starting to use Mark in other roles behind the scenes.”
In a July 2020 interview with The Athletic, Bobby Zamora felt his old West Ham team-mate was deserving of a senior role at the club.
“I would like to see Noble have a proper role at the club and have a real say because I know he isn’t going to do it for a pound note, or to make himself look good,” Zamora said. “He’s going to do it because he just wants West Ham to win.”
Few people know West Ham better than Noble, which is why a football executive position seems like an ideal role. The club have improved their recruitment team following the appointments of Rob Newman as head of that department, Georges Santos as European first-team scout and Grant Holt and David Moyes Junior as first-team scouts.
When Bilic was at the helm, he performed due diligence on potential signings, and Noble occasionally helped with it.
“We had such a good relationship that it was normal for Mark to ask me about signings or give his input,” says Bilic. “The players know more than managers about players from other clubs. If we were looking at an English player, I would ask him for his opinion and Mark would let me know what their character is like.”
Academy coach
A coaching role with the academy has Noble’s name written all over it.
He regularly attends games at Rush Green and Chadwell Heath, and is a mentor for a lot of the up-and-coming prospects.
“Quite a few trialists don’t want to leave,” under-18s manager Keen said in a recent interview with The Athletic. “Most want to stay because they love it here. They’ll be walking down the corridor and say, ‘Oh, that’s Mark Noble’.
“He comes over most weeks, so we see Mark a lot. He loves the academy and you can see the way he interacts with the young lads. When I joined the coaching staff in 2002, Mark was in the under-15 team, so we have a close relationship. I don’t think there will be another club in the country, or in the world, whose captain turns up and watches the under-10s, under-12s, the under-16s and other age groups.”
The youth team have a technical board that consists of Pearce, Nolan and Noble, Potts, Robson and academy director Ricky Martin. They meet up every four to six weeks and discuss players’ progress and other talking points in great detail.
The emergence of Sonny Perkins, Regan Clayton, George Earthy, Emmanuel Longelo, Dan Chesters, Jamal Baptiste, Freddie Potts and Armstrong Okoflex shows there are promising players coming through. It is not uncommon for academy prospects to go to Noble for advice.
“I tell all the young boys in the academy that you can’t play well every week,” he has said. “I was speaking to one of the young boys the other day and he was really upset because he plays as a No 10, he couldn’t get on the ball and the players couldn’t find him between the lines. I told him you have to adapt and become the best second-ball player in the team.”
It is encouraging Noble’s preference is to stay at the club and many will be intrigued with what he does next.
Whether he becomes a first-team coach, football executive or academy coach, there can be few doubts the next chapter in Noble’s life will be just as impressive as his playing career has been.
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