Saturday is Mark Noble’s 34th birthday and it’s official: half of his life has been spent in service to the West Ham first team.
A debutant at 17, Noble is now nearing the end. Next season will be his last in a West Ham shirt. The body may be slowing down – more on his diminishing pace rating on the console game FIFA 21 shortly – but the brain is as sharp as ever.
As Noble explains to Jamie Redknapp here, you don’t survive nine managers and make 402 Premier League appearances for one club without some street-smarts.