‘People think we earn a lot of money – but there’s no security, it’s just work’

There were more players than there were jobs going. It was an awful time for a lot of friends in the game.”

The move to Plymouth has not brought everything Nouble expected because of lockdown, but today he will get another crack at causing an FA Cup upset against Sheffield United.

“Plymouth has been good from a football perspective but, with the Covid lockdowns, we haven’t been able to enjoy the town or Devon as much as we hoped,” he says.

“That was one of the things that appealed to us making the move down here, being near the beach. The oldest has just started school and the youngest is in nursery. They are causing chaos in the house …”

The life of a lower-league footballer is riddled with uncertainty. After seven loan moves while on West Ham United’s books, Nouble left the club at the age of 20 after a handful of first-team appearances in the Premier League and Championship. He spent six months at Wolverhampton Wanderers, moving on to Ipswich Town and Coventry City in the Championship before a brave switch to play for Tianjin in China.

That lasted just six months, signing for League Two side Gillingham on his return to England, before a five-game spell at Southend United, one year in South Wales with Newport County and then the move to Colchester in 2018, where he felt settled for the first time since he had been a teenager in Lewisham.

“There are moments in my career I could have done a bit better in terms of learning the game,” he says. “When I was 17, 18, 19 at West Ham, I thought I’d cracked it. I thought I was Superman and all I needed was a chance in the team and I would

Time to shine: Frank Nouble is aiming to cause Sheffield United’s defence problems show I was good enough. It was tough to leave but I was 20, I’d had some good loans and bad ones. Just being out there playing with men, realising what football meant in the real world.”

Not everything has gone smoothly since but Nouble, a strong target man who brings others into the game, has no regrets. “My family comes with me wherever I go because there is more to life than kicking a ball about,” he says.

“People look at footballers and think they are earning a lot of money and we are the lucky ones. Of course, we are lucky to be playing football, but it’s work, you know. There is no security. You get a one-year or a twoyear contract. The situation is worse now than it has ever been because of Covid. There are even shorter contracts being given out.

“I don’t play for the financial rewards, because there aren’t any really. If I was merely interested in the money, I would have made some very different decisions. I had a nice five-year-contract at West Ham, but I left when I was 20 because I couldn’t do that. I wanted to play.”

Having reached the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup with Colchester last season, as well as beating Leeds United and drawing with Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup with Newport, Nouble is the sort of dangerous former Premier League player who Sheffield United will be wary of. “If you ask any player in the lower leagues, the FA Cup remains such a special competition,” he says. “It’s a chance to show you are a better player than people thought. I bet it drives managers mad. You get some really talented players in League One and Two. This is our time to shine.”