I used to get hammered by Chicken Run as a ball boy
Skipper Noble looks back on the past but is excited for West Ham future
MARK Noble used to be a ball boy at Upton Park, in front of the notorious Chicken Run stand. He has never forgotten the flak he got from the fans when he was slow throwing the ball back if his beloved West Ham were losing.
So local boy and West Ham skipper Noble is more likely than most to shed a tear tonight when his club say goodbye to the famous old stadium they have called home for 112 years.
Except for two things – he desperately wants to beat Manchester United to secure Europa League football for next season as the club head to the Olympic Stadium. And he believes the move will mean there is no limit to what West Ham can achieve in a 60,000-capacity ground.
With only Manchester United and Arsenal having a bigger capacity, he believes that West Ham, for the first time, will be able to compete with the elite.
“I was a ball boy here as a kid. I used to get hammered from the Chicken Run,” he said. “I used to watch the game rather than concentrate and get the ball back. That is when I realised what the Chicken Run was all about.
“You have to keep up with the big boys. The money involved in football now is phenomenal. To have sold out our allocation of season tickets at the Olympic Stadium is great. People doubted it but I knew the strength of the fans here. But we have to take this special atmosphere to the new stadium. I don’t think there is a ceiling as to where this club can go now. Everybody has seen what happened to Manchester City, to Chelsea. With people in the world these days with money to burn, anything can happen.
“But we have the right sort of blend here – a passionate manager, a fantastic board that believes in him, that wants to spend money for him. It’s very special that the people who own the club are fans.
“They know what the club are about. When the owners are West Ham fans, when the manager has played for the club and me, as the captain, is a West Ham fan, that has shown.”
But Noble, whose side go into the game on the back of a disappointing defeat by Swansea and needing a win to move into the Europa League places, warned that sentiment, however hard, will have to be put aside tonight.
“Take away all the emotion, we have got to win this game,” he said. “There is regret that the chance of Champions League football has gone now. But you cannot rely on other teams. We let ourselves down. Realistically if we can get into the Europa League, it will be an amazing season. I’m pretty sure if you had asked the chairmen 10 months ago if they’d take this position now, going into the last games in seventh position, having had a fantastic season with a new manager, new staff, a lot of new players, they would have snapped your hands off.
“But over the course of the season, the expectations have grown. Now we want to finish as high as we can.
“As soon as you come to this club, and you see it even with foreign players like Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini, they take you on board, let you know what the club are all about.
“The thing I remember when my dad brought me was the atmosphere. We came every Saturday. I remember seeing Michael Carrick and Joe Cole coming through. I wanted to follow in their footsteps.
“What I’ll probably miss most is the 10 seconds before the kickoff, when the whole crowd sings ‘Bubbles’. It’s my favourite part of the day.”
As for boss Slaven Bilic, he said: “We have to divorce ourselves from the emotion – but it will be impossible.
“What I will miss is the last few seconds before kick off, when ‘Bubbles’ stops and suddenly it is quiet. You feel, ‘OK now it starts. It’s serious’. That is the best here.”
‘Take emotion away, we’ve got to win this game’