Like the rest of us, Mark Noble is barely coping with the health scare engulfing the country at the moment…but what he is aware of is that football is of little importance alongside it.
The skipper – like every husband and father knows that the family is the most important thing in life as we attempt to cope with issues that none have seen before.
A comment arose on social media which declared “You can’t calm the storm out there so stop trying …but you can calm the storm within yourself.”
Level headed Mark is clearly trying to do just that and has summed up his feelings in quotes on www.whufc.com which probably resonate with everyone of us as we tread cautiously into each day at the moment.
Addressing the issue carefully and sensibly Nobes made a point of laying out the importance of caring within the community ahead of football.
Speaking at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/march/20-march/mark-noble-i-take-my-hat-keyworkers he said:“These are strange and worrying times for everyone. We’re all living from day to day as the situation unfolds and we’re also way, way out of our comfort zones as we try to adjust.
“One thing this dreadful virus has brought home to me is that the health of my family is more important than anything else in this life.
“Our domestic football has been suspended until the end of April now but, beyond that, there is nothing definite. Everything is up in the air, but me wondering about when and how we will be training means little really, up against the people in this country who are, like the NHS workers, on the front line every day, or the cab driver who is worrying about where his next fare is coming from.
“I just want to say I take my hat off to the doctors, the nurses and everyone else who works in the NHS and I hope the Government and the people appreciate what they do for us.
“We need to help the elderly, the vulnerable and the sick of our society and help minimise the effects of this illness. I can only try to imagine what it is like at the moment for an elderly person who lives on their own. We all need to chip in and help.
“What really concerns me far more than our training regime, though, are people, their health and their jobs. With that in mind, I’m going to donate the fees for my Evening Standard columns this season to the Newham Foodbank, a fantastic charity helping to feed the most vulnerable and at-risk local people in east London. At this difficult time, they need our help more than ever.”
Part of a nationwide network and based in Beckton, Newham Foodbank provides three days’ nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to them in crisis. For more information and/or to make a donation click here.
Players from a club in Germany have stopped taking their wages. Our leader is going to donate his newspaper column earnings, is he expecting praise for this act which still leaves him with 60k a week whilst all around him is in turmoil. Sometimes best to stay quiet, rather than highlight an act that is equivalent to many of us giving a bag of rice to a foodbank in relative financial cost to him
Perhaps he’s hoping , that by saying it , it will encourage others to think about the poor in our own community and maybe help them a bit more. Why do you assume he is seeking praise? Why can’t you simply read something for what it is? Why automatically assume there’s an ulterior motive?
He has a billionaire owner, part time CEO on over a million a year, and team mates on 100k a week. He does not need to be telling ordinary people losing their jobs to look after the poor, I assume we are already aware of the elderly and poor needing help, we see it every day
The players could take a 75pct pay cut and donate to local hardship cause and none of them would even notice
Maybe, but he is helping and bringing this to peoples’ attention can only be a good thing, Don’t get why the animosity?