Mark Noble breaks Geoff Hurst’s West Ham record

Mark Noble has set a new West Ham record for the largest ever attendance of a Hammers testimonial match. Speaking on WHUFC.com the club captain confirmed the match has sold out on the 28th March to a full house of 35,000.

Nobes said: “I am extremely proud to announce and have to admit that I am blown away that tickets for my Testimonial has now sold out – that is something special. When we first announced it I thought I would be lucky to get 20,000 with the amount of money that the fans have to spend during a season, but when I think about the support that our fans show, nothing surprises me.“I am grateful and humbled by it and I just want to make the day special for everybody. I have got some great names playing and can announce that Gianfranco Zola wants to play some part! He called me and I was over the moon to speak with him. He asked about the Testimonial and I said I would love him to be there.I have also spoken to Glen Johnson and Paul Konchesky recently and he wants to play which is great because they were in the Academy.”

The record is currently held by West Ham world cup hero Geoff Hurst who  had an attendance of 29,250 23rd on November 1971.

Billy Bonds managed an attendance of 21,081 in December 1978  for his first testimonial while Julian Dicks pulled in a crowd of 14,224 in August,2000. Trevor Brooking’s Testimonial in October 1977 was third most attended game with 23,220 attending.