Nobes used to pretend he was a first team player

West Ham captain Mark Noble has been speaking about his early memories of the Boleyn Ground to Sky Sports News as part of their LIVE coverage at the stadium all day.

“When we played in the FA Youth Cup here, we would pretend we were first-team players.” said Noble

“Then another time, I was sitting upstairs watching the game once and one of the scouts came in and said come to the ground in your tracksuit tomorrow because you’re traveling with the first team.”

“I think I was 16 at the time and Alan Pardew was in charge. I sat there with the first team, I was just sitting in awe of all the players and now I’m one of those players. It was pretty surreal.”