ClaretandHugh blogger John Moncur missed an appointment with MooreThanJustAPodcast this week so has made up for it by covering a couple of issues close to his heart here.
Yesterday, Moncs discussed Carl Jenkinson’s 2015/16 West Ham future and today he talks about the decision to make Mark Noble captain in the light of Alex Song’s return – probably at the end of October.
Every week we provide, wherever possible, a top Hammers name for the show. John has become a bit of a legend and will be appearing on MooreThanJustAPodcast over the next couple of weeks.
I believe Mark Noble is the right man to be our leader despite the fact that he may not always be holding down a position in the team.
Many believe the return of Alex Song will put pressure on him for his place but that should always be the case with any player and I still believe Mark should remain as captain of the club whatever his team status.
If he’s not playing then we have either Winston Reid, or possibly James Tomkins, who I believe is growing and growing this season, and may be a future candidate for the job.
I think Reidy would probably be the choice at this moment but I’m a big fan of JT and believe he would be in line should circumstances materialise that require him to take the job on.
I can even see a day not being too far off when Aaron Cresswell may well be able to take the armband if he can become more vociferous towards those around him
However, Mark is the man as club skipper. He’s brilliant in and around the dressing room. He has enormous respect among the players and has a big new contract behind him.
He is a motivator and a leader on and off the pitch and we are lucky to have a lad like him around the place. Should he lose his place for whatever reason he will take it on the chin – there’s no sulking with him.
All he wants is what’s best for West Ham and if that is Alex Song at times Mark will take it – no problem.
As long as he is picked on merit as a player and no more bull as we had about Nolan I agree,but this week I think he should be dropped as Kouyate and Obiang are playing better and we need strong defensive midfielders away from home,
I would give Tomkins the band for this week,
But as club captain Nobles is the right player,
Fair comment moncs . But talking of captains I stayed up most of last night as I couldn’t sleep, so I sat and watched the 1964 cup final and cup winners cup final. Bobby Moore was and always will be unmatched at this club !! A one off if ever there was a word to describe him. The memorys flooded back of the joy at watching this captain marval perform,
The west ham way !! Just listening to Coleman balls was a joy in its self but even he outshines the pundits of today !!! Fact !!! The style of football we were producing then could not even be matched from the Germans who were tactically astute and dangerous as were Preston who put on a great show . Coleman described the west ham way in some very simple words !!!! Counter attack at pace after defending as a unit , even Geoff Hurst was at right back at times but Moore was the architect , you have to see his dominance his vision and his commitment to understand why ! Mr west ham . A legend a captain like never before
Or after .
Proud of my club can’t be more expressed after a re run last night and it looked like the games were played yesterday, we truly were a great side, how this team never won the league will and always will be a mystery !!!!
There is far to much to talk about in the games mentioned so if you need a reminder of what was and what Bilic is doing then take a look at the way we played then and what’s happening now, Bilic has certainly been doing his homework !!!!!
The games is a lot different now so people say but not that much, take a look !!!!!!
are those matches now on u-tube? I had club videos of them but lost them when I moved.
Club captain and team captain were always different jobs. Although they are usually done by the same player, it is not necessary. If Nobes is not in the team for whatever reason he is of course still our club captain, but a team captain can be picked from the team. I think team captains should be CB or holding midfield, because they get the best view of the game and are in a better position to shout advice.
I also think that Beckham as captain of england ( or any team ) was ridiculous, because he was no natural leader, and played in the wrong position most of the time.
Well it is good to see Moncs with the view that Nobes is dropable.Im fed up of reading people say he is undropable & anyone who dares mention it is on a witch hunt against the lad.Maybe they will accuse Moncs of being oart of the conspiracy now,lol
Hi Johnboy , they were indeed great times , i think maybe one of the reasons we never won the title in those days was the quagmire pitches they played on from mid November to March didn’t suit our game . I can still see the players plastered from head to foot in mud !
Still times move on and lets hope for a good season .COYI
Yes I remember them well lol,
There was no green , just brown pitches , its amazing sometimes how they played,
They say the fitness today outshines the fitness of those times !!! Well I disagree with that strongly, I would say they were fitter after playing 90 mins on those pitches !!!
The two games I mentioned above were non stop , end to end , super fit if you ask me !!
I remember having to play on them pitches and it used to shag me out,
And when I got home scraped the mud off and then had a washdown,
There was more mud on me boots than on the pitch !!! Haha! Great days !!!
Yes fishes they are,
Timely but viewable.
Enjoy!!!
Couldn’t agree more!! I was there for both those matches, and yes ,I don’t think there will ever be another bobby??close maybe but not the same
The above comment is an answer to johnboy!
You and I were spoilt tony we were there from the start in terms in terms of the west ham team built around mooro !!!!
It was an education that at the time we had no real knowledge of the west ham way , it was just instilled by watching and learning and I find it difficult at times to express the unique feeling I have inside my belly and my head. It was an education in the art of football but we didn’t know we were at school ? If you know what I mean !!!! I knew no different !! You could not explain that to the likes of the hippo and the Muppet pundits as they learnt from a different manager , not greenwood !!!! And a Hughes coaching manual?lol.
As I said before Colman summed it up when he mentioned the way we play and the effort put in with our defencive play and speed of the counter attacking with players comfortable on the ball.
It is nice to read real hammers fans reminiscing about the sixties & seventies, and the West Ham way. I remember Sir Bobby was the man always to carry the ball out of defence, why ? because he was so good the opposition forwards were scared to try and take the ball of him and be made to look silly. No long ball humping then. Cloughie said he couldn’t run, he didn’t have to, he read the game so well he new what the opposition was going to do before they did !
Cloughie also said Trevor Brooking couldn’t trap a bag of cement, kind of sums up he’s knowledge of these two hammers legends.
Great memories of a great players playing in a great stadium.
COYI