Having had a good few years of growth and success under manager David Moyes, the 2022/23 Premier League campaign for West Ham United largely turned into a bit of an unexpected nightmare.
Despite spending a whopping £160 million over the summer in an effort to build on our consecutive top seven finishes, players did not settle as quickly as originally hoped, others lost their previous form levels and we have spent most of the campaign so far, simply trying to avoid a real battle with relegation.
There have been slight improvements recently though, we lifted the FA Youth Cup for the first time in 24 years having taken victory over Arsenal last month, we have now basically secured our top flight status for next season following the victory over Manchester United and, as we know, build up is well underway for Thursday’s Europa Conference League semi final first leg against AZ Alkmaar and optimism is high that we can go all the way to the Prague based final and lift our first trophy since 1980. Register for Bet365 Bonus Code if you fancy a tiny flutter on the outcome of this European double header.
With his long and illustrious playing career at the club, former skipper Mark Noble returned to the London Stadium back in January to take up the role of Sporting Director, and in a recent interview with the BBC this week, Noble knew the Europa Conference League campaign could be the perfect way to end this troubled season and set us up nicely for 2023/24.
“You have to take the rough with the smooth at West Ham, it has always been that way. That is why we all love the club. Sometimes it breaks your heart, it really does. But there are times where it brings you tears of joy. No-one has hidden from it. The manager has been clear. The Premier League is a demanding league and for a long time we have been in a relegation battle. He knows the game as well as anyone. He knows the pressure he was under. Fourteen managers have been changed this year in the Premier League. It is madness. We stuck with David and it looks like he has got us out of trouble and we are in a European semi-final, which is fantastic. We can start looking forward now.”
Given Noble’s legendary status at the club and the respect that he is held in, there will certainly be those supporters in the fanbase who feel that fortunes may well have turned due to his arrival back at the training ground, purely because of his calm voice, passion and knowledge that he too would have transmitted across to the players in tougher moments.
Whatever the truth of that may be, there will be few cheering the boys on harder than Noble himself come Thursday.
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