Noble testimonial: Player absentees explained

JoeColeSeveral  West Ham supporters have been asking what happened to the former Hammers scheduled to make an appearance at Mark Noble’s testimonial who failed to show.

Claret and Hugh understands Robert Green could not get permission from QPR to play in the testimonial whilst Paul Konchesky, also on loan to QPR from Leicester, was also unable to play but did watch from the sidelines to aid his support.

Paul posted on social mediaHad an absolute fantastic day back at the Bolyen Ground! Honoured to receive the invitation to be involved in#MN16 Testimonial day, what a day it was. Nice to see so many old staff, teammates and legends that have be part of the club. Congrats on such a great achievement #Nobes fully deserved.”

programmeIt is claimed to be a similar problem for Ravel Morrison who was unable to get permission from his parent club Lazio to play in London. Ravel posted. “Was a honor to play with you & today is your day a day you deserve what a Great footballer & what an amazing person you are I hope you have a wicked day I’m so Gutted I can not be there and play and spend some time with you Guys. I hope one day we play together on the same team again God bless love & respect ⚒⚒⚒ True legend”

Joe Cole was present at the game and is seen in our picture above with Mark Noble but he wasn’t allowed to play as he could be playing for Coventry this evening.

Bobby Zamora who attended but couldn’t be risked by his club as Brighton who are pushing for promotion and instead watched from the sidelines.

Michael Carrick was also absent after he failed to get permission from Manchester United to play. Trevor Morley was originally billed to play but had to settle in a spectator role as he is recovering from a knee operation.

Kevin Nolan was playing for Leyton Orient yesterday as player/manager so he couldn’t attend. He probably wishes he could have played as his team lost 2-0 at home to Hartlepool.

Another absentee was Jamie Redknapp although no-one can work out how and why he made the team sheet. Maybe he is Noble’s mate.

Not sure why he didn’t show, maybe he was scared of the banter he would have got from 35,000 West Ham fans. Another theory is BT Sport who bought the TV rights objected to his inclusion as he works for the opposition Sky Sports.

 

About Sean Whetstone

I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball, I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh. Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons! Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter