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Noble’s Growing Influence Starting to Yield Results

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It wasn’t so long ago when West Ham seemed completely incapable of securing their most talented youngsters to professional contracts.

As recently as this summer, England Under-18 captain Lewis Orford was in something of a stalemate with the club regarding his new contract, which required the intervention of Mark Noble.

The former West Ham captain is now officially the club’s sporting director, although I still don’t fully understand what that title means. What I do know is that Noble has been tasked with running the Academy and facilitating a pathway from the youth setup to the first team.

It has been noticeable how much impact—and clearly how much more responsibility—Noble has enjoyed this summer. Gone are the botched loan deals that saw a highly talented Calum Marshall shipped out to West Bromwich Albion in a deal that was a waste of everybody’s time.

In its place, we have a more cerebral approach, where our most promising youngsters are secured with new long-term deals before the correct club is chosen for them to join on loan and continue their education.

Marshall himself has signed a new deal, is appearing regularly for Huddersfield Town, and has also represented Northern Ireland at the senior level this season.

George Earthy, Freddie Potts, and Patrick Kelly have also secured their futures and have been sent out on loan to gain experience.

However, choosing the correct clubs for many of the FA Youth Cup-winning squad is only half the battle, because in recent years, West Ham has been embarrassingly poor at securing Academy graduates’ contracts beyond the scholarship stage.

So the news that highly-rated Ollie Scarles is just the latest to pledge his future to the Hammers is another piece of good news for the academy. Mark Noble appears to have brought stability and a sense of direction, bridging the gap between the club’s amazing Academy and upper management. Well done, Nobes.

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5 comments

  • kashif chaudhary says:

    To be honest lads I don’t think this season will be a good one for us. However if young noble does get in then we get some lads with success from different euro leagues I a sure we can challenge for the top positions easily.

  • Geoff says:

    If the 1st team played a bit better and was able to take control of games, obviously not the harder games against the top six sides they would be able to put these kids on towards the end of games so they can gain experience playing in front of big crowds and against premiership opposition.

    • Taffyhammer says:

      Trouble is, Geoff, that the harder games are not against the top six. They are against the other 19 in the Premier League. Same goes for European ties, too. Hoping that one day we will return to the Glory Days of competing in Europe.
      Probably a good idea not to consider these players as kids. If they are good enough – they are old enough. Rice, Duran, Rooney and so on.
      You make a valid point though!
      COYI

  • Paul Basnett says:

    All good except there seems to be no pathway into the first team squad nevermind team. Eventually the will all be sold unless some play.

    • DJHammer says:

      Yes, it’s possible that several talents are going to be transferred out (hopefully for sizeable fee’s) going forward. The objective will be to qualify for European competition, which hopefully will provide greater opportunities for emerging talents to gain more minutes of competitive senior football. Maybe this is one of the pathways that is being sought?

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