West Ham United captain Mark Noble has moved to clear up his current situation at the club.
The homegrown Hammers skipper is revered for his long service.
And despite his loyalty and consistency over a decade in the first team, he continues to divide supporters.
Noble is undeniably universally loved by West Ham fans as one of their own.
The midfielder is Mr West Ham, a fan on the pitch and “gets” the club and all its nuances.
He knows its history inside out and plays a key role in team spirit on and off the pitch.
But his qualities from a playing perspective are not always appreciated.
Indeed many fans question whether he should even be making Manuel Pellegrini’s starting XI.
‘I’ve had a back problem’
Three defeats from their opening three Premier League games of the season have seen Noble emerge as the go-to scapegoat for many.
Old teammate and friend Craig Bellamy even turned on Noble recently.
Like most of the team, Noble was particularly poor in the home defeat to Bournemouth.
Then the captain did not feature in the squad for the following games against Arsenal and AFC Wimbledon.
Speculation among fans suggested he had been dropped with a back injury being used as an ‘excuse’.
But speaking in his weekly column in The Evening Standard, Noble moved to clarify his situation.
“I’ve had a back problem which has kept me out for 10 days but I went with the squad to watch us play Arsenal,” Noble told The Evening Standard.
‘Injury issue stretches back two years’
“My back problems really go back to the season before last, when I had stomach surgery. I had played for three months in pain and then the surgeon told me that I needed an operation. It was only supposed be an hour long but it ended up lasting six hours. He found I had six hernias and my abdominal muscles had split.
“When you’ve had surgery like that, it can change the way you move and that has caused the back pain. Last season, because of our situation, there was no chance I could have a rest and let it settle down, so I kept playing.
“This summer, I thought it would heal, but I was still feeling it, so after the Bournemouth game it was decided a scan was necessary to make sure there was nothing serious happening.
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“Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, so I’ve been on a course of anti-inflammatories and had 10 days’ rest. Wednesday was my first day back training. It hasn’t been nice being out, but it was necessary.
“I was going to travel to watch us play AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, but four hours in the car wouldn’t have been good for the back, so I watched it at home on TV.”
Noble should be back for the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday afternoon.
But the skipper will likely have to settle for a place on the bench.
That’s after the impressive performance of Carlos Sanchez in a holding midfield role at the Emirates.
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