If you want an example of how to grow old gracefully as a footballer, look no further than former West Ham United midfielder John Moncur.
While Steve Lomas was furious with the nature of his departure under Alan Pardew in 2005, Moncur was far more understanding of the situation when a young Joe Cole burst onto the scene around the turn of the Century.
Cole left the Hammers to join boyhood club Chelsea following their relegation in 2003. The same summer in which Moncur announced his retirement from the game.
Where will West Ham finish this season? 📈 And who will be relegated? ⬇️
Mind the gap, Tottenham Hotspur 😂
Before then, he and a baby-faced Cole would spend five years together at Upton Park; a future Premier League champion crediting Moncur for accepting the rise of a prodigious teammate with good grace and plentiful pearls of wisdom.
Joe Cole loved learning from John Moncur at West Ham United
Speaking to the Dressing Room podcast, Cole admits that, rather than being threatened by the emergence of a self-confident bag of tricks with a red-dyed mohawk, Moncur took him under his wing.
“If you’ve got players of the same age, there’s no natural mentoring,” Cole says, highlighting the problems currently facing a Chelsea side lacking in leaders.
“At West Ham, I had players I looked up to, like Stuart Pearce, coming into the dressing room. I had a similar thing with John Moncur.
“What a player he was!
“I sort of came in and took his position. He could have been [resentful], but he would help me. He would point out little things in my game that needed to improve. That’s so crucial.”
Where does the skipper rank among our biggest Premier League LEGENDS?
Speaking opposite Chelsea icon Eidur Gudjonsson, Cole has seen his old employers from the West of the capital lose five of their last six games in all competitions while conceding a staggering 15 goals along the way.
A similar criticism has come the way of the Hammers in recent times, particularly after Graham Potter gutted the experience from a dressing room once packed with nous.
Vladimir Coufal, Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell and – briefly – Lukasz Fabianski all departed in the space of one summer.
Understandably, it took quite a while for West Ham to adapt, although the likes of Konstantinos Mavropanos, Mateus Fernandes and Axel Disasi have latterly embraced leadership roles alongside captain Jarrod Bowen.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
