Harry Redknapp has said he understands West Ham United captain Mark Noble’s reservations over his future at the club.
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Redknapp knows a thing or two about being a player and going on to manage West Ham having spent 20 years at the club in both capacities, starting out as a 15-year-old.
Bar a couple of loan spells to gain experience Noble is a rare breed that looks set to be a one-club man.
The homegrown Hammer turns 34 next season. And back in January after West Ham were dumped out of the FA Cup by West Brom, the skipper declared the club must stop relying on him so much in a candid interview with talkSPORT.
Noble admits reservations about becoming West Ham manager
Noble had previously suggested he would like to manage West Ham one day in the future.
But speaking to Jamie and Harry Redknapp on Sky One show Redknapp’s Home Fixture at the weekend, Noble for the first time cast doubt on following that path.
He said he would prefer a director of football role instead.
“Because in management in three or four games you can go from being Mark Noble who’s played for West Ham for years, and all of a sudden everyone wants you to get the sack,” he told Redknapp’s Home Fixture.
Redknapp has done both at West Ham, and he has been a DoF at several clubs in his latter years.
Harry gets it, but offers owners advice over Noble
He led West Ham to their highest ever Premier League finish of fifth. But he would later be sacked in acrimonious circumstances by Terence Brown over comments made to a West Ham fanzine about transfers.
The former Hammers boss told Noble he understands his reservations.
But he offered West Ham owners David Sullivan and David Gold some advice about keeping the midfielder involved when his playing days are over.
“An absolute certainty (Noble would make a great manager one day),” Harry Redknapp said on Redknapp’s Home Fixture.
‘They need to keep you there’
“I think Mark knows the game inside out. He’s been brought up in the game, he knows the club, I think he’d be amazing.
“Yea that’s true (the prospect of fans turning on you if things don’t work out as a manager).
“Whatever way you see it going Mark with West Ham, I think people like you they (Sullivan and Gold) need to keep you there you know in some capacity. If it suits you obviously.
“I think it would be good for the club.”
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