West Ham United captain Mark Noble has admitted he is unsure what the future holds for him at the club.
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Boyhood Hammer Noble is regarded as Mr West Ham and rightly so.
The Academy graduate has been with the club for 20 years through thick and thin.
He has hinted in the past he wanted to manage West Ham when his playing days are over.
Ageing Noble unsure over West Ham future, eyes DoF role
Noble will turn 34 next season having celebrated his 33rd birthday at the weekend.
And the midfielder admitted in a candid interview back in January that West Ham should no longer be relying on him as a key player week in, week out (talkSPORT).
But speaking to Jamie and Harry Redknapp for Sky One lockdown show Redknapp’s Home Fixture, Noble is less certain of one day managing the club.
Instead he suggested he might prefer to work under the club’s owners in a director of football role.
“Do you know what I have two thoughts with the management of West Ham thing,” Noble told Redknapp’s Home Fixture.
“Because I’ve been at the club since I was 11 years of age and I love the club so much I’d to be in a position, whether it’s the manager or sitting above the manager but underneath the owners, where I can effect real decisions of the club and the players we sign and bigger decisions.
Noble put off by prospect of tarnishing Hammers status
“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.
“Obviously I felt that when Slaven was the manager of West Ham. We had such a good relationship but there was times I spoke to him when the fans were on him and the results weren’t going well that he actually looked devastated that he was in the position he was in.”
Noble has already accepted he will feature less as his West Ham playing days wind down.
Young midfield star Declan Rice recently told Tony Cottee he wants the Hammers captaincy (whufc.com).
Less room for Noble as Moyes builds a young, hungry West Ham
And David Moyes has made it clear he wants to build a new look West Ham team around young, hungry players (whufc.com).
It is an approach Noble wholeheartedly agrees with having publicly urged the club to go in that direction himself (Evening Standard).
Noble has now made it clear where he sees his future at West Ham.
He has designs on being the new Mario Husillos one day. Whether David Sullivan and David Gold will go for that only time will tell.
But they could do a lot worse than have a genuine West Ham legend in their corner. Particularly given the current disconnect between fans and the boardroom.