West Ham midfielder Rice: We'll all miss Noble | OneFootball

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·22 May 2022

West Ham midfielder Rice: We'll all miss Noble

Article image:West Ham midfielder Rice: We'll all miss Noble

West Ham midfielder Declan Rice says Mark Noble's retirement will leave a big void inside the dressing room.

Rice first met Noble when he was just 14 and ahead of the West Ham legend's final game for the club spoke of his incredible presence around the club.


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"He's the man. He's the one that everyone goes to if you've got a problem," Rice told the club's website. "He's someone that you can trust, someone who is reliable. If you ask him for a favour, he will make sure that he tries to do his best to do it. Even when lads come in from other countries, it shouldn't even be his job to be trying to help them out, but he's helping them out, trying to sort things with their houses if they need anything. I think he's just so much more behind the scenes that people don't see.

“He's given me pointers on the training pitch, just small things football things like where if I don't pass the ball to him in a certain position where then he can play like one touch, he was pulling me on it and said 'Pass the ball my right foot so I can do that quicker'. Just things like that I'm always learning with him.

“And then obviously as we've got older and he's seen me progress, he's kind of just turned into like a proud Dad and obviously for him to see my growth and seen me come through from 'Little Dec' to what I am now, I know proud he is and he tells me that every day. It's special. Some people might have might get the hump and wouldn't be happy with not playing or captaining the team anymore, but he's genuinely deep down proud and I know he's happy and proud of me as well because of what I'm doing. Ultimately, it's hard to really explain… I feel like you can't really explain what a character he is like until you've actually met him and know him deeply well."

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