Noble: I loved Sam Allardyce as a person
Date published: Saturday 6th August 2016 10:29
West Ham captain Mark Noble believes his chances of a first England call-up are unchanged despite the appointment of Sam Allardyce – but told his former boss that his phone is always on.
Ex-Hammers boss Allardyce replaced Roy Hodgson as England’s head coach following a poor Euro 2016 showing which saw the Three Lions eliminated by Iceland at the round of 16 stage.
The 61-year-old labelled Noble the ‘ultimate West Ham man’ in his 2015 autobiography but, despite enjoying a decade-long career in the first team, the midfielder has been overlooked by previous England bosses.
Noble – who led West Ham out for their first game at the London Stadium in Thursday’s 3-0 Europa League qualifying win over NK Domzale – picked up 20 Under-21 caps earlier in his career but is still to be involved in a senior squad despite impressive top-flight showings.
He may now have his best chance given Allardyce knows everything about him, but Noble, 29, is not holding out any hope although he did back the new national boss to prove a hit.
Asked if he had changed his perspective on his England chances now Allardyce has the job, Noble said:
“Not one little bit to be honest.
“I’m going to enjoy playing here and obviously I played under Sam for four years and thoroughly enjoyed my football under him.
“I thought he was a great manager and I loved him as a person and I think he is the right man for the job.
“I think he will do well, 100 per cent, his man-management qualities and what he expects from his teams, what he gets out of the players, I think he is the right man.”
Noble revealed he has not had communication with Allardyce since congratulating him on keeping Sunderland in the Premier League last season – but is easily reachable.
“It’s always on,” he replied when asked if he will be keeping his phone on in case Allardyce gets in touch.
“We had a couple of texts at the end of last season when he kept Sunderland up and I had my testimonial.
“Sam sent me a nice message and I sent one at the end of last season just saying ‘congrats on keeping them up and hope you are going to have a good summer’ – I didn’t expect it to be quite this good, but I suppose he has!”
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