West Ham United's longest serving player and club captain, Mark Noble has stated that he wants to end his career with the Hammers.

Always thought it

Noble has been a Hammer for all his life, making his way through the youth academy set-up right up until his debut way back in 2004. Nearly 13 years later he has become the club's longest serving player, captain and is closing in on 400 appearances which will make him only the 19th player to do so.

The 29-year-old is a rare breed in modern day football, and he has insisted that he will look to end his career with his boyhood club. "I’ve managed to captain this fantastic Club," Noble told whufc.com. "Which is something very few players get to do, captaining the club they support, so it’s a major honour for me."

"I don’t think I’ll appreciate it fully since I stop playing," he admitted. “There aren’t many of us now, because football is forever changing.

"Managers change and obviously relegation battles mean players move on," the skipper conceded. "So I think it would be very hard for players now to keep in the team they support and stay there after coming through the Academy.

“I would like to finish my career here," the 29-year-old confirmed. "That’s what I’ve always thought.

"I can’t see myself playing for another football team," Noble added. "But football is such a changing world so you can’t ever tell what’s going to happen next season."

Always looking up

It has been a rough and also a hectic one for Slaven Bilic's side, and with no FA Cup commitments this weekend they have jetted off for some warm weather training.

The side have traveled to Dubai ahead of next Saturday's clash with Watford, to recharge their batteries ahead of the last 13 games of the season.

When asked what the target was, Noble stated that they will be looking to get as far up the table as possible.

"Do you know what? After what happened with the big move and winning our first game against Bournemouth at home," he said. "It’s been tough, I’m not going to lie to you.

“We just want to finish with many points as we can," Noble concluded. "Obviously it would be nice to reach that 40-point mark as soon as possible, then we can really push on.”

West Ham United will take on Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday, February 25 with kick-off at 3pm GMT.