A popular figure with both his West Ham United team-mates and supporters, Mark Noble has come through the ranks to establish himself in the first team and is now the club's longest-serving player.

A former pupils at Woodside School - now Royal Docks Community School - Canning Town-born Noble spent a period with Arsenal as a boy before returning to east London to join West Ham

Noble became the youngest player to turn out for the Hammers' reserve team at the age of 15 in February 2003, when coach Roger Cross called his school to ask for the midfielder to be excused from lessons. Four months later, Noble signed his first Academy professional contract.

Noble's first-team debut arrived on 24 August 2004, when he was part of the youthful West Ham team that beat Southend United 2-0 in the Carling Cup first round at the Boleyn Ground. The teenager would go on to make 21 appearances in all competitions in 2004/05, culminating in an eight-minute cameo at the end of the Championship play-off final victory over Preston North End at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

With West Ham back in the Barclays Premier League, Noble found first-team opportunities harder to come by. As a result, the youngster decided to go out on loan to Hull City in February 2006, making five appearances for the Tigers. The following season, 2006/07, Noble took the opportunity to join Championship side Ipswich Town for three months, making 13 appearances and scoring once.

Having gained much-needed first-team experience, Noble returned to the Boleyn Ground in November 2006. Following calls from the club's fans, he was handed a start in the FA Cup third-round tie against Brighton and Hove Albion, capping an impressive display by scoring in a 3-0 West Ham victory at the Boleyn Ground.

After initially being out of favour, Noble returned to score in the unforgettable 4-3 home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, playing a hugely influential role as the Hammers escaped from relegation by winning seven of their final nine Barclays Premier League fixtures.

Noble's late-season heroics earned him a place in former Hammer Stuart Pearce's squad for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals in the Netherlands. There, the midfielder helped England reach the semi-finals, scoring twice in the shoot-out as Pearce's side lost 13-11 on penalties to the hosts.

Having excelled for both club and country, Noble was rewarded with a new four-year contract in the summer of 2007 and responded by making 36 appearances in all competitions in 2007/08, despite requiring surgery for a long-standing hernia problem.

The 2008/09 campaign saw Noble continue to make progress for both club and country, scoring on his 100^th first-team appearance for West Ham in the 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw at Blackburn Rovers on 21 March 2009. The following month, he put pen to paper on a new long-term contract that extended his stay at the Boleyn Ground until June 2013.

At international level, Noble has also continued to flourish, scoring twice against the Republic of Ireland in Cork in October 2007 to help England's U21s reach the UEFA European Championship finals in Sweden in the summer of 2009.