Mark Noble testimonial: Hammers captain an amazing leader on and off the pitch, says Adrian

Mark Noble reflects on 12 years at West Ham

• 1/10 Mark Noble picks his favourite West Ham memories... and the odd low

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• 2/10 Best game

  I’ve got a couple but because of what winning the match did for the club and for me as a player, I’m going to say the 2012 Championship play-off final against Blackpool. The game against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2007, when Carlos Tevez scored the winner to keep us up on the final day, was phenomenal but the victory at Wembley was so important for everyone at the club in terms of moving forward, it has to be that one. I went straight from the final to my stag-do and got married the following Friday so it was an amazing week. Had we lost it would have messed up everything.

  (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

• 3/10 Best team played in

  One hundred per cent this one now. The way we go to places such as Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, the Emirates, Anfield and just take the game to them and keep the ball — the way we play exciting football, it has to be this team. It’s a pleasure to be part of. I’m enjoying every game and the great thing is we all complement each other so well. The other two in midfield Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini, have much more flair than I have but perhaps I have a little more grit and then there is Cheikhou Kouyate who balances everything in that holding position. It just works and we’re all enjoying it.

• 4/10 Best team-mate

  Dimitri [Payet] is right up there and perhaps, if I can pick two and because of his sheer ability and what he did for the club, I would also go for Carlos [Tevez] alongside him.

  2007 AFP

• 5/10 Most difficult opponent

  That’s a tough one but I would go for Tugay based on a game against Blackburn when I first broke into the team at West Ham. We were away from home and, to be honest, I was so young and had a bit of a chip on my shoulder — I thought I was better than I was. I saw his name on the team-sheet, looked at his greying hair when we ran out and that fooled me. For the next 45 minutes, though, he taught me a lesson in how to play and I got substituted at half-time! He was a few steps ahead of me all the time. I am so glad that happened to me because I learned more from that experience than in any win or good performance. I have played against top players — Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard — but that 45 minutes against Tugay still stands out as the toughest of the lot.

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• 6/10 Biggest regret

  Honestly, I don’t have any. I love being at home with my family and friends and I don’t regret anything I’ve done, I really don’t.

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• 7/10 Lowest point

  Probably relegation. I saw some players that season (2010-11) who didn’t really care if we stayed up or not, it didn’t matter to them. The way I am, it mattered to me a lot. Players come and go but you realise how much it means to people when you bump into them in the street. I missed the last three games after a hernia operation so that topped off a miserable season for me.

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• 8/10 Biggest honour

  Being given the captaincy this season. At the end of the season I went on holiday and obviously we knew Sam Allardyce’s situation. Then we knew Slaven Bilic was coming in and there is always that uncertainty. You wonder if he will like you as a player, whether he wants to change things. I had kept my place in the team under every manager but you never know. I had a whole summer of those doubts but when we reported back and Slaven handed me the armband, it was a massive honour for me and the family to be captain of the team I grew up supporting.

• 9/10 Best friend in football

  Chris Cohen, who is at Nottingham Forest. I grew up with him at West Ham. Another good mate is Darren Behcet, who again was a young goalkeeper at West Ham with me. I don’t tend to socialise too much with other players but I get on so well with all the squad at the club at the moment, it’s a pleasure to go into training every morning.

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• 10/10 One wish

  To lift the FA Cup in May. As West Ham captain and a local boy, that would be pretty special.

  2015 Getty Images