10 players who epitomize their club
There are players that just play football for the money or the fame, and then there are those that do it for the love of the club they represent. A club that, on the majority of occasions, they will have been at since their youth team days.
What it means to play for such clubs will be ingrained into their psyche before they even make their first-team debuts and that’s what makes these players so special and beloved by their fans.
Also read: Most loyal players in Europe's Top 5 leagues
In some cases, the player won’t necessarily be the best in the team, but the one whom the supporters most identify with.
Be that because the player is from the local area and so understands his responsibility completely when pulling on the shirt, or it could be that he has served the club with such passion, desire and will-to-win, that no one can imagine a team without him in it.
Here are 10 such players...
#1 Mark Noble
More than just your average ‘Cockney Geezer,’ Mark Noble has proved himself to be an astute captain and one who fully understands what it means to represent West Ham United.
That will have come from his years spent on the terraces cheering the Hammers on, a dream coming true when he could don the claret and blue for a living.
A Canning Town lad, born and raised just a couple of miles from West Ham’s old Boleyn Ground, he is admired and respected in the locale for not letting success go to his head and remembering his roots.
An incredibly popular figure both on and off of the pitch, he is surely a future Hammers manager.