Mark Noble reveals how Joe Hart once ‘beat up’ a young Declan Rice in West Ham training wind-up

Former West Ham captain Mark Noble has revealed how former England goalkeeper Joe Hart once “whacked” a young Declan Rice after chasing him around the London stadium.

Noble, who became West Ham’s sporting director after retiring last season, has clarified how competitive training sessions once led to a funny ending.

Hart, who now plays for Celtic, spent the 2017-18 season at West Ham on loan as his time at Manchester City began to wear thin.

His spell at the London Stadium coincided with a young Rice breaking into the first team, with the now England star often pestering Hart during shooting exercises.

Recalling a time when Hart was fed up with Rice’s training problems, Noble told him Fozcast – The Ben Foster Podcast: ‘Harty will tell you this. We were doing a shooting session, the coach pings you, you get one touch and you’re done.

Former West Ham captain Mark Noble has revealed that Joe Hart once “hit” a young Declan Rice after chasing him around the London stadium.

Noble recounted how Rice used to pester Hart in shooting exercises during the former England goalkeeper’s time at West Ham.

‘Dec must have been young, like 19 at the time, and he’s had a touch and he’s got a lovely punch to him.

‘He passed one of them past Harty and Harty lunged at him and he didn’t get there and said ‘Harty, one day, son.’ Harty said ‘Dec, if you say that again I’m going to [beat you up].’

“He came back to Dec and missed one, hit another one and went in and I said ‘come on, say it.'”

He said, “one day, Harty” and I swear, Harty just dumped him, he ran across the field and Dec shot out of the tunnel, he chased him all the way around the London stadium, like all the way through it. . , he caught him and hit him.

‘Harty was crazy. He is a tank, he is so strong. I played with him in England for all age groups and he’s a great guy. He’s just mad, everyone’s mad.

It’s fair to say that Rice has only gone from strength to strength, making 222 appearances for West Ham since his debut in 2017.

However, the England star may finally be leaving West Ham, with Arsenal prioritizing him as their main summer target.

In fact, Noble recently confessed that he doesn’t mind Rice wanting to move away from West Ham to win trophies.

Noble recently admitted that he wouldn’t envy Rice leaving West Ham to win trophies.