Talented Noble ready to impress

DAVID NOBLE . . . more mature attitude.

DAVID Noble has until his deal runs out at the end of the month to avoid going back on to the market.

The latest in a group of former team-mates of Lee Johnson to arrive at SportsDirect.com Park, the 32-year-old former Arsenal trainee cuts a relaxed and confident figure as he discusses his past and possible future.

Johnson, who once did battle with Noble for a place in Bristol City’s engine room, has said the man he invited over for the summer is a bigger talent than both Jose Baxter and Gary Harkins.

“He trained like a World Cup winner, but outside the game he played hard,” Johnson said. “He is in the top three players I have ever played with.”

Few of those fans who saw him regularly at Boston, Bristol City, Exeter, Rotherham or Cheltenham will argue.

But how much hunger is left? Noble is unequivocal: “I can perform at as good a level as I ever have,” he asserts. “You don’t want to go places where people don’t like you and don’t rate you. So I am aiming to impress.”

There are many tales of Noble’s liking for burning the candle at both ends. Johnson is in many ways the polar opposite, making the best of his talent through hard work.

“Johnson said to me it might be something that has held me back from going a lot higher with my career,” Noble said of his lifestyle. “Maybe it has. But I think those days are a little bit behind me.”

Is it strange, having played at the same club as Johnson for four years, to be back working under his control?

“He’s only a year older than me and I can’t imagine being a manager myself in a year’s time,” said the player. “But he always loved the game and was looking at it from all angles, going down every path there was. It isn’t a surprise he has become a manager - only that it came so early.

Williams Gros left Athletic this week and Noble is bidding to avoid the same fate. So far he has appeared only in an 11-minute cameo, a nagging injury hampering his progress.

But with Athletic at times lacking inspiration this season, he should get more first-team action soon.

“I can get a bit fitter,” Noble admitted. “I have only been training properly for two and a half weeks.”

After a diet of Baxter and Harkins over the past two seasons, Athletic fans are more than ready to be entertained once again.