West Ham United Sporting Director Mark Noble believes David Moyes’ men will relish the feeling of heading into the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League campaign with a European trophy in their hands.
Noble was in Monaco for Friday’s draws – both to complete Club duties for the Europa League and to conduct the Europa Conference League draw.
The Hammers were matched with Greece’s Olympiacos, German side SC Freiburg and FK TSC, of Serbia, with the campaign set to get underway on 21 September.
Noble, who skippered the squad which reached the Europa League semi-finals two seasons ago, knows the trio will present a tough challenge in Group A, but says the team will approach the ties with confidence following their success on the continental stage.
With the memories of that glorious night in Prague so fresh, the Hammers are ready to use that as fuel for another campaign over land and sea.
“The feelings, the experience we had in Prague was phenomenal not just for the players, but for the staff, fans and everyone associated with West Ham,” Noble explained.
“It makes you want more. It makes you want to win something else.
“Now we’re going into [the Europa League] having won a European trophy and can we win another one? You never know.”
The Hammers will head into Europe having made an encouraging start to their domestic campaign and Noble is sure the team can use that feelgood factor in their favour.
“It’s a tough group – but you look at the teams in the draw and they’re all tough,” he continued.
“It’s something to look forward to and we’ve started the season well. We’ve got a top team from Germany, a top team from Greece and we have to go to Serbia too, which is a really tough place to go and play.
“When you play in Europe you see some really great atmospheres. The shows the fans put on are fantastic, and we’ve plucked some teams with fantastic support.
“It’s exciting – you want to play in the big games, you want to go the fantastic cities and play the best teams. That’s why we’re in this competition.”
