Yes, several of us were saying the same last summer when they actually did go down, and then again in January. I'd like him at Fulham very much. I think the only chance of it happening is if they don't get promoted though, and even then I get the feeling that he's got a lot of loyalty to the club and might choose to stay there to have another go at promotion.
The thing is Cappy, if Spam fail to win promotion, it could be catastrophic for them in terms of finances. They are paying PL wages to players currently in the hope that they would go straight back up (which they may well do) but these contracts will need to be negotiated next year were they to remain in the Championship. This means a lot of their quality players will leave (Green, Cole, Tomkins, Nolan) and if they can't win promotion with them, then achieving it without them would prove far more difficult, which could tempt Noble to leave.
You could be right, but as a home grown player Noble may well not be on such lucrative wages (I have no idea what he's on, just saying it's often the way that the ones who have come through a clubs own ranks don't get as much). Also, I believe parachute payments last for 3 years for relegated clubs, so although failing to come straight up is a problem for West Ham, it's not as catastrophic as you suggest. If they blow it next year, they might start getting twitchy. I'd love us to sign him, whether Murphy is still playing or not. I'm just saying he won't necessarily be as keen to jump ship as some of their other players who have less of an attachment to the club.
Parachute payments don't really come into it to be honest, especially not with the sort of money West Ham are blowing at the moment. They also forked out quite a lot on transfers this season (Vaz Te, Maynard etc) I think they could be looking at a Portsmouth situation if they don't get back to the PL sharpish.
