Jordan Nobbs: Arsenal legend

Jordan Nobbs was 17 years old when she started the 2009 FA Cup Final for her childhood club Sunderland, against Arsenal. Lining up alongside her for the Black Cats that day were names such as her long-time international colleagues Lucy Bronze and Demi Stokes, goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain and Wales international midfielder Jess Fishlock.

Arsenal were 2-1 winners on the day (a 19-year-old Kim Little was on the score sheet) but Gunners manager Vic Akers’ eye was taken by the 17-year-old attacking midfielder from the opposition. It would be another year until Arsenal signed her and Vic Akers would later describe Nobbs as “one of the best signings I ever made.” Akers signed the likes of Kelly Smith, Kim Little, Jayne Ludlow and Faye White. It is tremendous praise indeed.

As much as some of the names from the Sunderland teamsheet stand out from that day at Pride Park in 2009 when Nobbs left with a runners-up medal, it is the names on the Arsenal teamsheet where Nobbs had set her gaze. Emma Byrne, Ciara Grant, Katie Chapman, Jayne Ludlow, Rachel Yankey, Faye White. That was the company she wanted to keep.

Legend!

— Jordan Nobbs (@JordanNobbs8) July 7, 2020

Nobbs, born and raised in Stockton-on-Tees, whose father was a grizzled centre-half of many years with Hartlepool United, had no obvious childhood connection with Arsenal. From the start though, her affection, even awe, for the club was obvious. As she remarked in her tear soaked farewell letter this week, part of her thinking, from the beginning, was how to become a club legend, “How do I become the next Jayne Ludlow? The next Kelly Smith? And how do I keep up with Kim Little?”

I think that is one of the elements that makes Arsenal fans so drawn to Jordan, she offers a connection to that golden age- both for those who witnessed it and those who didn’t. She arrived before the landscape became more competitive and Arsenal had a vice like grip on all of the domestic trophies. When Nobbs arrived at Arsenal, Jayne Ludlow was 31 and Ciara Grant 32. Ludlow was moving into more of a holding midfield position and Grant had, by now, dropped back to centre-half.

Akers had the future of his midfield sketched out, with teenage sensation Kim Little already on board. Little Nobbs was going to be Arsenal’s engine room for the next decade and, neatly, both players made their 200th appearances for the club in the same match back in January 2020. Jordan had to bide her time, of course, before becoming a fixture in the starting eleven.

Legends like Jayne Ludlow don’t just disappear quietly into the night but bide her time she did and by 2013, she was very much a fixture in the team and established herself as one of its most important players. Jordan is an easy player for a fan to appreciate and a difficult player for an opponent to deal with. If anything, she seemed to gain energy and strength as games went on, consistently prodding, probing and running as those around her tired (remember her early years were pre-professionalism, when players only trained together twice a week).

Jordan was a player who tried, and often achieved, the difficult. The difficult pass that splits a defence, the difficult shot that crashes in off the bar, the lung busting run performed for the 20th time in the game in the hope that this run, this time, will be the one that bears fruit. In fact, moderation was really the aspect of her game that had to be coached into her, the talent and the physical properties were ready-made.

The first time I interviewed Jordan, back in 2013, she referenced this, “When I was younger I sometimes ran around like a headless chicken but I think I’ve improved on that. I’ve learned a lot from the likes of Kelly Smith and Kim Little.” It’s more difficult to appreciate now the crowds have grown but what also came across about watching Jordan was her voice.

From the stands and the press box, you would hear her before you saw her, her unmistakable northeast accent piercing the air, demanding the ball, demanding that players move or stay. It takes a lot for a young player to go into a team featuring those names and to make vocal demands but Jordan did. She had a nice poise between the self-confidence required to make her mark at a club like Arsenal and the humility to realise who she represented.

That translated into a sincerely expressed love for the club, which she articulated at every opportunity. Just look at her pinned tweet, penned the day she scored twice in a 5-0 win at Kingsmeadow, a time when she was in the absolute form of her career at the beginning of the 2018-19 season. Jordan’s affection for Arsenal was genuine, one can distinguish quite easily between platitudes and words sincerely expressed.

I thought a lot about this caption… fact is, I just love this football club @arsenalwfc #WeAreTheArsenal pic.twitter.com/vW0ZDoYT08

— Jordan Nobbs (@JordanNobbs8) October 14, 2018

In truth, that emotional connection to the club has probably kept her at Arsenal longer than was best for her career. During the 2020-21 season, Joe Montemurro started to play her on the left wing. When I spoke to Jordan last December, she admitted this probably cost her her place in the Team GB squad for the 2021 Olympics. “I had played nearly the whole season as a left-winger and I don’t think that helped my case. Looking back, I know that was unfolding but when you’re getting minutes, you get stuck in that zone.”

It’s been clear for a little while that, for one reason or another, Nobbs doesn’t quite fit Jonas Eidevall’s vision for the team and with a World Cup on the horizon, a move has long since been the best move for the player. It’s difficult, at this point, not to sink into pity which does not seem appropriate for a 30-year-old elite athlete. But there is the strong sense of injustice in Jordan’s career.

The fact that a hamstring injury prevented her from showing her best form at the 2015 World Cup, or that a cruciate ligament injury, suffered in November 2018, both kept her out of the 2019 World Cup and cut her down in her best, most untouchable form. Even this summer passed, as the Lionesses won the European Championships in front of 90,000 spectators at Wembley, Nobbs was not part of the squad due to a slight knee injury suffered in May, which caused her to leave the Meadow Park turf in tears.

Looking back at that interview from December 2021, a sentence jumps out. I asked her if the Euros was in her thoughts, “With my injury history over the last few years I can’t afford to think about it too much because I know things can change quickly.” Due to a lack of playing time, Jordan has been on the fringes of the England squad and with a World Cup on the horizon in July, a move was necessary and you can’t help wishing the player finally gets the international tournament that she deserves.

I don’t really have to tell you about Jordan’s talents or her catalogue of incredible goals, you have seen them all. Her 35-yard free-kick away at Manchester City, her double against Notts County in the 2015 Conti Cup Final, the gorgeous lob against Birmingham in January 2020, her cushioned volley against Zurich at the Emirates back in October. The noise that greets her appearances from the Arsenal faithful have always told you everything about how she is regarded.

🗣️ Jordan Nobbs on her goal against FC Zurich: "It was obviously a great cross from Steph Catley. I've been working hard to try and get minutes, and doing what I can when I come on. We've got such a great squad here, and it's about the team." (via UEFA)pic.twitter.com/8eevWIOwiK

— miedemastuff (@miedemastuff) October 29, 2022

From a personal perspective, this role can feel a little like walking a tightrope between being a fan and being a journalist and as the sport has grown, I have had to consider that a little more. On Thursday, we broke the story on Arseblog News that Jordan was to leave. Usually, breaking an exclusive gives you a little adrenaline boost, it’s one of the most thrilling parts of the job. On this occasion, I hit publish, closed my laptop and went for a pint. It wasn’t even bittersweet.

It’s a stunningly childish thing to admit, but Jordan was the first player to follow me on Twitter just over a decade ago. She was one of the first players we interviewed and the player we have spoken to the most over the years- by quite some distance. When my wife and I bought our daughter Eva her first Arsenal shirt, we had Nobbs’ name printed on the back. We have a picture of Jordan, sent out with our 2021-22 membership packs, on our fridge.

When we bought Eva’s first Arsenal shirt, there was only ever one name going on it. pic.twitter.com/q7nPqSYGq2

— Tim Stillman (@Stillmanator) January 5, 2023

Jordan was always generous with her time for the site, right from the very beginning when we were building our profile. But that’s a mere decoration on why she will always be one of my favourite players. I have always been drawn to movement on the football pitch, the energy, the will to try and master the difficult. It’s why I loved Aaron Ramsey and Alexis Sanchez- despite some of the flaws that drove other fans crazy. It’s why I admired Gabriel Jesus long before he wore an Arsenal shirt.

I am naturally drawn to players that move, that dare and nobody moves and dares more than Jordan and her popularity with Arsenal fans says I am far from alone in this appraisal. I have been watching the women’s team since the mid-90s and have seen bona fide club legends, the bar for what constitutes an Arsenal legend is unfathomably high. Jordan has cleared it with room to spare.