I'm creeping towards pessimism even though we're still in possession.
11/10 he stays 10/11 he goes.
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I'm creeping towards pessimism even though we're still in possession.
11/10 he stays 10/11 he goes.
This story is not worthy of a mention on the BBC sports page. Nor the BBC football page. Headline on RTE.
Perhaps a taste of things to come ............
Come on really , contracts aren’t worth the paper there written on
I have noticed that the vast, vast majority of replies to him on twitter are from Ireland fans, then West Ham fans, and then a distant third from people who want him to play for England.
English people I meet are vaguely aware of him, even football fans, the lads in my five a side aren't remotely excited about him declaring for them, never heard it discussed, (maybe that says more about their knowledge than about him though). The only person here who brought him up with me, was a West Ham fan & he said they guy has played for Ireland, he should probably get on with that.
If one was to judge by the green frenzied twitter environment he sometimes frequents then it's a no brainer that he would decide to continue with Ireland but alas there are some hidden dark forces at play and he continues to mull at length.
All the arguments being made on the English side of this are further reason why Declan should NOT declare for them, clearly those on the side of the FA dont know what national pride is all about they seem to think this is like a club side and say "right you are Irish and brought up supporting Ireland buuuuuut, if you declare for England you will win this and qualify for that etc" Declan had clearly said that he wants to stick with Ireland all the way back in June and had been capped all the way back in March yet we are now in this position so unless Declan or his father rang the FA and asked them if they would accept Declan than this is manipulation by the FA and Southgate, bottom line. Declan made a decision and instead of respecting it they came back for round 2 and the arguments made by the FA all sound like essentially bribes, they know they cant compete with Ireland when it comes to national pride in this case so they are trying to find way's of getting through to him.
Comparisons with Grealish have been made but later on it was revealed by Jack that he declared because he felt "more English than Irish" and that in the end was a fair argument but that really cant be the scenario here when you look at the people involved.
In the end I just find it rich of the English FA trying to bribe Rice with success, ohhh the irony of it all they have one succesful run in a WC in which they had the easiest run to a SF I have ever seen and they think that covers up 52 years of failure in which bar maybe one or two where they got to semi's or so have never really been in with a shout of winning a trophy. In the end it kind of show's where England really are when despite all this chat about how much great talent they have coming through that they have to try manipulate an Irish kid into declaring for them, kind of sad really.
Declan Rice was on Soccer AM this morning doing one of those question and answer on teammates pieces. He comes across as such a down to earth, charming and funny lad.
No mention of international career thankfully!
First senior goal today. Nice finish too.
Decent point made by McCarthy that it was Southgate in charge of the underage setup that overlooked Rice for so long.At least the ludicrous saga looks like its coming to an end.Hopefully some lessons can be learned about how to avoid this happening again,we may be total gash on the field at the moment but a supposedly much-beloved nation deserves better treatment.
Was he overlooked or did Rice just jump in with Ireland via Mark O'Toole very early and then England didn't aggressively chase him as much as they are now? It's a good point though in one sense- he's been in our set up and surely been treated well for a long time. This is quite a step to go into an environment he has never been in.
And I'm impressed by the simplicity and adroitness of Mick's argument as recorded by DMcD in the Indo
Thanks Geysir,that’s the article I was referring too,I’m not technically savvy enough to post links.
And of course he scores his first goal, and the winner against Arsenal to boot, just before his announcement. So it will make his decision even more crushing, if it isn't the one we want. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46766896
If he declares for England just in time to qualify for their next competitive fixture - it will display a degree of cynicism I'd not anticipated.
We are also being trolled by Gary Lineker on Twitter and on MOTD over this. Cracking striker. Painful bloke.
Apparently Southgate under consideration by Man Utd!