Clubs need "home grown players", hence the likes of Fabian Delph at City. I do think City would look at him as an understudy to FerdandinhoOriginally Posted by mark12345
Yes, it is early days for him yet, not every player live up to their early expectations. We have a couple of players ranked above him in the
stats so it is not the end of the world!
How many Gerrards are there? Not many!
Some of the posts earlier in the thread are brutal now
Anyway as someone with a similar background to Rice I can definitely empathise with his situation regarding his national identity. Kilbane's simplistic attitude of "you're either Irish or English" is really irritating. However, to win 3 senior caps and then switch sides less than a year later is a serious dick move, especially after everything he said before. It's also going to prejudice people against young English-born players in our youth teams which I think is a real shame. What I would have liked from his statement is an apology for taking the three caps without being sure that he wanted to play for Ireland.
I was born in the England and have lived in the UK for most of my life. I have both a UK and an Irish passport. I don't go round wanting England to lose every game or anything like that, but I would rather have had one Irish cap than a plethora of one's for England. For me it's not 50:50, it's not an "agonising decision", for me it's not even a "decision" at all.
Yesterday’s events have clarified something for me. It is really important that our dual-qualified lads don’t face a backlash from this,Boovidge and others are bang on there.Poor oul Mickey Obafemi already had to deal with some of the fallout and did so with class and dignity.However, I really don’t want Bamford to get a shirt now.As for Redmond,he’s playing out of his skin but the fact is he’s just not Irish,I don’t really care what the rules say.Like in theory it’d be great to have the best possible starting eleven on the pitch but an Irish cap should be something precious and not a runners-up prize or something to be used as leverage in contract or sponsorship negotiations.One of the key things to our rebuild of the team has to be a reconnection to the fans.I think I’d rather see McLean kick the ball 20 yards ahead of himself into touch for evermore than have to read some gash about Will Keane retiring from international duty to prolong his club career.im not saying its logical or likely to bring us the most success but we deserve better.
Le monde est a nous
100%. We also need zero tolerance policy going forward. If you turn down a call up your Irish international career could be over that moment
Also, saying he has "equal respect and love" for Ireland as well as England irks the sh*t out of me. If that was the case and the respect and love were so equal, then he'd demonstrate a bit of loyalty to the country that constantly picked and supported him.
Sounness weights in: https://www.balls.ie/football/graeme...an-rice-405936
a picture can tell a 1000 words!
Think Souness has hit the nail on the head, Declan Rice declared for England because of money, his agent and those 'close to him' saw the Pound Sterling signs and that was that. The reality is when it comes to mercenary issues-we will always lose out to England.
"Mercenary"
"Using Ireland as a stepping stone"
"Hope he gets injured"
"Change the rules"
Some of this is very reminiscent of the kind of stuff that Our Wee Country posters get so lambasted for.
"Football fans in hypocrisy shocker!"
Fellow dual-nationalist, Miguel Delaney, gives his take. Instead of tightening up the rules, he suggests they should be loosened even further, which probably won't go down well here - https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-a8778351.html
A sad day....but perhaps it's a day that should've happened sooner. Let's be honest, at the very least we took advantage of the "Irish" network by nabbing senior stars like McGeady and McCarthy very early on. We've done it with others.
Of course it hurts, but it hurts on many levels.
There's a line in his statement that tells us everything:
"in all honesty, not one I ever expected to be making at this stage of my career". So he knew that the time would come that he would possibly be offered the chance to play for England, and he still pursued
There is an easy solution to all of this of course, for any future superstars. They are called in advance of a competitive international and told they're going to be selected to play. Bring the family over, huge honour, etc etc. If they decline the call-up you know they're un-interested. You drop them forever. Because what shouldn't be discounted in all of this, are the boys (and girls) who are not Irish-born* who every time they pony up to an International, will have people openly questioning their commitment. Who never wanted to play for anyone other than IE.
That's what makes me want to call Rice a c*nt.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
I think the anger in this instance relates to the senior caps Rice has received. If his appearances had been limited to Irish youth teams, then the reaction would be limited to disappointment imo.
In regards to NI, I've always been of the view that Northern players who desire to represent the Irish national team should make the Irish youth teams/FAI their first port of call. If that doesn't work out then they can switch to NI if they so desire.
Last edited by The Fly; 14/02/2019 at 1:31 PM.
In his own head he was genuinely committed to Ireland. He's had his head persuasively turned towards the England team and he did consider that decision.. Playing for England is not seen by him as playing for an opposite dark force.
With Breen and Kilbane it's all black and white as if they haven't the ability to appreciate or value that there are different nuances to Irish identity.
Those two grew up as first generation Irish, both parents irish, lyons tea & kimberly mikado, GAA and summers spent in paradise. Obviously their Irish ethnicity is thickened. But not everybody has that fanatic upbringing.
Rice is 2nd generation and only on his father's side.
I have a 1st cousin once removed, with similar lineage to Declan and similar ethnic ties, he's certainly not a replica of his father's irishness, however it's about 50/50 but the default 50% would be English.
The three senior caps thing is definitely the most annoying part of the switch. Generally I can see why players switch at underage level, and I can see why the rule to switch after a senior cap makes sense for lads with one cap in a friendly. I wouldn't go so far as to wish ill on Rice, but I certainly won't be cheering him on in his career. I'd like to see the rules tightened up so it's any competitive senior cap, or more than one senior friendly cap that ties a player permanently.
Tallaght Stadium Regular
Roy Keane and Ireland being openly trolled by West Ham owner now. Oh the humanity!!!
Ireland need to start weeding out these dual national lads early on. For instance, Conor Coventry (just an example) at West Ham should be called up to the Senior squad and if he refuses then out he goes.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
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