New £3m deal for Rice as Ireland decision nears
DECLAN RICE has pledged his future to West Ham by signing a contract worth up to £3million a season, with a decision on his international future next on the agenda. The 19-year-old has penned a new five-anda-half year deal, with the option of a further 12 months, to stay at the London Stadium.
Sportsmail understands Rice’s basic wage package is around £40,000-per-week, but he could earn an extra £20,000-per-week if he meets appearancerelated targets. The deal makes him one of the best paid youngsters in English football. The news ends months of uncertainty over the player’s future after long running contract negotiations. His previous deal was to expire at the end of next season sparking fears the club could have lost one of their brightest talents for nothing. Rice, who recently met with Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy and coach Robbie Keane regarding his international future, is understood to be leaning towards declaring for Ireland, despite the recent overtures from England manager Gareth Southgate. ‘I’m absolutely delighted to have got the contract done, to commit my future to the club. I’m absolutely ecstatic,’ Rice said. ‘Without a doubt, it was the right thing to do.’
JOHN ANDERSON wore the number 19 jersey for the Republic of Ireland at the finals of Euro ’88 even though he never had the slightest chance of getting a game.
It had nothing to with his status in the pecking order of the 20-man squad, but something far more straightforward — he was crocked.
Selected by Jack Charlton for duty in Germany, Anderson hobbled to the finals and hobbled home again, with no regrets. He lapped up every second of it.
The Dubliner was a 10-season stalwart of the Irish scene, more often out of the team than in it, but successive managers — Alan Kelly, Eoin Hand and Charlton liked his positive character, versatility and unbridled passion.
Charlton, who knew a ringer when he saw one, brought Anderson to Germany, after which he wrote to Willie McFaul, the Newcastle manager, and told him that Anderson ‘had a great f ***** g holiday’ at the finals.
Charlton had managed Anderson at Newcastle and perhaps that influenced him to include the all-rounder, who could play across the back and in midfield, in his final selection.
Because based on the criteria of fitness, Anderson was struggling.
Some 30 years on and now aged 59, he recalls his near-miss with Euro ’88 with a laugh.
‘It was because of an end of season testimonial game at Whitely Bay. The pitch was a like cabbage field, it was c**p. Willie [McFaul] said to me to come off at halftime, he knew I was going to Dublin and what not,’ he said.
‘Only, just before half-time I went over in a pothole and did all my ligaments and my ankle came up like a balloon. I went and had it X-rayed, they put it in plaster and said it would be in plaster for eight weeks.’
It was the middle of May and Anderson, by rights, should have been ruled out of the Euro ’88 finals. Only, he hadn’t soldiered in the trenches, from Uberlandia [7-0 loss to Brazil] and back, to give it up without putting up a fight.
‘I left the plaster on for 10 days. Jack [Charlton] said, “If you’re not in Dublin, you don’t go. You’re going to have to come over and we’ll give you a fitness test and see what the story is”.
‘Unbeknown to Newcastle, I cut the plaster off after 10 days and came over, strapped it up. You’ve never seen so much strapping.’
For the fitness test, Anderson indulged in a little ruse to convince Charlton.
‘I bought a pair of boots that were a size too big,’ he recalled.
‘Mick [Byrne] was physio at the time and we went for a run in front of Jack. It was all done in straight lines and I was in agony.
‘I did it for about 20 minutes and was almost in tears. Jack said “Alright, you’re fine, you can go.” And that was that!’
Five operations later, Anderson’s ankle flares up in the cold but warm memories of the Euro ’88 finals more than make up for it, even though he never fully recovered and only played once more for Ireland. Any regrets? ‘No.’ Would he do it again? ‘Yeah.’
‘Even though I didn’t get near playing, it was the first time we’d ever qualified for a major tournament.
‘I thought at the time it was a gamble worth taking. I didn’t think long-term and maybe I should have done.
‘If I had left the plaster on for six weeks, eight weeks and had the treatment on it, I’d probably have been fine afterwards.’ So, was he in a position to play at the Euros if called upon?
‘No. Not a chance. I couldn’t walk. When we got out there, at the first training session my back went into spasm because I was being careful with the ankle.’
Anderson won the first of his 17 caps in 1979 and by the time Charlton was appointed in 1986, he had added just five more. But his patience was rewarded as he knew what was coming under the gruff Geordie, whom he played for at Newcastle.
‘The year we went up, 1983-84, we had [Peter] Beardsley, [Chris] Waddle, and [Kevin] Keegan up front; we’d Terry Mc (McDermott) in midfield so we were a side that got promoted by playing through midfield and playing football.
‘Beardsley and Keegan weren’t the biggest in the world, so everything had to be in to feet.
‘Jack came in and totally ripped it all up. He went, “You won’t stay up in the First Division playing like that, so we’re going long”, and the first thing he did was he got two big centre forwards — George Reilly and Tony Cunningham. We went long, went in the corners, and we pressed.
‘When he named his first squad against Wales, a couple of boys rang me and asked, “What’s he like?” I said, “Nothing like you’ll have ever seen before, he’s got his own views, he knows the way he wants to play. It won’t be pretty, but this is the way he wants it.’
Anderson didn’t kow-tow to Charlton, which probably stood in his favour. After playing 41 out of 42 matches in the promotion season, he found out he wasn’t playing in the first game of the 1984-85 campaign.
Instead, Malcolm Brown, who missed the entire season before with injury, was picked.
‘I went to see Jack and asked what was going on. His exact words were, “This club cannot afford to pay 200 grand for a fullback and not play him”. I said I wasn’t happy and turned around. I was walking out the door, when Jack says, “You can be sub if you want”. I said fine.
‘We went to Leicester and beat them 3-2. I didn’t get on but he played me in the next game, against Villa at St James’ Park at centre back.
‘We beat them 3-0 and won our opening three games of the season to sit top of the table.
‘If you did what Jack wanted you to do, Jack had no qualms with you. It’s when you started not to do what you were told, there were problems.
‘Jack’s view was, “Look, you’re entitled to your opinion, but at the end of the day, I’m always right”. You knew, there was no point in arguing with him,’ he added.
Anderson was there for the opening game of Charlton’s reign against Wales, as centre-back alongside Dave O’Leary.
He was part of things that summer in Reykjavik against Iceland and Czechoslovakia, where he played right-back and left-back as Ireland won their first international tournament.
And he enjoyed the high of beating Brazil 1-0 in Dublin in May 1987 — Anderson, Liam Brady and Kevin O’Callaghan were the sole survivors of the 7-0 humiliation in Uberlandia in ’82. But nothing compared to the madness of Euro ’88, especially the 1-0 win over England in Stuttgart.
‘Everybody came back to the hotel. There was Guinness all over the place, there were banjos and bodhráns.
‘People don’t believe you now, but it was like that. It was magic.’
For that night, all of Anderson’s sacrifice had been worth it.
‘As long as you did what Jack asked you to do, you’d be fine with him’