MICK: I WASN’T SO NICE TO RICE

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MICK MCCARTHY called Declan Rice back to apologise for his testy reaction to being told the West Ham United midfielder was switching allegiance from Ireland to England.

Rice was still a teenager when he made three starting games for the Republic in friendly matches under Martin O’neill in the first half of 2018.

But reports then emerged that Rice, who was born and bred in London, was having second thoughts about his international future and was wanted by England boss Gareth Southgate.

Mccarthy, who replaced O’neill in late November of that year, and Robbie Keane visited Rice just before that Christmas.

And, in January 2019, the Ireland boss remained hopeful publicly at least - that Rice (above) would be part of his first squad in March.

But almost exactly a month later it emerged that Rice, whose paternal grandparents hailed from Cork, had submitted a written request to FIFA to transfer his registration to England.

Now 21, Rice has gone on to make seven appearances in an England jersey.

Mccarthy has revealed he had a hunch that Rice wanted to switch allegiance when he met him. “I went to see him and his dad and, I didn’t say it publicly at the time, but I didn’t think he would come with us, I think he was erring on the side of playing with England,” Mccarthy told Gary Neville in a Sky Sports interview.

Rice phoned Mccarthy to inform him of his decision.

In a statement he released at the time, Rice said that his “pride at wearing the Irish shirt was always 100% genuine”.

But Mccarthy confessed: “I was pretty curt with him on the phone and I had to call him back and say, ‘Listen I’m sorry, I wish you well, I hope you have a good career with England and with West Ham’.

“And good luck to him because it’s his choice.

“He never played for me, it’s just I was so disappointed that we were losing such a good player.”

Mccarthy, whose second stint in the Ireland hotseat ended last month, recalled how Rice’s decision was received.

“How it went down? Well, it went down like a lead balloon,” he declared. “He played three games, I think he scored in the U21s and I think he kissed the jersey.

“But players have a choice for which to play for now.

“There’s another discussion if you’ve played once in a friendly game at full international level, should that be you down as an Irish player, an English player, a Scottish player or whatever it may be?

“I think it should, once you’ve played in the national team.

“But if you’ve got a choice, which he had, he played his games, he got in the West Ham team, he started flying.”