BETWEEN THE HEART AND HEAD
Rice has makings of an Irish legend but ambition could soon supersede his passion
MOMENTS before Declan Rice was set to be interviewed on television alongside captain Seamus Coleman, following the teenager’s man-of-the-match performance on his senior Ireland debut against Turkey in March, he asked if there was enough time to see his Dad before going on the air.
Seán Rice was standing just behind the camera with tears in his eyes and, as father and son embraced, they both then began to cry. It was, as one onlooker told
Sportsmail this week, ‘the purest of raw emotion’.
Rice Snr was no doubt thinking of his own parents, Jack and Margaret from Douglas in Cork, who managed to see their grandson represent Ireland at Under-16 level before they passed away within a fortnight of each other two years ago.
The fact that Seán Rice even had permission to visit the tunnel area is an indication of how the red carpet was rolled out by the FAI. For that trip to Antalya seven months ago, Rice Snr was part of the FAI’s official delegation and watched alongside dignitaries in the stands as his son won his first cap. He was even granted an all-access security pass so he could go to the dressing room area afterwards. They are just some of the reasons why he remains steadfast in his belief that his son shouldn’t switch allegiances to England.
Another is the close relationship Martin O’Neill has fostered with him, staying in regular contact via text on matters not solely relating to the international future of his son. This follows O’Neill’s visit to the family home in London in August when Rice asked not to be considered for the opening Nations League game with Wales.
Sportsmail has also learned that the Rice Snr contacted O’Neill on Thursday in the immediate aftermath of Sky Sports’ report that his son had chosen to represent England and assured him it wasn’t the case.
O’Neill had also spoken to the player the night before the provisional squad for the upcoming Nations League double-header with Denmark and Wales was announced, and was told by the player that he had yet to reach a definitive decision.
‘I think Declan’s family has an influence on him. I’d be massively surprised if they didn’t, but he’s the one who makes the choice,’ O’Neill explained this week.
A few days after Rice’s senior debut in Turkey, in what was viewed at the time as another clear indication of his dedication to the Ireland cause, the player insisted on turning out for Noel King’s U21s in a Euro qualifier against Azerbaijan at Tallaght Stadium.
A last-minute winner for the young Boys in Green led to jubilant scenes – Rice celebrated by kissing the crest on his chest – and there were more hugs in the tunnel long after the initial feeling of delirium faded.
This time, it wasn’t just Rice Snr and Jnr who savoured a special few days. Alongside them, in the thick of it all, was the FAI’s chief scout in London, Mark O’Toole, the man who spotted Rice as a 14-yearold and offered him the chance of attending an Ireland training camp after he had been released by Chelsea and picked up soon after by West Ham United.
He has gone from strength to strength for club and country, despite initial fears that he would be rejected in his bid for a professional contract by the Hammers. Last year he was named Ireland’s U17 Player of the Year and it was the summer of 2017 that O’Neill first invited him to train with the senior squad for three days at a camp in Fota Island.
Fast forward a year. Coming to the end of his superb debut season in the Premier League last term and a week before his senior debut, Rice made it back-to-back gongs by picking up Ireland’s U19 award in Dublin. It was then that he made the most definitive statement of his loyalty to the Ireland cause.
‘There’s no decision to be made,’ he said. ‘I’m here now with Ireland at the moment and I’ve been called up by Martin. And if I didn’t want to play for Ireland I wouldn’t be here tonight picking up this award.
‘I haven’t had a call from anyone at the [English] FA. Not at all. England have never wanted me at under-age level, it’s always been Ireland. I’m fully focused on playing with Ireland. My family are very happy that I’m playing with Ireland.’
That was March. In June, not long after he made his home debut in John O’Shea’s swansong friendly against the United States, Rice met with England manager Gareth Southgate alongside his new agent, Neil Fewings of the Wasserman Media Group.
Fewings had put the plans in motion with the English FA’s technical director Dan Ashworth (since departed for a role at Brighton and Hove Albion), who made sure Rice
Rice’s father contacted Martin O’Neill after Thursday’s confusion to offer some assurance
was on Southgate’s radar as far back as January. ‘Well, I’ve met Gareth quite a number of times on the rounds in the last number of months. But you know what, I’ll not go down that route. In terms of all bets being off, let us get our own things in place and stop concerning ourselves about annoying others,’ O’Neill added this week. ‘I think you have to look after your own interests here, I’m not calling it a selfish thing. If we’ve got players who play for us at underage level and we think they’re good enough, I think we should pursue it right to the death.’ Sportsmail reported on Friday that Rice was ‘flattered’ by Southgate’s eagerness to have him involved as part of his immediate plans, and this has played a major part in muddying his thinking as he previously felt that wouldn’t be the case. It also emerged that Fewings rejected West Ham’s proposal of a new contract for his client in May of this year, an offer which would have seen his weekly wage of £3,000 rise to £15,000.
Those negotiations remain at an impasse. Indeed, this newspaper was told earlier this week that they are currently ‘going nowhere’, which would suggest that the Rice issue won’t be resolved any time soon, perhaps not even by the end of this year, which O’Neill had indicated was preferable.
Curiously, five days before Ireland were comprehensively beaten by France on May 28, when Rice earned his second Ireland cap and was also witness to the foulmouthed rant assistant manager Roy Keane directed towards Harry Arter, West Ham co-owner David Gold riled many on this side of the Irish Sea by declaring that he wanted the club’s new manager, Manuel Pellegrini, to turn the 19-year-old into ‘a strong England defender’.
Speaking in the week before that summer double-header, Keane responded to those suggestions. ‘It’s going to be pretty difficult if he’s Irish. And he is Irish. He plays for Ireland. Where else would he want to go, if you had a choice, Ireland or England? It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Ireland.’
Keane, clearly, had no idea that a meeting was to take place between the Rice camp and England just a few days after the USA game in early June.
‘Sitting here, among just us, you’d think it would be a straightforward thing to settle on, but there are many things that we don’t know about impacting on this decision. If we give him that little bit of time and it works out, then I’ll be delighted. If he goes to England that will be entirely his decision,’ O’Neill added.
There are many different factors at play here, of course. Rice only has to look at West Ham captain Mark Noble, his midfield partner, who understandably rejected the chance to play for Ireland in the hope of an England cap.
Also, it was only last month on the club’s YouTube channel that Rice went into a bit more detail about his friendship with John Terry, whom he got to know at Chelsea but has grown closer to since leaving the club. The teenager revealed that he keeps a photo of the pair together on his phone as inspiration.
‘We’re really good friends, we talk all the time. I was looking up to him and now that I’m playing I’m hoping that I can have the career he’s had,’ Rice said.
Whether that will be in an England shirt is the million dollar question, but O’Neill put his money where his mouth is this week and declared Rice as a future Ireland captain and someone capable of taking on legendary status like former Manchester United and Aston Villa defender Paul McGrath.
‘There’s no guarantee. Declan would know this, there is no guarantee of him playing 50 times for England,’ O’Neill continued.
‘There’s a fairly decent chance of him doing that with us. With the way he’s progressing, there’s a fairly decent chance he could end up captaining the side after Seamus.
‘It’s a possibility. I’m expanding now when I really shouldn’t. England are going to qualify for competitions but they’re going to have competition for places.
‘Historically, we don’t qualify as much as England. It’s always a struggle for us to qualify. We’ve only qualified for seven major tournaments.
‘Sometimes you have to put all those things in context. Declan could become a Paul McGrath. That’s a possibility.’
There is a fairly good chance that he could end up captaining the side after Seamus