DECLAN RICE

was excellent for West Ham against Spurs on Thursday night, just as he impressed against Manchester City earlier in the season.

His elevation is encouraging for Martin O’Neill, who cannot be blasé about fresh talent. It speaks, too, to the qualities of David Moyes, a fine manager cheaply dismissed for failing at Manchester United.

As ongoing events have illustrated, succeeding at Old Trafford is a fiendishly difficult job. Moyes became a comic figure, but Rice’s development under his coaching shows there was more to him than lazy caricatures.