It was clear that something had changed between the time Declan Rice made his international debut versus Turkey earlier this year and Martin O'Neill's squad announcement yesterday which did not include the 19-year-old, but Brian Kerr feels it has nothing to do with the FA, his agent or his club, West Ham.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Martin O'Neill said that Rice is considering his international future. He added that there has been an approach from the English FA: "He is still deliberating."
In the aftermath of his announcement, West Ham owner David Gold claimed Rice would make a great England captain while there have been several explanations touted as reasons behind the move. However, speaking on be3 Ireland, former Ireland manager Brian Kerr felt it was not the influence of the club or country.
Something has changed dramatically. I don't believe it was the influence of the agent. I don't believe it was Gareth Southgate, impressive and all as England were at the World Cup, because his statements were so certain.
I hope it wasn't something that happened when he was in with the team, I hope there wasn't some incident. I mean Martin recently confirmed there were altercations between players and one of the staff, Roy Keane. I hope there wasn't any incident or remarks made to Declan Rice that affected his view of the Irish set-up and the Irish camp because he did seem so happy in the environment.
⏳ 8:37 minutes long but well worth a watch!
Brian Kerr & Keith Andrews offer their view on the Declan Rice situation.
Some very interesting views from Brian as to how the situation may have arisen.
Plus Keith on how he'd feel playing with a player following such a situation. pic.twitter.com/r3bplHbBvC
— TV3 Sport (@TV3SportIreland) August 28, 2018
Kerr was referring to O'Neill's comments to the Irish Mirror last week, which confirmed that an altercation had taken place between Roy Keane, Jon Walters and another player reported to be Harry Arter.
I’m not denying there hasn’t been altercations. But the situation has definitely been defused and it’s just part of things. In one of the particular arguments, the two lads - Roy and the particular player - were actually in agreement about the same thing but it took them time to realise it.
