CLEAR THE DECS AND MOVE ON

Rice mess needs addressed ASAP please

MAYBE Declan Rice has fat fingers or maybe he was just nonchalantly scrolling through Twitter when he accidentally ‘liked’ a tweet that added fuel to the fire.

Or maybe the teenager could do everyone a favour and make a statement of his own – even if it is just kicking to touch – to shed some light on what is fast becoming a mess.

During Martin O’neill’s press conference yesterday, Rice ‘liked’ an FAI tweet that said the player had made no decision, wanted more time but that O’neill was hopeful.

Hitting that little heart-shaped icon has been the only direct communication from Rice on the matter since stepping away from the fold at the end of August. ‘Modern football’, eh?

Minutes after O’neill (right) finished his press conference, a Sky Sports report sourced from England claimed Rice had already made up his mind to declare to the Three Lions.

It suggested the English FA was preparing to submit the necessary paperwork with FIFA to get the deal over the line.

O’neill had finished his various media duties for the day – or so he thought. Doorstepped as he left Aviva Stadium, he expressed surprise at the claim. And well he might as only moments earlier he had outlined how discussions with Rice and his father, Sean, had gone well.

Not to receive a courtesy call at least would have been quite something.

O’neill said: “I’ve spoken to them but, listen, I don’t know whether I should be divulging an awful lot of the conversation. I’m still hopeful. I’m hopeful.

“Declan’s father had a long conversation with me, really long. He’s a young kid and whatever decision he makes will be for the rest of his footballing life. “I understand these things.” Still, there has been growing confidence in England in the last week that Rice will side with the World Cup semi-finalists. Whether that is agent driven – Rice changed his earlier in the year – or not is unclear although O’neill has spoken to the teenager’s representatives.

“I’m not bad-mouthing the agent,” he said. “My conversation with the agent was to find out bit of background, how this had all transpired and progressed.

“I can only glean from my conversations with the Rice family,” he added, strongly suggesting that Rice’s father and brothers favour siding with Ireland.

“I’ve said all along the way, even when he played the matches for us, that nothing is over the line until it’s over the line.

“I’m hopeful like anything else. If he declared tomorrow for England then that hope obviously disappears.

“If he declares for us, I won’t be running around shouting it and saying I knew all along, that’s not the case.

“I’m hopeful for the conversations that have taken place and I know where his family would like him to be.

“All right? I think the Dad might be articulating some of the points that Declan’s feeling.”

O’neill is unsure how long this saga is going to play out and while he would like it resolved by the end of the year, he won’t serve Rice with a deadline. Rice’s contract dispute at West Ham is another reason why he doesn’t want to pile pressure on or knock him off stride after an impressive run of performances.

O’neill does not get the sense that Rice is struggling to deal with the fallout from his controversial international stance.

And nor does he believe Rice is staying away because he was an eyewitness to Roy Keane’s furious rant at Harry Arter at the team hotel in June.

The same rant saw Arter step away from the Ireland set-up himself last month in protest, only to return yesterday after smoothing out issues with Keane.

O’neill said: “The idea about Roy coming in and he being in the room and affecting him, honestly it’s…i can’t turn around and say it’s the opposite.

“But it’s something that both he and his father were at great pains to say, ‘No, not at all.’ No effect.”

But O’neill refused to offer his gut feeling on whatever the outcome will be, whenever it will be.

“No, since you still think I’ve got issues over Jack Grealish. I don’t have any regrets over Jack. I think Jack might have the regrets now.”

GOALKEEPERS: DEFENDERS: MIDFIELDERS: FORWARDS: