Declan Rice |
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NewtNewbie
Liam Brady Joined: 05 Feb 2013 Status: Offline Points: 2416 |
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‘Only Declan Rice can decide if he wants to play for Ireland’paul rowan Josh Cullen believes English-born players should not be pigeonholed when deciding their international future Nothing to see here”, says Josh Cullen, when it comes to hard-core tales from the front line, but his pleasant, even smile tells a different story. It was around this time last year in an FA Cup game between West Ham and Shrewsbury that Cullen was accidentally kicked in the mouth by an opponent, and one of his two front teeth was captured by the television cameras sailing through the air. After all the blood was mopped up, Cullen played until the end of the game 15 minutes later and only then did he head off to the nearby dental hospital. “They put it in milk straight away,” says Cullen of his dislodged dental. “The calcium in the milk keeps the tooth alive. They say that you have 90 minutes from when the tooth came out to save it. It was back in about 75 minutes after it came out. The doctor said I should come off the pitch and go straight to the hospital, but the adrenalin was going and we were drawing away to Shrewsbury in the Cup. You just have the mentality to get on with it and worry later.” Not quite on a par with another West Ham player, Stuart Pearce, trying to run off a broken leg, but Cullen’s dedication to his craft, his club and his country is wholly impressive. Cullen is currently on a season-long loan at League One side Charlton. Removing his boots before he entered reception, the Charlton manager Lee Bowyer was quick to recommend Cullen for international recognition and he is not one to dispense platitudes. “My aim always has been and still is to play for the West Ham first team, at the highest level,” Cullen says. “But it’s better for me to be out playing and proving myself in a competitive environment rather than me, maybe, being in and around the squad, on the bench, maybe getting a little bit of game time, but nothing really where I can get a bit of momentum going and really work on my game. “The manager here made it clear that he wanted me to come and be a big part of what he was trying to do. The position the manager played in and the career he had, I can learn off him. Little things about making the right runs into the box and your position when you are receiving the ball to give yourself some space.” It was incidental that of late, Cullen dwelled in the shadow of Declan Rice at West Ham and with Ireland, but it wasn’t always that way. A couple of years older than Rice, Cullen remembers trying to calm the nerves of a jittery fellow teenager, who was afraid of getting left behind by West Ham, just as he had been a couple of years earlier by Chelsea. “I dropped Dec home at his digs after training. His age group had just been offered scholarships and when you are offered a scholarship at 16 it is always sort of ‘are you going to get a pro contract offered as well at the same time’? Dec had just been offered a scholarship and he asked me ‘what do you think’? I said ‘don’t worry about it now. Just get your head down, work hard and that will come’. That is what he has done to be fair to him. Now he is playing in the Premier League and doing brilliant.” On the million-dollar question about Rice’s international allegiances, Cullen’s advice has not been sought and nor is he particularly inclined to offer it. What he does caution against are any sweeping generalisations, having watched bright prospects in Irish football turn their backs on the senior team. At Republic of Ireland under-21 level in 2015, Cullen moved into a midfield vacated by Jack Grealish. As a 19-year-old from Essex who had just made his Premier League debut as a late substitute at Liverpool, it was inevitable that his Ireland allegiances would be also questioned. He dismissed the idea and 17 appearances at under-21 level speaks even louder about his loyalty and commitment. Rice’s decision to pull back last year from committing to Ireland caught Cullen by surprise — “He had started playing for the senior team and the decision to say he was thinking about it came a bit late” — but he doesn’t want English-born players in the Ireland set up to be pigeon-holed just because of what Rice or Grealish did or did not do. “Everybody is different. You have people like Callum O’Dowda in the first team who is an example of the other side. He wanted to play for Ireland and is a big member of the squad,” says Cullen, who insists that nobody at West Ham is trying to sway Rice one way or another. “Obviously, he has a bit of pressure in his own mind because he can’t make his own mind up, otherwise he would have chosen. It wouldn’t be fair for anybody to sit there and say ‘you should do this or that’. Only he can make that decision.” Cullen himself played at under-16 level for England before he was put on standby for a couple of squads and decided to take up an offer to play for Ireland, his grandparents on his father’s side having hailed from Co Leitrim. “I went over and played in a trial game and never looked back, I was very proud to be captain of the under-21s and as soon as I made that decision to go over I did everything I could to make every trip.” Mick McCarthy only has to walk out his front door of his home in southeast London to monitor Cullen’s progress. This is Cullen’s third loan move — the first at Bradford was successful, the second at Bolton Wanderers less so — and McCarthy will already be attuned to the fine season Cullen is now having. Rice, who has gone straight from the academy into the first team and was rewarded with a substantially larger new contract in December, is the exception. The rule applies to players like Cullen who have to be more patient. “Dec has worked hard, he has done everything that was asked of him to get that contract. You don’t want to be chucking silly money at youngsters who haven’t really done anything and then they think ‘oh this is nice. I am at a Premier League club. I have got loads of money. Why do I need to go out on loan and prove myself’?” For Cullen there is no other way. Edited by NewtNewbie - 03 Feb 2019 at 10:21am |
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pre Madonna
Robbie Keane I am MALDING Joined: 30 Nov 2014 Location: Trumpton Status: Offline Points: 44659 |
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Anybody got the thoughts of Bill Cullen? I feel this thread needs them.
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GB 1HughJarse
Liam Brady Joined: 03 Sep 2015 Status: Offline Points: 2091 |
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Jackie Lavin is the brains behind Bill, let’s hear what she has to say.....can’t be any worse than 90% of previous on here |
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50%lesssugar&salt
Liam Brady Joined: 02 Sep 2017 Status: Offline Points: 1296 |
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I am surprised no one has sought Bill's views on Rice given that he is selling Chinese cars on the Naas road..
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Trap junior
Robbie Keane YBIG Minister of Doom & Gloom Joined: 25 Jan 2010 Location: Irish Riviera Status: Offline Points: 39874 |
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Ah me aul segosha. I remember when I was 19 and I used to get up at 5am every morning to sell apples and I used to look myself in the mirror and tell myself how great I was. When I was done with that I would then go for 3 marathons at lunch running 78 miles to school (in my bare feet) before running back at 3pm. Then I would have to sell apples again before tea which consisted of coddle and a maddarin orange if I was lucky. This Declan Rice lad doesn't know the meaning of money like I do. P.S. I'm great.
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Pied Piper to: Baldrick, Brendan 88, 9Fingers, Borussia and more...
97.6% chance this post will be replied to by Baldrick (source: PWC) |
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Roberto Baggio
Robbie Keane UNBELIEVABLE JEFF Joined: 28 Jan 2010 Status: Offline Points: 37358 |
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I think he’ll declare for us and play against Germany in the next euros. Can just hear the commentary now......
Muller.....Rice.....Muller....Corner!
Edited by Roberto Baggio - 04 Feb 2019 at 9:23pm |
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colemanY2K
Roy Keane Fresh minty breath Joined: 01 Mar 2010 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 14959 |
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BBC commentators on 5 live, were tonight of the view, that he'll be sticking with Ireland.
Edited by colemanY2K - 04 Feb 2019 at 10:37pm |
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"One of the dominant facts in English life during the past three quarters of a century has been the decay of ability in the ruling class." Orwell, 1942.
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Pauldaly1984
Liam Brady Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Location: Rome 1990 Status: Offline Points: 1007 |
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Sounds promising. Those boys be in the know. What did they say exactly. I reckon we can safely say at this point if rice is to play international ball this year it’s with us. Too late to switch for March with England . If he was definitely gone he’d be gone by neontonget set up in the squad for the campaign. He’s good enough for their squad possibly starting 11. If they do well they aren’t going to change a winning side to fit him in if he parachutes halfway thorough campaign
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colemanY2K
Roy Keane Fresh minty breath Joined: 01 Mar 2010 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 14959 |
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They were full of praise regarding his performance and were saying you can see why there's been such a fuss about who he'll play for. The commentator went on to add that it looks like it'll be Ireland. He didn't elaborate.
Edited by colemanY2K - 04 Feb 2019 at 11:18pm |
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"One of the dominant facts in English life during the past three quarters of a century has been the decay of ability in the ruling class." Orwell, 1942.
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Pauldaly1984
Liam Brady Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Location: Rome 1990 Status: Offline Points: 1007 |
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could be f all I’m it so, I still think he’ll play for us and go on to be a great
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ShamtheRam
Paul McGrath Joined: 05 Apr 2009 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 18157 |
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At this stage I'm of the view that whatever he does and whoever he chooses good luck to him because he is going to be one hell of a player. Absolutely brilliant tonight for West Ham.
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YBIG NPF founder and CEO
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The Huntacha
Roy Keane Joined: 27 Mar 2012 Location: Dubai Status: Offline Points: 12820 |
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Should have scored with the header. It's been some turn around for his club career since being whipped off at HT in the reverse fixtures on the opening day. A crucial player for them now.
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Jimmy Bullard - "Favorite band? Elastic."
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eireland
Ray Houghton Joined: 12 Feb 2016 Status: Offline Points: 4397 |
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There's the possibility he won't take part in the qualifying campaign for anyone and just focus on his club career.
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Roberto_Carlow
Liam Brady Joined: 05 Jan 2019 Status: Offline Points: 1385 |
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He was excellent last night. He would be a massive player for us.
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Banjaxed
Liam Brady Joined: 21 Feb 2014 Status: Offline Points: 2965 |
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At this stage it doesn't look like there will be any separate announcement. He'll be named in micks upcoming squad or he won't. I imagine if he's chosen Ireland he just wants to minimise the circus as much as possible
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greenscene
Kevin Kilbane Joined: 09 Oct 2010 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 173 |
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It looks at this point that he is either going to be called up for Gibraltar, or he is giving Mick the difficult job of not including him (sticking to his March deadline) and therefore making his decision to go to England that bit easier. It does look promising now
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WWW.GREENSCENE.ME
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kearney304
Liam Brady Joined: 25 Feb 2014 Location: Cork Status: Offline Points: 1992 |
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What date (roughly) will be squad announcement for Gib? |
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gazurtoids
Liam Brady Joined: 13 Mar 2015 Location: dublin Status: Offline Points: 1763 |
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Is it possible there's no announcement, Mick names in the next squad and he just turns up
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