West Ham co-owner David Gold has hit out at Roy Keane over his comments on Declan Rice.
Keane tore into the Hammers starlet on ITV ahead of England’s 4-0 win over Kosovo on Sunday evening, as per Forever West Ham, branding him “sloppy” and claiming that he had regressed in his form.
But Gold has defended his player, and suggested that Keane is still bitter because Rice chose to represent England over the Republic of Ireland.
As quoted by Claret & Hugh, he said: “Keane needs to get over it. Declan made his choice and I think that is what’s behind it as far as Keane is concerned.
“It’s pretty shameful when a former professional talks the way he did about a young man. It was low, outrageous, unfair and arrogant to pick him out of all the England players.
“This isn’t the first time he’s done it. In a previous game he said he should be sitting in the studio with the pundits rather than being on the pitch. Shocking! Declan has chosen to play for England and Roy Keane needs to get over that.”
OPINION
These comments do seem a little bit uncalled for from Keane. You would think that if there was anybody who might jump to the defence of a young defensive midfielder, it would be him, but it does seem as if he is letting some personal judgement get in the way of his opinion. Now, obviously, only Keane will know the truth of that, but when his comments are as one-sided and heavy handed as they were, then you can’t help but wonder. Rice hasn’t even been that bad this season. You could certainly argue that he’s not on the same level that he was last term, but then who in this West Ham side honestly is at the moment? His average of 2.9 tackles, 2.1 interceptions, and a pass completion rate of 89.6% per game, as per Whoscored, would seem to suggest that he is still doing the fundamentals very well, and to critique his form without any kind of positivity would surely suggest that Keane is not offering a fair account of things.
