FORMER REPUBLIC OF IRELAND manager Martin O'Neill has revealed today that he did all he could to try and get Jack Grealish and Declan Rice to play for Ireland, but also admitted he was never going to coerce the pair to play for Ireland
Rice and Grealish both played for the underage Ireland sides because of their Irish heritage, but after a long drawn out saga, the pair decided to play for their country of birth, which was England.
O'Neill, who guided Ireland to Euro 2016 was speaking on English media outlet Talksport today ahead of the France v England game on Saturday in the World Cup.
Dublin , Ireland - 15 November 2018; Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)Both players have gone on to become established members of Gareth Southgates's side over the years.
O'Neill admitted today that it wouldn't have been right to coerce both players into playing for the Republic if they desired to play for England.
"You can't coerce players into becoming international players. I played Declan Rice three times in three friendly games. He was only a young kid, he played in three friendly games at senior level. He was terrific in the games.
"It's as simple as this - Declan Rice wanted to play for England. Do you think that Declan Rice now at this minute is going to play in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, do you think that he's regretting making the decision that he wanted to play [for England]?
"He's born in England. It's really as simple as this, you cannot coerce people, you cannot just bring them into an international game, I'm talking about a competitive game where the minute that he plays in a competitive match for the country that's them announcing that they're going to play for them.
"That was never going to be the case. You can't deceive people into playing these games. You cannot force people into doing that.
"Jack Grealish was exactly the same. Jack Grealish was in my early stages of international management. I go to see Jack Grealish, I go to see his dad. Jack Grealish was born in England and Jack Grealish did play some underage football for the Republic of Ireland, which he loved doing, but eventually when you have to make a decision, that decision was made by Jack Grealish and his father. His father is also English.
"You might go back to heritage as well, but that's what they wanted to do and I'm not going to disavow them of that."
Rice had the opportunity to cement his international future with Ireland, but turned down a chance to play against Wales in 2018, while Grealish On 28 September 2015 confirmed that he had decided to represent England at international level.
Asked whether he was disappointed by Grealish's decision, O'Neill replied in May 2015 by saying: "Yes, I suppose I am. He's been doing very well recently. It would have been nice but that's Jack's decision."
Today O Neill has said he would have never forced them to choose between the two nations
"Jack Grealish's decision disappoints me," says Martin O'Neill http://t.co/EOKhSrtlA4 #avfc pic.twitter.com/Y8CYhowi1n
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 12, 2015
He added: "I would never have done it. I couldn't possibly do that because number one that would be wrong for a start and secondly it's not as if they don't know the rules. The players know the rules and the players' dads know the rules. It couldn't be more simple so this idea of taking criticism for not forcing two players who are now playing for England... Jack Grealish has become a £100 million player at the end of the day."
"Declan was just trying to break into the West Ham team under Manuel Pellegrini. He played in the opening game of a particular season and then he left him out. I remember saying to Declan 'Pellegrini does not know your strengths and weaknesses at this minute, you will break through in that team, you will be a player'.
"But for all the nice talk you have, Declan Rice still wanted to play for England.
"We'll use the word convincing rather than coercing. I had the inability to convince Declan Rice to play for the Republic of Ireland. Has Declan Rice regretted that decision?
"The fact is that he did play three international games for us so I can't do much more."
The former Ireland boss also admitted that the pull of England's manager and the financial rewards attached to it were far more attractive than representing the Republic,
"Let's put it this way. When I'm in the process of trying to convince him to stay with the Republic of Ireland, at the same time Gareth Southgate is speaking to him so there's a fairly decent chance when you're manager of England and saying 'I'm not promising you anything Declan but you have a chance of playing for us and a really decent chance if you keep making the progress you're making'.
"If Gareth Southgate had turned around and said 'you haven't got a prayer of being on this side for the next five or six years' then there might have been a different chat, a different conversation, but that was not the case."
England plays France in the Quarter-finals of the World Cup on Saturday at 19.00.
