Declan Rice talks West Ham, Chelsea, England and more with Gary Neville | The Overlap

for this season, you know he's been. Amazing, you know he's really recovered, look Sancho, obviously he had to move to Manchester United which obviously has been difficult as well and he's still adjusting and Rashi with everything he's done, you know, in terms of his charity work and things like that, the three of them. people you'd least think of saying anything about because you know they're three excellent guys and it was really disappointing, but when we got back together after the summer for that first group, you know we had a talk as players and as a team and that's what we've done. really good - sticking together and you know we've never let anyone down between us so we've got a really good group there, this group of England players stopped a game in Bulgaria, I think yeah we did.

How close are you as a group? Honestly, people say about football players today and you know characters in leadership, but I think you are braver and willing to stand up

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and speak

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. Could you walk away? a release as a group, you think I'm not blaming you for making a decision on that, do you think you've discussed that kind of thing? Yes, Gareth and the group obviously had a great conversation as a team and he said: He wouldn't have any problem with us as players coming off the pitch if we wanted to do that and he wouldn't have any problem when he backed it 100.

Where did that come from in terms of the group that stimulated that conversation? I think we knew it. At the start of the week we said that every time we went to St George's we had an overview of the week and obviously we talked about where we were going and we knew it might be hostile going to Bulgaria with what had happened there. before and it's not something you mainly focus on, obviously because the game is very important, but you know you could know what could happen during the game and obviously harry kane is the captain and we decided that if something was said, any of our players who had been abused or something, if they had heard something, they would go and tell Harry, Harry would go and tell the referee, I think the game was stopped two or three times and then we made the decision at half-time , Garrett said, look, we.

I can even stop this game now and I would back it 100, but I think the group of guys said, you know, we're going to go out and win the game and crush them and I think we ended up winning like seven or eight to none and that was really powerful, but to people like Tara Ming was what he talked about, it was his debut in Bulgaria and he was subjected to obviously racial abuse, so for him, on the one hand, he is making his debut in England, and on the other, he is being abused, which It's horrible, in terms of players now still kneeling in Premier League matches, that's something that the majority of England players and Premier League players support, it's something that you feel very strongly about because you're obviously of Kingston.

Thames, which is a really diverse and inclusive area, yes, no, I think it's very important. I think you know that some players have come out now and there are some players at different clubs who are now obviously coming forward for reasons that they obviously want to defend rather than accept. the knee, I think we as England players had that conversation again in the summer before the summer, we said as a group we were going to do it, it still sends a strong message that we are against all that, some people have a In my opinion, you know the message is coming out of all that now and why everyone keeps doing it, but I still feel like until this kind of thing stops, I feel like it's a really important thing to do.

I see myself trending, it was like thirty thousand tweets about me, I thought what's happening here in Qatar is not far away, now we know what it takes, but the next step is getting over the line, oh wait, it just is putting, he is the shot. Okay, no, you're decent, I know, you lied when you said he used to play a lot when he was younger. Yeah, I don't usually get Premier League players to like one of my tweets because they're usually political or a few weeks ago. I had a bit of a fuss about game cancellations with Covid and I thought clubs were starting to take it too far and I saw a cheeky little Declan like, oh that must be hurting the players in the dressing room.

Is the type of cancellations starting to bother players a little? I think you hit the nail on the head to be honest with you. I feel like at first it was okay, there was a lot with this Omricon. cases and there was a case for the games to be stopped obviously as you said the other day on television you said it seems like now the games are being stopped because the teams don't have their best team if there are genuine covert cases within the club. Of course, there's nothing you can do about it, but in terms of the fact that it's not because you don't have your best team that you can't play, I think it's a load of rubbish because I feel like there are kids waiting.

You get that opportunity to show what they can do. You create all your own social networks, right? And obviously you'd have to like it because I don't think, I don't think, I don't think a social media company would like it. one of my tweets, how do you see social networks? I know it's an emotional topic for a lot of players, they use it, but they get a lot of abuse, not just abuse in terms of, obviously, you know the racial stuff, which is way above and beyond. You know it's a criminal offence, I'm talking about the abuse you get for your performances and other things you're involved in, but to be honest, do you really like it?

I don't give it too much importance, obviously. you see comments and oh wait he's just messing it up it's just what's the shot he's played on the red also lovely I don't really read much into it to be honest obviously I run my own social media I know a lot of guys , I know a lot oh no it's okay so go ahead and get it oh no it's getting complicated oh it's a double whammy so like me I obviously run my own social media because I feel like it's authentic and I feel like the fans want it hear. from the player themselves and not from someone who is running it from a player, I don't feel like that's authentic at all and I feel like now I know if I can distinguish between if a player has done it and if someone else has done it for him started calling it for me there's a lot more than you think I'm not tweeting um if you haven't had the best game or you've had a bad loss don't keep it up for 24 hours 40 hours Or do you still read that stuff when you've had that kind of bad loss or bad game?

Yeah, you know what? I just let the steam die down a little bit, just go for it, yeah, just relax, yeah, go for it. a little bit of time, for example, in the sun, obviously we played in Scotland, we drew Neil Nil, yeah, he didn't have the best games and seeing me was trending, it was like thirty thousand tweets about me, I thought, oh, you know what's going on here, so Honestly I'm done, I deleted my Twitter account for a good two weeks, I didn't use it, I didn't read it, oh you deleted your Twitter account, no I didn't delete the whole account, I just deleted the app, so I had the account, yes, so it stopped me from continuing with the euros.

You deleted the app completely, yeah, so after the Scotland game I just logged out of the app until we beat Germany, which was obviously we had to talk, check, play, check, it was like two weeks later and I thought after the Scotland game I wasn't going to read that about me because I hadn't had the best of games, yeah it's a tournament for England and I was the last thing I wanted to read so I just walked away and then obviously after we beat Germany everything was positive and yeah again I didn't double check everything but I think everything was more positive from a positive perspective about the team and then we've done well since then.

So yeah, I came back to it, who are your big friends with England? So what did you do? Table tennis. Yes, are you in the FIFA group? Are you in that game? Yes, actually, not everyone plays like in War Zone, that's the most important thing. I realize about England now when I look at the players and to be fair the more I reflect on this as I get older, I think it's a sad indictment of us, the word definitely clicks, you know, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, obviously, guys, when they broke through. You also felt that back then, when you were playing, did you think that or was it?

It just felt normal. No, I think we thought we would sit together at the time, but it was fine and Liverpool had to do it. sitting together would be nice, but when I look back and reflect on it I think I used to think that it didn't have an impact on the performances on the field, there is no doubt that we will be together, but then if they are not that close off the field, I think That causes a big problem, I think, is seeing a lot of them, the way they interact with each other, socialize with each other, their friends with each other, I just could never stand the thought of being together. a friend of someone who played for another club that was competing but that has completely changed now also with the Premier League 100 players, I think for some reason every time we move away from English the big boys play each other so let's look at it from Manchester. derby before they meet up the next day, so it's like they were playing against each other the day before, then they meet up and everything is normal again.

Yes, I feel like Gareth is actually right. You know he's been very good. with the group and obviously with steve holland as well and you know as lads there's not a single bad guy in that

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team you know you can sit down with anyone and talk they're all great and i feel like you said that's why we did it , we really did. Well, as a team, is it because you think you've all been through youth teams or the under-21 type of team together and do you think that's a factor or do you think times have just changed and we were ourselves?

No, definitely I think I definitely think times have changed. I think football has changed in general since she played. I feel like a lot of the guys obviously, like you said, played together at younger ages as well, like Raheem Sterling. I didn't know he played with people like. conor cody when he was younger and obviously conor cody is now at wolves and yeah obviously in town so the two of them are very close and you would never say you would never think that so yeah probably playing against each other in older age groups young people probably also helped who are the leaders at St George's Park, obviously Harry, you know he's the captain, yes, but who are the leaders that you would say stand out, who is in the leadership group, yes, there is a group of leadership, obviously, Harry Kane is in it, Maguire Walks is in it, Tyron. ming is in it, I think conor cody might be in it too, you know, there's a "you're not in it yet not, not yet, no, I'll leave it to the big dogs, um, yeah, I'm not in it in this one moment, but You know, maybe one day you'll know I might be into this, but it's something the guys obviously have in common with Gareth and it's really good, they just talk openly about things and if there's ever a problem, you know, you can get opinions. of the players and that it is really very good.

Would it be a dream to capture England? Yes, I think it is everyone's dream. I think it is on your radar. Yes, definitely, even just having the armband on for a match. Obviously I'm young at the moment. There are a lot of captains at his club who also play in the team so it's difficult as I get older, that's something I'd love to do. You know, one day play on the England side, that would be special. I was in Russia and I remember him saying that when the guys were eliminated in the semi-final they hoped they could get back in that position and not only did you get back in that position but you went further and reached a final and I probably thought that after the final At the Euro, Qatar is not far away now Yes, what do you think in terms of England's chances?

Do you think you can go further? Do you feel like this is a team that can win and get over the line? Yes, and I think so. We've shown that we can go far now in tournaments and I feel like that early exit from tournaments is behind us, now we know what it takes, but the next step is actually that day, putting it all together and you know, getting over the line and I feel Even from the Euro team to the one that will be in Qatar, it could be a completely different team because there are younger guys that are coming in now and that are performing week in and week out, you know there are older guys that maybe aren't there. performing so well, so there will be a real mix and group of players that I think will be of great use to us for Qatar.

I can't wait to focus now okay you whine so we need to see you putting on the black and saying I've won basically I'll try to set you up for the next one yeah oh oh he's killing it we won't set it up we'll just make it great thank you very much.