'Players know the rules' - ex-Ireland manager Martin O'Neill opens up on Rice and Grealish fiasco

Former Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill opened up about Declan Rice and Jack Grealish's decision to declare for England ahead of Ireland in a talkSPORT show.

O'Neill, who was the Republic of Ireland manager between 2013 and 2018, admitted he could not convince Rice to stay with Ireland even though the West Ham man was capped three times for the country.

Rice donned the green jersey in friendly encounters against Turkey, France and the USA in 2018 before he made the decision to declare for Gareth Southgate's side the following year.

When asked about the situation, O'Neill admitted: "First of all, you can’t coerce players into becoming international players, 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.

"He’s born in England, it really is as simple as that, you cannot just bring them into an international game, a competitive game, where the minute they play a competitive match for the country that’s them announcing they’re going to be playing for them.

"That was never going to be the case, you can’t deceive people into playing these games, you cannot force them into that."

£100 million Manchester City star Grealish also declared for England having played underage international football for the Republic of Ireland.

When O'Neill mentioned Grealish, he said: "I went to see Jack Grealish, I went 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 then when you have to make a decision, that decision was made by Jack Grealish and his father, his father’s also English too, 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.

"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 coercing two players who are now playing for England."

Neither Rice nor Grealish played a senior competitive game for the Boys in Green which gave them the opportunity to declare for England. Both are key players in Gareth Southgate's squad and are likely to feature against France in the quarter-final of the World Cup this Saturday.