A West Ham media team man has defended Declan Rice after a significant backlash to his controversial press conference comments.
Rice caused a stir this week by using an England World Cup press conference to discuss his ambitions at club level.
For those who may have missed it, Hammers captain Rice effectively told the world he fully intends to leave West Ham in pursuit of Champions League football and competing for the top trophies.
That was nothing new to West Ham fans. Rice had already made it clear in several interviews and with his actions that he intends to leave to play for an elite club competing at that level.
The West Ham captain has thus far refused to sign a new contract after being offered in excess of £200k per week – and £83m over the course of the proposed deal.
Rice has been heavily criticised by West Ham fans – and some pundits – for his comments in the press conference.
Many feel he should have batted questions about his personal ambitions at club level away and his comments did not sit right with many West Ham fans.
They were deemed unprofessional, immature and detrimental to the rest of the West Ham squad – who he will be leading in a fight to save their season when domestic action resumes in a few weeks.
The anger is understandable. This is West Ham’s captain so how can he lead a team of men having effectively publicly declared on the biggest stage that he wants to leave the club?
Some have called for Rice to be stripped of the West Ham captaincy. That is an extreme measure which would undoubtedly do more harm than good and a move David Moyes would not dare make even if he wanted to.
West Ham media team man defends Declan Rice after backlash to controversial press conference comments
The comments served to rattle the nerves of an already irritable and miserable Hammers fanbase still reeling at what they have witnessed so far this season as well as drum up a new round of speculation over which club he will be joining next summer.
Telegraph writer and West Ham fan Dan Silver, formerly of The Mirror, was one of many who took umbrage to Rice’s comments.
“Declan Rice has absolutely everything… apart from maturity,” Silver said on Twitter.
“We saw it when he abused the ref in Frankfurt; when he drank from the cup thrown on the pitch in Hungary; when he bawls out team-mates instead of lifting them; and now in the timing of this pronouncement. Shame.”
But now a West Ham media team man has defended Rice after the backlash to his controversial press conference comments.
Rob Pritchard is a content editor on West Ham’s media team and says Rice’s comments would be interpreted differently if the Hammers were challenging for the European spots.
“Dec has said virtually exactly the same thing before about being ambitious, football being a short career and wanting to win trophies,” Pritchard said on Twitter.
“If we’d gone into the World Cup in the top six, his words would be being interpreted differently.
“Let’s not make this into something it’s not.”
Pritchard himself has endured something of a backlash to his comment on social media with many fans doubling down on their feeling that Rice was wrong to say what he said.
The fact is West Ham are not challenging for the European spots And they’re not going to be Champions League regulars or competing for trophies year in, year out either. So it is a moot point.
Many feel there is a time and a place and that an England press conference at a World Cup was not it.
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