John Giles believes Declan Rice could be turned off playing for the Republic of Ireland because of the current coaching setup of Roy Keane and Martin O’Neill.
The West Ham midfielder is weighing up his options before committing to the Boys in Green due to his eligibility to play for England.
Irish internationals Harry Arter and Jon Walters were involved in an altercation with assistant manager Keane in the lead up to the friendly fixture with the USA in June, which has led to Arter refusing a recent call-up.
And Giles has suggested Rice will have asked his teammates about the state of the dressing room given his current dilemma.
“If Walters is not offended it doesn’t mean Arter can’t be offended. That’s an apple and oranges situation and it’s not a recipe to put this right,” Giles told Off The Ball.
“The fact is that Arter has been offended enough by whatever has been said to say: ‘I don’t want to be picked again at this particualr time’.
“From our point of view, this is not very good to get Rice playing. Being beaten 4-1 is not going to encourage him to play for us.
“He has to make his own decision but you find out what’s going on around you. In my experience in football, teammates have great sympathy for teammates unless he’s a right so and so. And I don’t think that’s the case with Arter or Walters.
“It is very hard to define team spirit – it’s something that nobody can define. The slightest thing can knock it off. And you’ll find with players that they won’t come out and say: ‘We’re all upset about this situation’.
“It’s not good for the dressing room. It hasn’t made them come together and think: ‘This is what we’re going to do’. It’s a very delicate situation in the dressing room.”
James Hopper
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