Declan Rice revealed his parents cheered West Ham United to victory over Newcastle United alongside the New York City Hammers!
Rice’s mother and father are on holiday in the Big Apple, where they joined more than 100 other supporters at the Smithfield Hall pub on West 25th Street to enjoy Saturday’s 3-0 victory over the Magpies.
Back at St James’ Park, Rice himself was at his assured best at the same ground where he suffered the ignominy of being replaced at half-time after making a vital mistake last season, helping the Irons return to winning ways with an eye-catching all-round performance
“Saturday was a massive, massive result for us,” he confirmed. “It was the first game of December when we’ve got seven tough fixtures and that sets us up nicely for Cardiff on Tuesday.
“My Mum and Dad are in New York and they went to a West Ham pub and watched the whole game with the fans over there! My Dad text one of them before they went out and they text back to say there would be about 100 of them there!
“They sent me photos and videos of them singing West Ham songs and it looked good!"
Fair play to Chicha, he scored two and Felipe was a threat all day and he got the third to put the icing on the cake
Declan Rice
Mr and Mrs Rice and their new American friends would undoubtedly have enjoyed what they watched on the big screens at Smithfield Hall.
West Ham got their tactics spot on, defending resiliently in challenging wet and slippery conditions and repeatedly breaking on Newcastle at speed.
That counter-attacking approach led to two of the Hammers’ three goals, scored by Chicharito and Felipe Anderson, and Rice was full of praise for the way his teammates took the game away from Rafa Benitez’s side.
“I think it could have been five or six with the amount of chances we missed as well, but fair play to Chicha, he scored two and Felipe was a threat all day and he got the third to put the icing on the cake,” the No41 observed.
“It’s nice to know you’ve got wingers like Felipe who can take the pressure off and Snoddy on the other wing who adds a different dimension by coming inside. Both of them were outstanding.”