Rice: ‘We want to make the fans happy’

Declan Rice, who appears to be the Hammers captain-in-waiting, knows that whilst the fans will be disappointed nit to be inside the stadium thy will be supporting the team every inch of the way over the next nine games.

A photographic image caught a glimpse of the armband being worn by the midfielder during the weekend game against Crystal Palacewhilst Mark Noble missed the entire 90 minutes.

It’s not been made clear why but it seems that should the 33 year old fail to start again on Saturday evening, Rice will become his successor.

And the young man has been speaking in terms that he’s well up to the job both on and off the pitch when discussing the first game since March.

One big advantage of social media through these times is that with almost every player active on social media, the fans can give their direct backing  while a host of supporter-oriented activations will be in place at London Stadium, including a mosaic featuring the faces of thousands of fans.

Commenting at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/june/15-june/declan-rice-fans-are-integral-part-what-we-do  Rice said: ” The fans are an integral part of what we do. When you walk out there and you’ve got 60,000 screaming your name and every time you tackle or take a shot, it gives you that edge, and it’s big thanks to them.

“It’s obviously going to be tough that we can’t play in front of them, but they’ve got to respect what’s going on in the world at the moment and hopefully they can sit at home and all of them can tune in and watch us.

“Obviously it’s different for them, but we get their support on social media from all round the world and we’re going to need that positivity.”

“Every club is the same and we’ve got to respect what is going on and I’m sure our fans will. They’ll be at home cheering. I know what West Ham fans are like and they’ll be there, cheering us on.

“For me personally, the fans are great with me, I get some great messages from fans and when you see little things it really brightens up your day, so we’re raring to go and we want to make the fans happy.”