Westley: “Declan upset? Don’t make me laugh”

Terry Westley has revealed that Declan Rice would never have been troubled that Mark Noble was called on to take the last minute penalty for the Hammers against Manchester United.

And whilst conforming that his former under 23 skipper was not the natural spot kick choice as a youngster he believes that he will eventually take on the job with the Hammers first team.

Terry – an exclusive CandH blogger – told us: ” I’ve read that maybe Dec was upset that Mark was called on to take the penalty but that’s not his way at all. He’s a total professional and once the decision was taken he would have accepted it.

“We had Martinez and Marcus Brown taking penalties for the under 23s but when we went abroad on 20 minute each half competitions Declan would always put himself in the five to take them if required.

“He’s adding so much to his game – he just gets better and better and he’ll do the same with the penalty taking I’m sure.

“So many young players think they have made it once they break into the team.The great ones go on and on adding things all the time and that’s precisely what Dec is doing. I spent so much of my time with him helping him develop his game but he astonishes me.

And as for feeling upset he wasn’t allowed to take Sunday’s pen – don’t make me laugh. That’s just nonsense. It would be entirely out of character.”

 

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon