Kingston's Declan Rice captains West Ham to European glory
By Nub News Reporter
8th Jun 2023 | Local News
Kingston born Declan Rice made history in Prague on Wednesday night becoming just the third West Ham captain to lift a trophy for the club following in the footsteps of the great Bobby Moore, who lifted the Cup Winners' Cup in 1965, and club legend Billy Bonds, who led the Hammers to the FA Cup in 1975 and 1980.
The Hammers clinched Europa Conference glory in the final minute of normal time as Jarrod Bowen latched onto Lucas Paqueta's pass and fired home a low finish to spark delirious West Ham celebrations at the Fortuna Arena and secure the club's first piece of major silverware in 43 years.
Victory looked unlikely at times for David Moyes' men who were largely pinned in their own half in the opening 45 minutes.
Rice came close to opening the scoring with 12 minutes on the clock as his narrow drive from outside the box flew just wide of the mark.
The game sprung into life in the second half as Said Benrahma's 62nd-minute penalty was quickly cancelled out by Giacomo Bonaventura, but West Ham showed impressive resilience, withstanding heavy pressure at times and grabbing the all important winner in the dying stages.
Born and raised in Kingston upon Thames, Rice played football at the YMCA Dickerage Centre in New Malden and is known as a "local hero" there.
Talking about Kingston in a previous episode of Hometown Glory with presenter Alex Scott, he said: "It [Kingston] means everything to me; growing up as a kid, being born in Kingston, the whole family being from Kingston. I'm grateful I can come back to places like this now as a superstar and give back to the kids who want to be where I am."
The 24-year-old's former school Grey Court in Ham, was quick to congratulate the West Ham captain and took to Twitter writing: "Congratulations Declan Rice from everyone here at Grey Court. All very proud of you and West Ham."
Rice's performances for club and country have attracted interest from a number of high-profile clubs over the years including Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Bayern Munich, and it seems the in-demand midfielder will bid farewell to the London Stadium following last night's heroics.
When asked if the club's EuropaConference triumph was Rice's last appearance, West Ham chairman David Sullivan told Talksport: "I think it has to be. We promised him he could go. He set his heart on going.
'You can't ask for a man who has committed more to us this season. In due course, he has to get on and we have to get a replacement - or several replacements. It's not something we want to happen. We offered him £200,000 a week 18 months ago. He turned it down."
He continued: "It's cost him £10m to stay at West Ham in that time [in lost wages]. And he wants to go. You can't keep a player who doesn't want to be there. The offers will start to come today.
"There are three or four clubs who have shown interest but, out of respect to West Ham, while we're still playing, you don't make offers for players."
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