Ian Wright suggests a British Football Team.

[COYS]

Ian Wright reckons it might be time to have a British football team...

Originally Posted by Ian Wright in the Sun Newspaper

Brit and we know we are

AN ENGLISHMAN, Scotsman and Irishman were sitting in a pub.
And, no joke, between them they reckoned they could build a World Cup-winning team.

With no England or home nation on parade at Euro 2008, a fierce debate started between me and some pals in the pub last week.

I was being your typical high-minded England fan.

Still convinced the Three Lions are world-beaters even though we have a generation of world-class footballers sitting on beaches at the moment instead of competing for a major trophy.

My mates argued: What have England done in international football since 1966 that their countries haven’t? And they come from much smaller nations than us.

For the first time in my life I was stumped. My argument was fizzling away. What has England achieved? We did not qualify for the 1974 or ’78 World Cup finals and Scotland did.

We missed out on USA ’94 and again this summer. It has been painful to watch the football on the TV this summer without England there.
But between me and my mates we started to throw up the unthinkable question? Should we, could we, have a UK football team made up of the best from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

As a passionate patriot my first instinct was to storm out of the boozer, declaring no rogue nation should ever stain the cross of St George. A lot of other England fans would feel the same.


But it happens in athletics, it happens in a lot of Olympic sports. So why not in football?

As it’s summer and there isn’t much football going on for England fans, perhaps it is time to sit and let our minds drift away to ponder the impossible.

I am not brave enough to say we should do it. Oh no, I know what patriotic pride is and what it means to the English, Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish.
But if you looked down just through some of the names that we could have had playing over the years it can make you drool.

Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish, Mark Hughes, Neville Southall, Ryan Giggs, Norman Whiteside, Martin O’Neill, Sammy McIlroy, George Best and Pat Jennings. What an array to complement Bobby Moore, Peter Shilton, David Beckham and Paul Gascoigne.

And then surely we would need a British manager — and who better than Alex Ferguson?

It would be a near-impossible task to pick a Dream Team XI from such illustrious names. But I am not a manager.

Are you telling me we couldn’t have won a World Cup at some point with that lot? England has already thrown open its borders for a foreign coach, who is learning to speak the lingo.

We don’t have English passports. They are British. Makes you think, eh?

Not something I'd be all that keen on but I'd be interested to hear what other people think about it?

[Scouser_Dave]

We would still win nothing i can`t see Bellamy, Robbie Keane and Barry Ferguson helping us qualify for the world cup

[chris louie II]

For the Olympics, this would be great

[rcdingwall]

ian wright can get to ****, a british team which would no doubt have a starting XI full of english apart from maybe craig gordon in goals and allan hutton at right back.....no thank you. as much as i am in faour of the british union i am totally against having a joint national team

[suggs]

A British team mainly of English players

[den525player]

they talk about this once every now and than. having a british team. It would still be majority english players. but england just wants to steal one or two players from ireland or wales or scotland. Imagine if they had Giggs or Roy Keane playing for team britain! Currently there aren't any good players from those nations that could knock any of the english players out of the starting XI.

[Scuba Steve]

I think Robbo would start today. He would be a proper striker for the British national team.


*** EDIT

Whoops. Robbo is from the Republic of Ireland, and thusly, would not fall under the category of British. Nevermind.

[suggs]

name some.
Craig Gordan
Ryan Giggs
Robbie Keane
Gareth Bale
that all i can think of, and even they would be squad members not starting eleven

[MaschPotato]

Even if it was turned into a British team it would still be the whole english team, british players on the bench.

[Plum]

Nah, its priceless seeing Scotland get so close and then fall at the final hurdle.

[MaschPotato]

Like we did

[Plum]

Originally Posted by MaschPotato

Like we did

Yeh, but we know we have a very high chance of qualifying for the rest, for Scotland, it was a one off chance.

[MaschPotato]

True

[Deco-CFC-94]

Originally Posted by Plumhead

Yeh, but we know we have a very high chance of qualifying for the rest, for Scotland, it was a one off chance.

what the hell is wrong with youz.. its not a one off chance.. compare the group of Scotland and England.... Scotlands is a completely diffrent team without berti voghts now... England are useless and are gonna get stuck in every hurdle from now on...... lets see. we lose to Italy on the last day because of the referee..
England lose to Croatia on the last day with no errors what so ever........ hmmmmmmmmm

[CreerBFC]

i would only like to see this for the Olympics

[MaschPotato]

putting carson in goal for a huge match was an error

[Deco-CFC-94]

Originally Posted by MaschPotato

putting carson in goal for a huge match was an error

your manager chose carson.. our manager didnt choose the referee

[Rukus44297]

I believe you have a few but what you need is what other countries are doing: Players born elsewhere that play for your country. Like some Brazilians or Argentines.
There has to be more creativity in the midfield. Gerrard, Lamps and company are great players but the long ball only gets you so far.
It's only a matter of time that the young kids start imitating the likes of Ronaldo and soon you'll have him as a home grown talent.

[dmp1887]

Originally Posted by Deco-1994

your manager chose carson.. our manager didnt choose the referee

The Italiens chose the Referee....

Yeah I would think the control over a british team would be sucked towards england

[COYS]

Originally Posted by Rukus44297

...but what you need is what other countries are doing: Players born elsewhere that play for your country. Like some Brazilians or Argentines...

I'd rather England never qualify for a tournament again than go down that route...

The day an Argentinian (or a Brazilian or anybody else) gets selected to play for England will be the day that I'll turn my back on the national team once and for all. I really can't be bothered with all that rubbish, that's not what it's about for me.

[rcdingwall]

Originally Posted by den525player

they talk about this once every now and than. having a british team. It would still be majority english players. but england just wants to steal one or two players from ireland or wales or scotland. Imagine if they had Giggs or Roy Keane playing for team britain! Currently there aren't any good players from those nations that could knock any of the english players out of the starting XI.

yeah what ****ing ever, craig gordon is proberly the best british keeper at the moment and unlike david james will be about for years to come, and even scotlands second choice allan mcgregor is a better keeper than anything england has to offer. alan hutton is better than any english right backs, spurs didnt pay £9million for him for nothing.

[rcdingwall]

Originally Posted by Plumhead

Nah, its priceless seeing Scotland get so close and then fall at the final hurdle.

the thing is nobody expected us to qualify, england on the other hand consider themselves favourites at the beginning of every tournament. even at euro 2008 the commentators were saying that if england were there they would be up there with holland and spain, i mean get a ****ing grip........you couldnt even get past croatia and russia yet you think you would be as gd as the dutch

[COYS]

Originally Posted by den525player

...but england just wants to steal one or two players from ireland or wales or scotland...

No we don't. One Scottish player would be one too many.

Originally Posted by den525player

...Imagine if they had Giggs or Roy Keane playing for team britain!...

Roy Keane wouldn't have been eligable for the Great Britain team as he isn't British - he's Irish. He would have had about as much chance of being selected as Emmanuel Adebayor.

[Rukus44297]

Originally Posted by COYS

I'd rather England never qualify for a tournament again than go down that route...

The day an Argentinian (or a Brazilian or anybody else) gets selected to play for England will be the day that I'll turn my back on the national team once and for all. I really can't be bothered with all that rubbish, that's not what it's about for me.

It's the influence more so than the player playing for the country. Sooner or later a non English player playing in England will have some affect on the National team weather it be through influence or offspring. Even if those players are Giggs or Solskjaer. They may influence their kids to play for England to have a better shot at a WC.

[rcdingwall]

Originally Posted by Rukus44297

It's the influence more so than the player playing for the country. Sooner or later a non English player playing in England will have some affect on the National team weather it be through influence or offspring. Even if those players are Giggs or Solskjaer. They may influence their kids to play for England to have a better shot at a WC.

they already do, Owen Hargreaves was born in canada