Could we do a GB team ?

[SandyMcBlade]

Would we stand a better chance in the world cup if we went in as a GB team ?
I mean lets face it Ireland Scotland and Wales have all on qualifying and England are only slightly better, so if the jobs worth's in control got down off their high horses for once could we perhaps make a better go of it.
Or is it just the fact that the British can't play their own national game ?

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Think at least 2 of them and England will qualify for the Euros.
Don't want GB side although Bale and Ramsey would make a lot of internatonal squads.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Would we stand a better chance in the world cup if we went in as a GB team ?
I mean lets face it Ireland Scotland and Wales have all on qualifying and England are only slightly better, so if the jobs worth's in control got down off their high horses for once could we perhaps make a better go of it.
Or is it just the fact that the British can't play their own national game ?

England plus Gareth Bale then?

 

[thevoot]

England plus Gareth Bale then?

and wee Scougs

 

[super_pig]

Would we stand a better chance in the world cup if we went in as a GB team ?
I mean lets face it Ireland Scotland and Wales have all on qualifying and England are only slightly better, so if the jobs worth's in control got down off their high horses for once could we perhaps make a better go of it.
Or is it just the fact that the British can't play their own national game ?

there wont be a GB (as we know it) soon

 

[Woodwardfan]

there wont be a GB (as we know it) soon

Very true Superman. If I was to be given the option to free myself of then Westminster Posh boys, and even the other parties, I would no question.

To me it's a no-brainer. So "GB Team" , forget it.

Then let's vote for Yorkshire devolution!!!

And then, let's vote for a country without the Premier League and deport any English player who plays in it. why not? English players play second fiddle to all the foreign players and only represent 20'odd per cent anyway. All these big patriotic players like Gerrard, Rooney, Terry and the rest. Hey, give up your hundreds of thousands a week, play in the Championship instead, where we can start to build a national squad. Instaed of getting all emotional every two years for international competitions, boycott the anathema called the Premier League and put your country before your salary, like many of your forebearers did.

 

[Ballinpigpubs13]

Merging with the sweaty socks paddys and taffs, no thanks. There is no GREAT in GB anymore.

 

[Living In a Fantasy World]

I wouldn't mind it but all four countries are to stuck up for it to happen, it was hard enough to get a olympic football team together and that mainly consisted of english players.

 

[Pedro Verde]

In a word NO

 

[S5Blade]

I wish we had an other football and sport section for threads like this.....

 

[shorehamview]

I wish we had an other football and sport section for threads like this.....

It'd be there if the forum gaffers were clued up. They're probably in the pub.

 

[Derby_Blade]

Can we not just have Bale?

 

[Silent Blade]

I was talking to a mate (who is 33) last night about how I like watching the technical skills of players from Serbia, Croatia and other countries who were in Yugoslavia. Over the years I have admired Dzajic, Stojkovic, Savicevic, Jugovic, Prosinecki (it was good to see him and his skills at Bramall Lane when we beat Pompey 4-3 in Feb 2002), Suker, Boban, Bilic, Modric and in this World Cup it was the first time I saw Pjanic. My mate said "If Yugoslavia remained a country, then they would have a much stronger football team". I disagreed saying that it wouldnt make much difference because players living in Croatia have much more passion for Croatia than for Yugoslavia, same for Bosnia etc. It is the same for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and it would be difficult to make the togetherness work. Yugoslavia in the 1990 World Cup were great to watch and were unlucky to lose to Argentina on penalties

 

[yorkshirecoast]

Asking England to join with the Scots or Welsh is liking asking the Blades to join with the pigs. I don't mind Northern Ireland but wouldn't want to join with them. To be fair - despite us constantly under-performing - a GB team would generally be 80% English anyway.

 

[Kenilworth]

Regardless of whether or not Scotland becomes independent, politically, this GB team idea will not happen, ever as it's all to do with federation voting rights. Each UK country has a vote in UEFA - something Blatter and Platini have been trying to eradicate for ages - If we go for a combined GB team then the UK voice will be 25% of what it can be now - not that it ever seems to achieve anything. Not sure how that would affect club team European qualification either.

Pretty much with Silent on this combined team as per his analogy re Yugoslavia - A GB team will not get any support from Scotland, Wales and NI as it will be predominantly an English team supplemented by nicking one or two of the best from the rest. It's doomed from the start for that reason alone.

There is nothing any future England manager can do either - we have tried spending £6m per annum on a foreign coach in Capello and halved the salary (which is still obscene for the job) to appoint an Englishman again in Hodgson but he can only work with the players he has. Our, so called, "Golden Generation" was the best chance we had in years but that fell well short in the end - arguably hampered through injury and fatigue - to make an real impact. Until we get a crop of outstanding players emerging at the same time, like the Belgians have, or some lad emerges as a true World beater then we will maintain this course of mediocrity and failure. Even then it's not a guarantee. Look at Portugal, one of the World's top 2 players and he looks completely disengaged with the rest of the squad as they are so far beneath his standard - he knows they have no chance - he cannot do it all on his own.

What rankles me the most though is that the whole is never greater than the sum of the parts with England. Team work and togetherness should be a very English trait but we seem to fall short in that department - especially when contrasting that to the likes of Bosnia H, Croatia, USA and now Costa Rica.

The other thing that stands out for me is the lack of mental toughness. We seem to lose concentration at many points during a game, there's always a calamity where at least two or more players have switched off, which gifts a chance to the opposition - it's as if the players cannot do this without the foreigners that guide them and lead them in the Premier League teams. Then there is the other side of mental toughness - the professionalism to win games - exemplified by the Italians and Uruguayans who will take a foul in midfield to prevent play progressing and also cynically target the oppositions best forward players with a strong challenge designed to rough them up and - for that 90 mins - ensure that they are less effective. Think of the strong tackle from behind on Sturridge in the first game from Chiellini - he knew it was a foul but he wanted to make sure that Sturridge was less effective after that challenge - and it worked.

 

[Darren]

I was talking to a mate (who is 33) last night about how I like watching the technical skills of players from Serbia, Croatia and other countries who were in Yugoslavia. Over the years I have admired Dzajic, Stojkovic, Savicevic, Jugovic, Prosinecki (it was good to see him and his skills at Bramall Lane when we beat Pompey 4-3 in Feb 2002), Suker, Boban, Bilic, Modric and in this World Cup it was the first time I saw Pjanic. My mate said "If Yugoslavia remained a country, then they would have a much stronger football team". I disagreed saying that it wouldnt make much difference because players living in Croatia have much more passion for Croatia than for Yugoslavia, same for Bosnia etc. It is the same for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and it would be difficult to make the togetherness work. Yugoslavia in the 1990 World Cup were great to watch and were unlucky to lose to Argentina on penalties

I'm not sure that theory holds water. Yugoslavia were a pretty decent side after WWII; they generally did fairly well in the WC and EC (semi finalists in the former in 62 and the latter in 76) and, in any event., the country only existed from 1918 to 1992. Contrast that with Wales being united with England since 1284, Scotland since 1707 and N. Ireland since 1801.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Regardless of whether or not Scotland becomes independent, politically, this GB team idea will not happen, ever as it's all to do with federation voting rights. Each UK country has a vote in UEFA - something Blatter and Platini have been trying to eradicate for ages - If we go for a combined GB team then the UK voice will be 25% of what it can be now - not that it ever seems to achieve anything. Not sure how that would affect club team European qualification either.

It goes deeper than that. The Body that decides on the rules of the game(The IFAB) is comprised of the four home nations plus FIFA. FIFA literally cannot change the laws of the game without the approval of at least two of the home nations.

 

[Darren]

It goes deeper than that. The Body that decides on the rules of the game(The IFAB) is comprised of the four home nations plus FIFA. FIFA literally cannot change the laws of the game without the approval of at least two of the home nations.

That's a pretty strange historical anomaly and you wonder why the other 200+ nations in world football stand for it. There can be no rational reason why 4 of world football's associations have 50% of the votes when it comes to rule changes.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

That's a pretty strange historical anomaly and you wonder why the other 200+ nations in world football stand for it. There can be no rational reason why 4 of world football's associations have 50% of the votes when it comes to rule changes.

FIFA have four votes and 6 votes are required to carry a motion. That's a change from when FIFA had only one vote, so the UK had 80% of the votes!

 

[SandyMcBlade]

Another option Woody is to make it so that no one can take part in the Premier league unless they change nationality and become eligible for selection by England.
Lets see what the draw of the big bucks can do then...

 

[Selly]

That's a pretty strange historical anomaly and you wonder why the other 200+ nations in world football stand for it. There can be no rational reason why 4 of world football's associations have 50% of the votes when it comes to rule changes.

Because I imagine that Rule Changes to the L:aws of the game aren`t high on other nations list of priorities

Destinations of WC's etc, probably are. Whether that will mean the 24 man Exec Committee model is ever disbanded in favour of a one member one vote system (like in the IOC post Salt Lake City) remains to be seen.

 

[Darren]

Because I imagine that Rule Changes to the L:aws of the game aren`t high on other nations list of priorities

Destinations of WC's etc, probably are. Whether that will mean the 24 man Exec Committee model is ever disbanded in favour of a one member one vote system (like in the IOC post Salt Lake City) remains to be seen.

One member one vote would hardly be fair. Montserrat having the same number of votes as China?

 

[Silent Blade]

I'm not sure that theory holds water. Yugoslavia were a pretty decent side after WWII; they generally did fairly well in the WC and EC (semi finalists in the former in 62 and the latter in 76) and, in any event., the country only existed from 1918 to 1992. Contrast that with Wales being united with England since 1284, Scotland since 1707 and N. Ireland since 1801.

Every country have their golden generation and I would say that 1990 was their best squad ever and the war prevented them from playing in 1992 EC despite winning the qualifying group (Denmark took their place and won it). Their best achievement was being the finalists in 1968 EC not in 1976. I went to Belgrade in 1987 and I got to get to know some Yugoslavs. They were telling me that people from different parts of the countries dislike each other (at that time I had never heard of Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia etc and had little knowledge of Yugoslav history but all loved Tito). When there was war in a few years time I got to learn more of why there were rivalaries and I am glad that UK countries rivalaries are not that bad!

 

[Bladesway]

there wont be a GB (as we know it) soon

You know this?

 

[super_pig]

One member one vote would hardly be fair. Montserrat having the same number of votes as China?

drug addict down our street having the same number of votes as me??

 

[Highbury_Blade]

One member one vote would hardly be fair. Montserrat having the same number of votes as China?

Why is that not fair?

 

[Darren]

Why is that not fair?

For the same reason it would not be fair if Rutland (pop 37,000) got 1 MP in the UK parliament and Birmingham (pop 1 million) also got 1 MP.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

For the same reason it would not be fair if Rutland (pop 37,000) got 1 MP in the UK parliament and Birmingham (pop 1 million) also got 1 MP.

Completely different. The Monserrat FA is representing itself, not its constituents.

 

[Selly]

One member one vote would hardly be fair. Montserrat having the same number of votes as China?

yes, the IOC model is not so much one member one vote, but there are 108 members, so bribing or offering incentives is a lot harder than for a 24 man comittee...

 

[Darren]

Completely different. The Monserrat FA is representing itself, not its constituents.

Eh? The Montserrat FA represents the football community of Monteserrat, The Montserrat FA doesn't just emerge like Venus from that shell, it is voted on by its members (the football club of Montserrat) and is accountable to them; just as the MP for Rutland is accoutanble to his constituents.