Seb Coe confirms football team for Team GB in 2012, regardless of opposition from by Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish
by Dominic Midgeley

Tuesday, 30 September 2008


Team Britain? Hell no!
TEAM GB will have a football team for the 2012 Games, Seb Coe has confirmed, whatever opposition is put up by the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish.The creation of the team has been opposed by the Football Associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who are concerned it may compromise their individual status within Fifa.

But he said the BOA, which selects teams for the Games, has decided to press ahead with a football squad despite the opposition.When asked last night about the opposition from the Welsh and Scots, Coe replied bluntly: “F*** em!”

The Olympics chief also revealed that Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has agreed to act as manager of a Great Britain team at the Games.

Speaking to thelondonpaper at a reception hosted by the British Olympic Association at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Coe confirmed: “He’s told me he’ll do it”.

This represents a U-turn by the United boss who said in July that he was unlikely to accept such a post..

“I will be 70 in 2012,” Ferguson said then. “I’ve not made any commitment to anything like that.

“I would not, in any way, shape or form, try and commit myself to something that is four years ahead.”

However, Ferguson does plan to leave Old Trafford at some point in the next three years and appears to have relented in the face of persistent lobbying by Coe.

Coe, himself a former Olympic gold medalist, who celebrated his 52nd birthday last night, is on the record as saying of Ferguson: “I would love to have him there because he is a phenomenal coach and a great man manager. Who else would you want to have that mentoring role?”

A British Olympic Association spokeswoman said: “We have already said that we are committed to entering a men and women’s football team at the 2012 Olympics. How those teams are made up is still under discussion and obviously we would like the involvement of all the home nations.”

A spokesman for the Welsh FA said: “If that is what he said, clearly it’s disappointing.”


More on the CEP website


http://www.thecep.org.uk/wordpress/blog/