Pearce in Onerous Position as Team GB Football Manager

Football politics is likely to be amongst the headlines over the next few months following Stuart Pearce’s appointment as manager of the Team GB football team for the 2012 London Olympics. It is the first time since the Rome Olympics of 1960 that a team representing GB will be participate.

Even before his expected appointment earlier this week, the FA, who has been made the administrative heads for the tournament, had been told by both the Scottish and Welsh FA that they would not be interested in providing players for the team as, in their eyes, it would damage their independence as footballing nations in their own right. The same attitude is likely to be applied by Northern Ireland FA.

This of course could be a major ‘stumbling block’ for Pearce as it has already been decided that players who play a full part in England’s Euro 2012 bid, will not be considered, however, he will have the pick of those players who only play part time roles or play very few games. This, in theory at least, could mean a place for Wayne Rooney, should England fail to qualify for the knock out stages at Euro 2012, as he is set to miss the opening three games following his red card offence against Montenegro a fortnight ago.

The 18 man squad to be selected will comprise of 15 players who were  born on, or after, the 1^st January 1989. There will also be three places available for players of any age, which would ‘open the door’ for players such as David Beckham and Ryan Giggs, should he of course defy the Welsh FA, while others linked as potential over age players are Michael Owen and Joe Cole.

Despite the stance of the Welsh FA, young players such as Gareth Bale of Spurs and Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal have both expressed a desire to be involved and it is known that they are not alone. However as it stands currently, Team GB will need players from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to express more than just desire to play and hope for ‘open defiance’ well before the time the squad is selected whatever the repercussions.

To exacerbate Pearce’s problem a little more, the Olympic football tournament does not start until 25^th July, which means that his squad of players will be missing from their club’s pre-season training, fixtures and tours, something that will not impress club managers. Pearce will no doubt be hoping that the players themselves will apply pressure on their clubs to be released for the Olympic tournament, but with the possibility of facing action from both their National FA’s and their clubs, players might not be so keen.

All in all this looks like a very onerous job for Pearce, whose enthusiasm for the job has been very well reported but who might find that this enthusiasm, come selection time, might well be dampening.

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