Prime Minister Gordon Brown joked Friday that his Christmas wish list includes a British football team for the 2012 Olympics Games in London. Skip related content
Brown, himself a Scot, insisted that a British national team could be formed without threatening the independence of football bodies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which make up the United Kingdom.
He added that he had spoken to Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson about leading the team.
Asked at his monthly press conference in Downing Street what he wanted for Christmas, Brown replied with a smile: "That we have an Olympics team for the 2012 Olympics that is a football team from Britain."
"The issue here is very clear," said Brown, returning to his more customary seriousness. "We are hosting the Olympics in 2012, but at the moment, despite the fact that football is an Olympic gold medal-winning sport, there would be no UK football team in the 2012 Olympics."
He added: "Sebastian Coe (the 2012 Olympics organising committee chairman) and I have talked to Alex Ferguson about the possibility that he might want to be the manager."
The Scottish Football Association is strongly opposed to the idea of a British football team, fearing it could damage Scotland's own team in international competition. |
