Team GB

Anybody watching this tripe?

EDIT: Apparently now the official 606v2 Team GB football thread!

Game on.

Yeah awful, I now know why city didnt score all season under pearce. Barely come out of our half. Butlands been the only positive I can see so far.

Richards at cb shows pearces lack of sense, he's always been a awful cb

Shame Harry Redknapp wasn't available at the time they were looking for an appointment, at least Harry would have had a go. Pearce is well out of his depth and Richards inclusion is a joke and smacks of an old pals act.

That was appaling, why did he not even choose a natural goalscorer. Brazil hardly got out of second gear. Butland looks a great prospect.

UAE should be a walkover but Uruguay and Senegal?

Senegal have no Cisse or Ba thanks to Pardew's persuasive talk to the Senegalese manager so we should just scrap through that one. Uruguay will be a whole different ball game and if Edinson Cavani shows up then James Tomkins may be embarrassed on numerous occassions. Fully expecting a Spain vs Brazil final (If they aren't due to meet each other before hand)

Not sure if it's true or not but I heard today that we are 3rd favourites. Surely not?

Watch out for the west african teams. They always perform well at the olympics. As for team GB? No chance. No skill, hate the ball and no hope. UAE will beat them.

It was truly awful, absolutely no shape. I said that it was odd in the first place that Pearce chose no natural forward and it proved my point in this game. So often, you'd find Bellamy and Sturridge both wide, with nobody in the middle, which was useless.

I don't think there was a single player who came out with any credit in that match, possibly Neil Taylor and Cleverly, but they were only a bad out of an awful bunch.

Isn't Sturridge supposed to be a natural forward?

FreekShow wrote:Isn't Sturridge supposed to be a natural forward?

Supposedly, but last night he could almost every time be found on the right wing. I think he likes to think of himself as a natural forward, but there is a reason he's shoved out onto the wing.

John wrote:That was appaling, why did he not even choose a natural goalscorer. Brazil hardly got out of second gear. Butland looks a great prospect.

pretty embarrassing how rubbish this team was that the only positives was for the keeper!

azania wrote:Watch out for the west african teams. They always perform well at the olympics. As for team GB? No chance. No skill, hate the ball and no hope. UAE will beat them.

GB vs UAE will be in the hall of fame for most dull wooden spoon match!

I may be optimistic but there's no way we'll win at the Olympics with this team. Might scrape a bronze if we're lucky.

I resent all use of the phrase "Team GB" and would rather the phrase "Team England and Wales" was used thank you.

The Special Juan wrote:I resent all use of the phrase "Team GB" and would rather the phrase "Team England and Wales" was used thank you.

No because they're representing Great Britain, not England and Wales.

It does make a mockery of things not including Scottish and Northern Irish players.

FreekShow wrote:It does make a mockery of things not including Scottish and Northern Irish players.

Rubbish! No other sport is required to select players from all the home nations. He's picked who he feels are the best from all the home nations, there just aren't any players from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Duty281 wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:I resent all use of the phrase "Team GB" and would rather the phrase "Team England and Wales" was used thank you.

No because they're representing Great Britain, not England and Wales.

No really, they are representing England and Wales.

The Special Juan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:I resent all use of the phrase "Team GB" and would rather the phrase "Team England and Wales" was used thank you.

No because they're representing Great Britain, not England and Wales.

No really, they are representing England and Wales.

No they're Team GB. Just because none of the Scottish or Northern Irish players were good enough to be selected doesn't change that.

In the same way that the Team GB sprinting team might not pick sprinters from every home nation, they're still Team GB.

You find one person in Scotland who actually cares about Team GB. I've not found any yet. In fact, my whole FB timeline was filled with people cheering on Brazil. Was it true "Team England and Wales" was referred to England last night at about the 8th minute?

Anyway, long story short, they don't represent me.

The Special Juan wrote:You find one person in Scotland who actually cares about Team GB. I've not found any yet. In fact, my whole FB timeline was filled with people cheering on Brazil. Was it true "Team England and Wales" was referred to England last night at about the 8th minute?

Anyway, long story short, they don't represent me.

Well that says more about the intelligence and mentality of these people than Team GB. A mistake by a commentator means nothing, I've heard Liverpool be referred to as the Red Devils before, it doesn't mean I stop supporting them.

That's your problem, not Team GB. Presumably, you won't support any of the Team GB competitors in other sports who don't represent every home nation then?

Crimey wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:You find one person in Scotland who actually cares about Team GB. I've not found any yet. In fact, my whole FB timeline was filled with people cheering on Brazil. Was it true "Team England and Wales" was referred to England last night at about the 8th minute?

Anyway, long story short, they don't represent me.

Well that says more about the intelligence and mentality of these people than Team GB. A mistake by a commentator means nothing, I've heard Liverpool be referred to as the Red Devils before, it doesn't mean I stop supporting them.

That's your problem, not Team GB. Presumably, you won't support any of the Team GB competitors in other sports who don't represent every home nation then?

A sackable offence if ever I've heard one.

I'll be supporting Andy Murray, Sir Chris Hoy, Robbie Renwick.... I'm joking. It's just the football team I have an issue with. They should never have done that, it was always going to create animosity between the home nations. I'm only watching Murray at the Olympics anyway; the rest of it is not my cup of tea.

I apologise for going off topic.

The Special Juan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:I resent all use of the phrase "Team GB" and would rather the phrase "Team England and Wales" was used thank you.

No because they're representing Great Britain, not England and Wales.

No really, they are representing England and Wales.

How? If they get a medal then they win a medal for GB not England and Wales, in the same way that if Hoy or Murray wins a medal, they win it for Britain not Scotland.

The Special Juan wrote:You find one person in Scotland who actually cares about Team GB. I've not found any yet. In fact, my whole FB timeline was filled with people cheering on Brazil. Was it true "Team England and Wales" was referred to England last night at about the 8th minute?

Anyway, long story short, they don't represent me.

Thats good then, I guess Bradley Wiggins doesn't represent "you" either seeing as he's English!

Bring home the Tour for England, Bradley!

i feel sorry for the players,
its just 1 big publicity stunt

I won the sweepstake on how long it would take the commentater to call the team England.

Steven Fletcher S.hits all over everyone in that squad.

Duty281 wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:I resent all use of the phrase "Team GB" and would rather the phrase "Team England and Wales" was used thank you.

No because they're representing Great Britain, not England and Wales.

No really, they are representing England and Wales.

How? If they get a medal then they win a medal for GB not England and Wales, in the same way that if Hoy or Murray wins a medal, they win it for Britain not Scotland.

They're not really british if they lose though are they? One loss and you're scottish again.

#HEEL wrote:Steven Fletcher S.hits all over everyone in that squad.

I don't think he does to be honest. He's one of the few Scottish players who could challenge for the squad, but I don't think he's at a much higher level.

only a football fan could be so short sighted to actively support the opposition rather than a team gb team. do you think scottish fans dont get behind the british lions?

the funny thing is the rest of could give them what they want and just let them be scotland and then what would they have to cheer on then! one tennis player and one cyclist. a rubbish rugby team rubbish football team and a domestic league that is becoming more and more of a joke, where only one team is going to win it for quite some time. i would have thought scotland would have been desperate to support any gb teams!

I can see why most people won't support the team though, they are always stationed in London. A real Team GB would tour around the Island!

Josiah Maiestas wrote:I can see why most people won't support the team though, they are always stationed in London. A real Team GB would tour around the Island!

thier playing at old trafford wembley and millenium?? thats a fair bit covered. its hardly like thier going to play some rubbish stadium in n.ireland. scotland dont deserve a game after thier fa's stance

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:You find one person in Scotland who actually cares about Team GB. I've not found any yet. In fact, my whole FB timeline was filled with people cheering on Brazil. Was it true "Team England and Wales" was referred to England last night at about the 8th minute?

Anyway, long story short, they don't represent me.

Thats good then, I guess Bradley Wiggins doesn't represent "you" either seeing as he's English!

Bring home the Tour for England, Bradley!

Well as I really couldn't care less about cycling; yes.

It's just a general Scottish thing. There's little interest in the Olympics.

compelling and rich wrote:only a football fan could be so short sighted to actively support the opposition rather than a team gb team. do you think scottish fans dont get behind the british lions?

the funny thing is the rest of could give them what they want and just let them be scotland and then what would they have to cheer on then! one tennis player and one cyclist. a rubbish rugby team rubbish football team and a domestic league that is becoming more and more of a joke, where only one team is going to win it for quite some time. i would have thought scotland would have been desperate to support any gb teams!

The 'Anyone But England' mentality runs through every aspect of the Scottish footballing world, Rich. It's not just at the Olympics, it's fed to them in infancy with their mother's breast milk. It even spread to Andy Murray (who is perfectly happy to come to England to make a lot of money, like many a Scottish sportsman before him), but makes it quite plain that he would be delighted to see the English fail on any stage, even when they are representing Great Britain.

You're quite right about the British Lions. My parents have been on the last four Lions tours and said how good the atmosphere amongst the fans is, regardless of where you come from. Sure, there is banter, but it's done with a twinkle in the eye and remains quite friendly. It never becomes a matter of beer-glass-in-yer-face importance as is often the outcome when you put football supporters wearing different shirts in the same room.

Team GB (Ugh..!! Who came up with THAT monstrosity..?) are a motley collective of players cobbled together who, frankly, don't really stand much of a chance. This is probably because this is a one off entry due to the Games being held in London.

Great Britain has not participated in an Olympic football competition since 1960. We're not accustomed to it, we don't prepare properly for it and frankly, the fans don't like it. With the new domestic season imminent, nobody wants the risk of star players getting injured before the season starts. Pre-season friendlies are one thing, a competitive tournament is something else.

The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish FA's are antagonistic towards Olympic football because they see it as the thin edge of the wedge. They believe that if we enter a GB team at the Olympics, UEFA and FIFA will want to enter a combined GB team at the Euros and World Cups before you can say sacre flippin' bleu. The conspiracy theorists in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast are quite unshakeable on this. They'll probably tell you the dastardly English are in on it too, just so we can get our hands on their 'pool of talent' (whatever that is).

And so along comes the London Olympics and just because of a little thing like Association Football being founded in England in 1863, the British Olympic Organising Committee ridiculously think it would be a good idea to have a Great Britain team participating in our home Games. How silly is that..!!

Of course, we cannot compete with the best prepared teams. They do this every four years. Their young players see it as valuable experience in international competition, they get a team together and use the Olympics to help them bond. Their players are receptive to it, want to take part in it, and they expect to learn something from it. If I had my way we would embrace this tournament for the benefits it can bestow on our young players. If it were up to me, Great Britain would participate in every Olympic football tournament and I'd be expecting us to start planning for 2016 in Brazil sometime from early September.

But we're British. We don't do things like that. There's nothing Johnny Foreigner can teach us because we already know it all, as the outstanding record in European Championships and World Cups of the four home nations shows..!!

And so from tomorrow, the fans of the big clubs will grumble and complain, and they will be delighted when the Great Britain team falls flat on their faces because it means their precious stars can then go off to Dubai or Singapore to play in money-matches for their clubs and be ready in all respects for the new season.... a season in which, should any of their teams achieve great things in the Champions League, these fans can tell themselves that it's because we have the greatest league in the world..... whilst conveniently overlooking the fact that what makes it great is the foreign element.

In three weeks from now, the Olympics will be over and it could very well be another 52 years before Great Britain participates in an Olympic football tournament again. The balance of things on our island paradise, which in football terms may as well be a completely different planet, will be restored.

Business as usual.


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Jennifer1984 wrote:


The 'Anyone But England' mentality runs through every aspect of the Scottish footballing world, Rich. It's not just at the Olympics, it's fed to them in infancy with their mother's breast milk. It even spread to Andy Murray (who is perfectly happy to come to England to make a lot of money, like many a Scottish sportsman before him), but makes it quite plain that he would be delighted to see the English fail on any stage, even when they are representing Great Britain.

No he doesn't. You do know his infamous 'Paraguay' quote was a bit of silly banter that was blown out of proportion by a journalist (who has since apologised)?

Apart from that one comment, he has never shown any animosity toward England and he certainly doesn't hope English sportsmen fail when competing for GB.

djlovesyou wrote:

Jennifer1984 wrote:


The 'Anyone But England' mentality runs through every aspect of the Scottish footballing world, Rich. It's not just at the Olympics, it's fed to them in infancy with their mother's breast milk. It even spread to Andy Murray (who is perfectly happy to come to England to make a lot of money, like many a Scottish sportsman before him), but makes it quite plain that he would be delighted to see the English fail on any stage, even when they are representing Great Britain.

No he doesn't. You do know his infamous 'Paraguay' quote was a bit of silly banter that was blown out of proportion by a journalist (who has since apologised)?

Apart from that one comment, he has never shown any animosity toward England and he certainly doesn't hope English sportsmen fail when competing for GB.

I think that's a matter of opinion and perhaps we should agree to disagree.

Actually..... and I know I am straying from the thread now, but I'd like to throw this in just to show I have no actual animosity to Andy Murray but was merely using him as an instance, so I hope the group will bear with me while I put my position straight.

I was most impressed with AM during Wimbledon when he had the question of women's prize money in tennis thrown at him without warning. He has learned by now how to avoid being ambushed by such questions and he fended this one off very professionally. In doing so, he didn't waffle and flannel, instead, he put his position articulately and made a couple of very valid points which although they would be unsatisfactory to many women players, were fair points well made. I admired him for that.

Perhaps he learned from the Paraguay gaffe. He was much younger back then. He's been around the block a few times now and it is probable that he is a polished enough performer to give the right answers, regardless of what his personal opinions may be. On the other hand, he may be saying what he really thinks. I doubt we'll ever know.

Sometimes it's difficult to tell with sportspersons, but as a rule of thumb, their real feelings usually come out in the early years before they get tuition from PR gurus in how to deal with the media.

Like I said, let's agree to disagree on that one and move back on topic. Thanks to the group for their indulgence.

I don't even like Murray in the slightest, but I know fr a fact he was just having banter when he said anyone but England. My fellow Englishmen need to stop using this as a stick to hit with as its just propaganda. Team GB will always be rubbish because of the coaches in charge focusing too much on the defensive aspect. Look at Germany and Brazil, even centrebacks are very attacking players and given license to roam. They may concede goals easier than GB and other average teams but they create alot more going forward. Pearce and Hodgson need to be more attacking in their selections and tactics.

He was having a bit of banter with Tim Henman.

Tim asked him whether he would be supporting Scotland in the upcoming World Cup (Knowing full well that Scotland didn't qualify) and Andy replied that he was supporting anyone England was playing.

The journalist wrote the story (which he has since apologised for) and ignoramuses every since have been using this as a reason why Andy Murray has something against the English. It wasn't even a gaffe, it was very poor journalism.

When you actually put the quote in context (clearly something you've never thought to do) it's actually an obvious jovial comment whilst chatting to a friend, albeit on the TV.

djlovesyou wrote:He was having a bit of banter with Tim Henman.

Tim asked him whether he would be supporting Scotland in the upcoming World Cup (Knowing full well that Scotland didn't qualify) and Andy replied that he was supporting anyone England was playing.

The journalist wrote the story (which he has since apologised for) and ignoramuses every since have been using this as a reason why Andy Murray has something against the English. It wasn't even a gaffe, it was very poor journalism.

When you actually put the quote in context (clearly something you've never thought to do) it's actually an obvious jovial comment whilst chatting to a friend, albeit on the TV.

The important thing is that he's realised he screwed up and has clearly taken steps to becoming better prepared when dealing with the media. If he has such opinions, then he is now aware that when making comments that will be heard by football fans he needs to be careful because anything he does say will be picked up and run with.

I wish him every success at the Olympics. There is the possibility of a British gold medal that isn't gaining any public attention at this time. He will still be playing at Wimbledon, but without the same intensity of scrutiny and pressure of the Grand Slam tournament. It's just possible that he may be able to go one step further than a few weeks ago.

What better way for him to silence the critics than to win a gold medal for Great Britain and to sing God Save The Queen on the medal podium.

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Love how Gareth Bale rules himself out the Olympics but played for Tottenham last night against Galaxy. Apparently Pearce is screwing.

John wrote:Love how Gareth Bale rules himself out the Olympics but played for Tottenham last night against Galaxy. Apparently Pearce is screwing.

He scored as well...

i was thinking of going down to the MS to watch a few games, even if its just to bolster the numbers. i honestly think the MS was always going to be too big for these football games. the national football team had to leave because no one was turning up. now, team gb women vs team nz women are expected to see at least 40,000 people, its just not going to happen.

The crowd at the Millenium was quite sparse and that's unfortunate but the important thing was that GB won their first game. Seeing Brazil dismantle a rather hapless Cameroon team later on in the day suggests to me that GB's win yesterday was very important in terms of progressing in the competition. If we beat Cameroon we are as good as in the Quarter Finals. I'd like to be able to say 'anything can happen', but in honesty, I can't really see New Zealand getting a result against the Brazilians.

Perhaps having the women's football tournament in large stadia such as Hampden and Millenium was optimistic to say the least, but the organisers were in a bit of a sensitive area with regard to the women's tournament.

To reduce the women's tournament to smaller stadiums, whilst practical, may be seen by some countries as a snub. We saw how sensitive the North Koreans got over the issue of their flag at Hampden.

It would send out the wrong sort of message and the IOC most certainly wouldn't like it. Women's football must be accorded the same status as men's, and that means putting the girls into large stadiums that in a country like Britain, with it's fans dismissive attitude towards women's football, they simply can't fill.

Is this poor attendance a reflection on the British public's attitude towards women's sport in general, and football in particular..? Well, sadly it appears to be. We simply don't support it here. Whether or not that is down to sexist attitudes amongst fans is arguable.

But it is a poor reflection on us as the Olympic hosts that the turnout for the opening event of the Games was so poorly attended.... Not only that, but in a sport that Britain is recognised as the birthplace of.

Whether some men on here like it or not, women's football at international level is becoming more highly thought of all the time and it's gaining influence in the corridors of footballing power, too.

The indifference of British fans to the women's tournament at these games may very well be noted by UEFA and FIFA for when bids for Euros and World Cups are made in the future..... for either gender.


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To be fair women's football is so clearly at a much lower standard to men's football. That is not sexist, it is only like saying that League 2 football is at a lower standard than the Premier League. They haven't had the years of development to get to the same level, and as such it's just not as good to watch.

Or you could look at it in a positive note and say that 25000 for the GB match at the Millenium and about 20000 for the first match at Hampden are actually big steps up when it comes to attendances in this country for women's football.

I agree that it probably would have looked better to have held it in a stadium that 25000 doesn't look like nobody turned up. I don't think holding these matches in a 30000 seater looks like a snub at all.

In the men's football, Spain are a man down and a goal down against the Japanese.

I think the organisers had to be realistic in respect to the crowd at MS and Hampen. The Welsh football team had to leave there because of the awful crowds, to get over 20,000 should be seen as a success, despite it looking like no one was there for the game.

Jennifer1984 wrote:It would send out the wrong sort of message and the IOC most certainly wouldn't like it. Women's football must be accorded the same status as men's, and that means putting the girls into large stadiums that in a country like Britain, with it's fans dismissive attitude towards women's football, they simply can't fill.
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It shouldn't be when the standard is clearly lower than Men's football.