Team GB In International Football?

Should we opt for a 'Team GB'

As the 2012 London Olympics come ever closer, the time is near for the selection process of our international football side to be submitted, with all the news surrounding this, it made me think should we have a team GB in international football all together. My thought on this will become clear to see as you read on...

The benefits of having a team GB are there to see, unlocking great talent such as Gareth Bale to play along the likes of John Terry and Wayne Rooney. Combining talent is a brilliant idea and potentially could give us a better chance of winning a international competition, also Great Britain can all join as one every so often and enjoy the array of talent on offer to see. England have several problems within their side which need to be ironed out, the left wing role has been an achillies heel in the England set-up for a very long time, Bale could change the squad if a team GB was actually put in motion.

But at the same time you are totally killing the history and tradition of our home nation teams, having that idenity as a seperate nation is what makes international football so special. Lets be honnest, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have always been and always will be, for the foreseeable future the whipping boys of international football. England is the only nation of the home nations which has a strong side, and at best we are still poor compared to the likes of Spain and Brazil. Also 90% of this 'Team GB' would be English, unless some sort of rule was passed that the match squad must contain 25% of players from each home nation (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). But in theory this would actually make our side weaker, than having our home nations. To England fans anyway, for the fans of the other three home nations its a brilliant idea if they want to see success.

Also who would hold the right to host 'Team GB' matches, all the home nation sides have national stadiums, three of which would be unused, or potentially four being rotated which would be a nightmare for the FA after spending so much money on Wembley Stadium. Just to gift the team GB home ground at Wembley Stadium would not go down well at-all with fans. A rotational system would be fair but leave the grounds empty the majority of the time, whats the point in a national stadium if you wont use it regular.

The main reason we will never see a team GB play on a wider scale other than in the Olympics is mainly due to the fans and the respecitve FAs of each nation. I personally would not want to see a team GB, the history of our home nations should be cherished and kept as it is now, you'll be effectivley erasing decades upon decades of history, be it the great, the bad or the embarassing. Nothing is greater than seeing our home nations in action against each other, the pride and passion which goes with it is fantastic, having a team GB would end all of this and for what, to get our hopes up for winning an international competition for us to bottle it in the quaters as per and oh, lose on penalties too.

Football Terraces - Should They Come Back?

The debate of bringing terraces back to football properly, in every division in England has been a long standing and controversial debate. Rules have been relaxed since the Hillsborough disaster of terraces but still in the top two tiers of English football terracing is pretty much banned. If you are a newly promoted side, you need to replace or close the terraced stand after a few seasons in the Championship. Move into the Premiership and terracing is still a big no.

The thrill of a football terrace is far greater than being seated in a state of the art football ground. Strange enough, on most away games, away fans usually stand up in seated sections of the ground anyway, so what difference would it make just to have designated standing areas in all the divisions, it is a financial headache for clubs who start to punch above their weight.

Soon as questions are asked about terraces coming back properly. Hillsborough is the first reason on the list of No's why it shouldn't come back, I can see the argument for this, because it could potentially happen again, also its a bit of an insult to all those who have died in terrace related disasters. But lets be honest there was a lot more to The Hillsborough Disaster than terraces on the April afternoon in 1989. Poor policing and out of control fans who had too much to drink are to blame for this, both sides were at fault for this day, everyone has blood on their hands from this terrible tragedy which unfolded in Sheffield. I will always stick by that thought that not one side was to blame.

Liverpool fans are just as much to blame as police at Hillsborough

If policed and organised in a proper manner, football terraces can work, they are used across Europe these days, football has changed from the hooliganism of the 70s,80s and 90s. The game is much more peaceful and fans can actually go enjoy the game much more. I really cannot see a huge problem with having certain standing areas in all grounds across the UK. It just has to be regulated.

A League One Fans View - SWFC

Since our relegation in 2000 from the Premiership, the Owls have struggled to get back to the 'promised land' of the Premier League. During this time we have faced many battles on and off the field, with numerous managers comming and going and the club enduring financial turmoil and having to scrape by on shoe string budgets. Having spent a few seasons in what was called the 'old divison one' The Owls were relegated in the 02/03 season which condemmed them to playing the likes of, Brentford, Tranmere, Chesterfield, back then. Something which was a tad alien to the fans after so many years of visiting places like Old Trafford and Anfield.

The Owls kicked off their season in the third teir of English football in the 03/04 season with expectations of comming straight back up, but the entire opposite happend with The Owls ending up in 16th place and avoiding relegation by three points.

The 04/05 season kicked off in a similar style to The Owls last season, and after a poor run of form Chris Turner was dismissed and (Sir) Paul Sturrock a hero still to many here at S6 managed to get the club moving in the right direction and back up the league, which resulted in Wednesday getting promoted via the play-offs beating Hartlepool United 4-2 on a fine summers afternoon in Cardiff. Sheffield Wednesday fans flocked in their numbers taking 40,000+ on the day Wednesday fans could smile for the first time in years.

Sturrock is still a hero to some at S6

Going into the 05/06 campagin with little money to spend The Owls managed to graft and grate their place for another season in the Championship after finnishing 19th. The Owls continued to swan around the Championship and had their highest league finnish since their relegation in the 06-07 season, finnishing 9th, 4pts outside the play-off places, The Owls never equalled or bettered the heights of that season and started to slide down the league. 

The 09/10 season was to be Sheffield Wednesdays' final season as a Championship club, after finnishing 22nd in the league after a final day showdown vs Crystal Palace at Hillsborough for the right to play in the league the next season, not to say some luck went Wednesdays way in the sense of the club had the lifeline if a last day fight due to Palaces' financial woes. The game ended 2-2, The Owls have been relegated again to League One, and now face long trips to Exeter and Yeovil a sad mark for once one of Englands most famous football clubs. 

 Yet so near, but yet so far, Owls fans face anohter League One stint

'Milans Millions' Saved SWFC

The season just gone has marked a new era and change for Sheffield Wednesday, after several winding up orders and comming within seconds of being put into admin only to be over turned by a judge at the last second due to a proposed deal which was 99% close to completion, was the last saving grace. Milan Mandaric took over Sheffield Wednesday after many years of financial and boardroom issues, the club finally had stability within its ranks, something the club hasn't had for over a decade. Mandaric came to the club a few months into the season, and dismissed Alan Irvine at the half-way point as The Owls' promising start to the season quickly faded away. Gary Megson was drafted in and results didn't much improve to begin with but Megson managed to get something out of his squad towards the end of the season, but there is still alot of work to be done at S6 over the summer to get the club back to the Championship and give some pride back into the name of 'Sheffield Wedneday'. Its a long road back to the Premiership for us, but I can say this, one day we will be back, it will happen, the sleeping giant is waking up and will one day be going back to Old Trafford.

'Ginger Mourinho' Megson wants to guide Owls to glory

Club or Country?

The club or country dilemma for football fans has been a long lasting argument, if you ask many people, they will say hands down, 'club over country' I, myself will admit to this, but pride and respect still should be held to our home nation, even if you do prefer to follow your club over your country. The majority of football fans, especially England fans have a tendancy not to be very bothered about our national side, until of course we are in the World Cup or the Europpean Championships, then the entire nation comes together and everyone is the biggest England fan in the country. The 'club over country' thought goes very much out of the window or it seems to do so. Personally you should back both your club and your nation, even if you have a preferance, which I have nothing against, but when your nation is not doing very well or are playing meaningless games, you should get behind your country as much as you would do for your club.

If England had a squad at their disposal to which Spain have would the attitude with English fans change, I think it would, currently the English side really should be better than it currently is, we boast one of the, if not the strongest elite divisons in the world, yet we have a second rate national side to go with this. Look at the other nations with big leagues, they boast squads which would or have played England off the park. Germany, Spain and Italy come to mind. But as I said above, regardless of our current state of affairs it should be irrelvent, everyone forgets how second rate our side is when we pop up in major championships.