The man who first thought of the idea of a British football team is doubtless not a football supporter. I'm not saying it is a bad idea in itself but no self respecting patriotic fan is going to recommend their team be meshed with another no matter what is at stake. Of course it may have been someone from the continent but we wont get into that whole argument.....

What is essentially proposed is that England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales would all form together to make one team. Naturally the best 11 players from the countries would be selected and this leads me to our first problem. If we mesh the teams together to create one, many players will not be able to experience the might of international football. How many of the Wales 11 would get into the England team right now? I can only think of one and he was born in England anyway (Ryan Giggs).

Then we also have the problem of who decides who is best for the team? England have enlisted a foreign coach but would he really have a clue about the Irish league and the players there? We'd overlook many a great talent in this respect (well, possibly....).

It does however mean that the team that is formed will have a better chance of winning things, namely the European and World cups when they come around. But is it worth it?

The people who we should really ask are the fans and I can tell you now what the reaction from every fan will be. I'm not talking your armchair guy who wants to have his say despite having never seen a match live, but rather those who have a passion for the game.

Any football fan loves their country, its human nature. To be patriotic is one of the most important things in International football and no matter what club you support, England or Scotland or Wales will always be fully supported by almost every member of the country. Even those who arent fans can get behind the national team, remember Euro 96?

So how would the
se fans feel about their team being meshed into one with 4 others? If you're an England man you probably wouldnt mind, you'd stick Giggs in that problem left sided position and the rest of the team would stay the same, but I cant think of a single Scotsman who would get into the squad let alone the team. With the possible exception of Roy Keane I cant think of any Irishmen either. SUrely thats a raw deal for them?

Theres also the fact that it would no longer be patriotic to support a British team, you'd be supporting three teams and not just that of your country. Any pride you got from the teams results wouldnt be half as good as if your own country had the same level of success. Is it fair to rob the fans of their pride?

If you want to get really nitty gritty then what about the national anthem, who's will play? I can hardly imagine the Welsh and Scottish wanting to sing along at full voice to god save our queen knowing the historic meaning.

We also have the problem of location to face, if you live on the outer edges of Scotland then travelling to London is simply out of the question, and if the fans did get behind the team, where would the venue be that can hold them all? England can easily cram 80,000 people into an important home game, imagine what it'd be like with Scotish, Welsh and Irish fans all wanting to get in aswell!

There's also the damage it would do to our club games. While England has a large following for its club games and plenty of money to pump into it to survive, the Welsh and Irish leagues would more than likely collapse without the support of their own national side, its what can often keep the players interested in playing.

Overall I think this is frankly an idiotic idea and I dont doubt many fans would agree with me. I want to see England winning against Germany, not Britain. I want to see England crush the Scots, not watch Britain defeat Zimbabwe. We would
lose so much by amalgamating the teams that its simply not worth it. I want to see England Scotland in a world cup finals with tension taught enough to cause severe nail deprevation, I want to see an underated Ireland team beat Holland and I want to see the Welsh finally qualify for something (ok, let me stop dreaming now :)).

At the end of the day it wont happen, the fans wont let it happen and anyone who attempts to force it would likely end up dead, and thats not a joke with the passion involved in all the British countries when it comes to football. Leave things as they are and lets just get on with winning the world cup.

Come On England........