The vexed question of whether Scottish footballers are likely to represent Team GB at the Olympics in London this summer has manifested itself across the back pages in Scotland with an ever-increasing intensity over the past few days.
For many, the story’s re-emergence is symptomatic of the lack of January transfer window activity thus far – be it speculative or in some way related to fact. Still, whatever the merits of the column inches devoted to the subject recently, the likelihood of any player from north of the border pulling on a Team GB shirt will need to be determined sooner rather than later.
The controversy intensified last week following comments attributed to the SFA’s Chief Executive, Stewart Regan, in which he warned that any Scottish player who accepted an invitation to join the Team GB squad could expect a ‘backlash’ from the Tartan Army as a consequence of his involvement.
The SFA have, like their counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland, proposed that players should resist any overtures to sign up to the Olympic Squad, although they have stopped short of instructing any player to refuse to participate if selected.
This objection, of course, rests on the insistence – and, in some cases, assumption - from the powers-that-be that any decision to participate in team GB will be seized upon by FIFA. So theoretically satisfying the desire of certain delegates to push onto the agenda, the case for a combined British football team in all future tournaments.
Stuart Pearce, the manager of the Olympic football squad, said he was ‘saddened’ by the SFA’s public stance, and reiterated his view that, not only were the SFA wrong to adopt that particular approach, but that he would in any case continue to pursue those Scottish players already identified as possible candidates for his final 18-man squad.
Of course, Regan’s views must have been articulated on the assumption that the overwhelming majority of Scottish football fans remain vehemently opposed to the notion of any association with team GB. That a sizeable proportion has indeed been vocal in their opposition to the prospect is undeniable, but whether the majority is an overwhelming one is at least open to conjecture.
Whatever the case, Regan is obviously confident that many supporters share his suspicions about the intentions of a sufficient number of influential FIFA figures, and therefore felt able to conclude that the ire of the fans will be felt by those who choose to ignore the SFA’s wishes this summer.
You wonder, too, whether the objections of some are founded on the basis of rather more primal instincts. A school of thought doing the rounds is that the football squad will have a predominately English bias, and the smaller associations simply want no part of that. Whether the so-called backlash could have any foundation within the current political debate surrounding nationalistic aspirations (both Scottish and English) is also worthy of closer examination.
As things stand, 3 Celtic players are among those who have been written to in order to establish their willingness to be considered for participation in the Games. Scott Brown, Adam Matthews and James Forrest are the players in question, with the latter already having publicly stated he would be interested, subject to gaining the approval of his club.
And there’s the rub. Whilst Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been largely non-committal on the issue to date, the feeling persists that, in the likely event of his club having to negotiate Champions League qualifiers around the time of the Olympics (i.e. July and August), the prospect of any of his key players being released for Pearce’s squad must be considered highly unlikely. (Lennon did proffer his personal view that football shouldn’t be an Olympic sport in the first place, which although an interesting opinion is of little consequence given it now is!).
Across the Old Firm divide, Rangers boss Ally McCoist is also saying little, although he has gone on record suggesting players should consider it an honour to represent their country at such a prestigious event as the Olympic Games. That said, you wonder whether his view would change should he, rather than Lennon, have some crucial ties to play in a bid to qualify for the land of milk and honey that is the group stages of Europe’s top club competition.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of all this, time is not an ally of those on either side of the debate. Pearce is due to announce his final squad in April; so don’t expect the arguments to abate any time soon.