Great Britain national football team

Early in his premiership, Tony Blair wanted to create a GB-wide national football team. Wisely, he did not try this. But if he had, I pose two questions.

1. Obviously, he would have failed. But how would this failure have looked? How far might the efforts to put it together actually gone?

2. In some magical world where the Great Britain team was actually created, would it have fared any better than the England/Scotland/Wales national teams in future tournaments considering that it would have had access to players from all three nations? Let's assume the Great Britain team is created in time for the 2002 World Cup.
 

Coulsdon Eagle

Monthly Donor
Add Giggs to the "Golden Generation" and it solves then problem of the left wing. Trouble is where do you play Scholes now he's not shoved off to the left.
 
Was this going to replace the English, Scottish, and Welsh teams, or was it going to be like the British and Irish Lions in Rugby?
 
One proposal was to have UK Team for the WC, but Home Countries otherwise.
Might have worked and in the 1990’s FIFA and UEFA would have gone along with it.
 
Scotland as a test level ball sports unit always feeds off, like having separate World Cup teams for Texas, Virginia, Corsica, Flanders, Quebec, Newfoundland, or Western Australia.
 
IIRC there was some talk of Rangers and Celtic joining the Premiership when it first started, which I always think is such a big potential POD. Alex Ferguson talked about this years later and basically said that the English clubs knew that the Old Firm should be locked out because they'd probably dominate too strongly. But it would've been nice to live in a world where those two are still two of the biggest clubs in Europe.

Anyway, how about this for a combined GB squad for the last World Cup:

Goalkeepers
Jordan Pickford (Everton)
Nick Pope (Burnley)
Wayne Hennessey (Crystal Palace)

Defenders
Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur)
Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur)
Harry Maguire (Leicester City)
John Stones (Manchester City)
Andy Robertson (Liverpool)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Phil Jones (Manchester United)
Gary Cahill (Chelsea)
Kieran Tierney (Celtic)
Fabian Delph (Manchester City)

Midfielders
Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)
Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur)
Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)
Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur)
Jesse Lingaard (Manchester United)

Forwards
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)

I also thought about who I'd include from ROI if it was a combined British Isles squad but I don't think that many of them would make the cut (Hendrick and Brady maybe?).
 

Coulsdon Eagle

Monthly Donor
Too many defenders, too few midfielders.

And, speaking as a Palace fan, I wouldn't want Hennessey anywhere near a WC squad.
 
The only non-English player who should be in a 2018 GB WC team should be Bale. Ramsey and maybe Williams should be in the squad but that's it. Obviously, Scotland will be furious.
 
Too many defenders, too few midfielders.

And, speaking as a Palace fan, I wouldn't want Hennessey anywhere near a WC squad.

Fair enough re Hennessey.

I decided to base it on the makeup of the squad Southgate took to the last WC. Also, I think Delph and Young would work as auxiliary midfielders if absolutely necessary.

The only non-English player who should be in a 2018 GB WC team should be Bale. Ramsey and maybe Williams should be in the squad but that's it. Obviously, Scotland will be furious.

I wouldn't have taken Williams at the end of 2017-18. IIRC he was a disaster that season.

Also, do you not think that Robertson and Tierney would belong in an all-GB team? Tierney is a bit more of a gamble, I'd admit, but I think that Robertson is at least arguably the best British left-back.
 
Had it happened how would it have affected the combined team's performance in the World Cup and Euros from 1998 onwards?

I think that post PL era there just aren’t enough non-English players who would’ve got into a GB team (Ally McCoist, Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy leap to mind, and then obviously Bale, Ramsay and Robertson - I’m probably missing a few) to seriously alter the team’s tournament prospects. It might be more interesting to project it back in time - a front three of George Best, Dennis Law and Jimmy Johnstone at the 1970 World Cup would’ve been tasty...
 
The only non-English player who should be in a 2018 GB WC team should be Bale. Ramsey and maybe Williams should be in the squad but that's it. Obviously, Scotland will be furious.

I was thinking pretty much the exact same thing. Scotland's gone to the dogs so who could they really contribute?
 
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