MARCH 2 – CULTURE SECRETARY Andy Burnham (pictured) has sparked a new politicial row after today issuing a warning to the Scottish Football Association not to retaliate against players called up to join a united British football team at the 2012 Olympics.
FEBRUARY 5 – CRAIG BROWN (picured), the former Scotland manager, has today claimed that the Olympic football tournament is just a “Mickey Mouse” event that means nothing.
He said: “It’s [the Olympics] basically a Mickey Mouse tournament.
FEBRUARY 1 – FIFA PRESIDENT Sepp Blatter (pictured) wants to lower the age limit for the Olympic soccer tournament and ban the addition of three over-23 players, he said today.
DECEMBER 12 – THREE of Britain’s four national soccer team managers today backed a united team for the 2012 London Olympics.
NOVEMBER 16 – TIME is “rapidly running out” for a football club to stake their claim to move to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games, a senior London official warned during a visit to Barcelona today.
OCTOBER 17 – SCOTLAND’S players should not be forced to miss out on the opportunity of playing football in the 2012 Olympics, David Davies (pictured), the former executive director of the Football Association, said today.
SEPTEMBER 10 – A TOP official in Northern Ireland has claimed that the Province could stage matches in the Olympic football tournament in 2012 if a decision is made on building a new national stadium within the next month.
A SENIOR figure has warned the Football Association that a bid for the 2018 World Cup should not be at the expense of producing the next generation of young English players.
INFLUENTIAL FIFA member Jack Warner (pictured), who could hold the key to England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup, has repeated his attack on English football’s negative view about football in the Caribbean.
SIMON CLEGG, the chief executive of the British Olympic Association (BOA), has hit out at Welsh footbball officials for refusing to have anything to do with London 2012, which could deprive young players like Gareth Bale (pictured) the opportunity of playing.
DAVID CAMERON (pictured), the leader of the Conservative Party, today said a tournament between the four football teams from the Home Countries should be held to decide who represents Britain at the 2012 London Olympics.
JUNE 3 – UK SPORT and the English Institute of Sport (EIS), together with the major football authorities, today offered over 1,000 released academy footballers the chance to take up the challenge and switch their talents to targeted Olympic sports in time for 2012.
LORD TRIESMAN (pictured) today criticised the organisers of England’s last bid to host the World Cup as being complacent and not understanding how the bidding process worked.
THE Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) are opposing stringent new drug-testing rules that are similar to those imposed on Britain’s Olympic athletes.
AUGUST 6 – LORD TRIESMAN (pictured), the chairman of the Football Association, said it would be “barking mad” if Britain were not represented in the 2012 Olympic tournament and promised that they would be.