Yakking for Argyll

So far not a voice in favour of this one. Everyone’s - reasonably - been focusing on the inevitable resistance from the celtic fringe nations, anxious both to maintin their traditional separate footballing identity and their own places in the World Cup. Nobody’s looked at the practicalities - and they knock it on the head. As it is, the managers of the national teams can’t get enough training time in because of te players’ club and league commitments. In 2012, the top clubs will have their usual home and European championships to add to their domestic league duties. Realistically, what sort of chance does any one-off manager have of getting players for even more training time away from their clubs - and the league itself will probably be in progress at the time.

The Independent’s Sportswriter of the Year, James Lawton, had a great argument recently for not having the traditional pro sports in the Olympic Games. He was talking about football, tennis and golf. His argument is that these sports have long had their own major pro-challenges, the Everests in their fields, the ones they dream of cracking. Think about the Claret Jug and the Green Jacket in Golf; the Slams and Grand Slam in tennis, the Jules Rimet World Cup in football. The Olympic Games, to these sports, are a side issue and the participants turn out ill-prepared and lacklustre performances that degrade the Games. (Andy Murray - take a long, low bow.) For the sports with a longer amateur tradition, the Games are a once-in-four-years chance of making history. Athletes focus and train for them over a four year period. Other Championships, even the Worlds, are part of their preparation for the big one. The Games are their lodestar. Lawton sees a profound mis-match between them and the pros with their eyes elsewhere. His analysis is good. So forget a UK football team - and forget football, golf and tennis in the Games.