Speaking with Forked Tongue

Once again the debate over a combined team GB football team for the next Olympics rears its head once again. This time, it’s the new Scottish Secretary, Jim Murphy MP who has brought it up, claiming that FIFA believed that a united team in an under 23 tournament posed no risk to the Scotland national team. He went on to say

"I'm a football fan, I'm a Scotland fan, as well as being the secretary of state and I share the concerns that many people had about the impact it might have on the Scottish national team. That's why I met Jerome Valcke, the general secretary of Fifa, yesterday and told him about my concerns and the concerns that many Scots have.
He confirmed that Fifa, of course who regulate football, that the executive will agree that this one-off under-23 tournament could take place and it will not jeopardise the status of any of the home nations and I think that's very welcome news."

I do wonder whether Murphy has actually done his homework on FIFA, and Herr Blatter in particular. In addition to being at the centre of an investigation by Swiss police. On top of his right hand man’s one man crusade to oust John McBeith (not to mention the tickets scandal surrounding Warner), Blatter has been decidedly cool about a GB team in the football competition at the London Olympics, saying at a FIFA meeting at Gleneagles in March..

“If you start to put together a combined team for the Olympic Games, the question will automatically come up that there are four different associations so how can they play in one team.
"If this is the case then why the hell do they have four associations and four votes and their own vice-presidency?"This will put into question all the privileges that the British associations have been given by the Congress in 1946."

It is strange that Murphy would, as a Scotland fan, seek to put at risk the Scotland national team. Prehaps the next time he meets a FIFA delegate, he should follow the advice of McBeith and count his fingers after the interview.