Stuart Pearce To Manage Great Britain Olympic 2012 Team

As expected the England Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce has been chosen to manage the Great Britain men's football team who will take part in the 2012 London Olympics for the first time in 52 years. Pearce was the clear favourite in the Team GB Football Manager Betting Odds and he will now be charged with leading the squad to glory on home soil next summer. Meanwhile, Hope Powell has been appointed the manager of the women's team.

Attention will now turn to the squad and who Pearce will opt to include. The former Man City manager has stated that he will only choose players with the right mentality who are both in-form and fit. David Beckham has been consistently linked with the team and Pearce has refused to rule out the possibility of picking the former England captain. Beckham is reportedly very keen to take part in the Olympics and he would definitely be a popular choice among England supporters. There are 18 spaces available in the men's squad which will primarily include players under the age of 23, however, three over-age players are also allowed. It has so far proven a controversial topic as the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Football Associations are opposed to the combined GB team, although they are powerless to prevent their respective players from taking part.

Pearce's involvement in international football as both a manager and player meant that he was an obvious candidate for the job. In total he won 78 England caps and has also taken the England-21 team to three major championships. The 49-year-old is widely considered to be a future England manager and this experience will no doubt boost his chances. Fabio Capello steps down after Euro 2012 and Pearce can currently be found with odds of 12/1 in the Next England Manager Betting, although he recently declared that he wasn't yet ready for the job. At the moment it is Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp who is the bookies odds on favourite to succeed Capello.