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Olympic Soccer: Fergie in line for London 2012 role?

British footballers are staying away from Beijing while other leading nations send some of the world's finest players. Ralph Ellis wonders if a certain knight of the realm could really lead a GB team at London 2012.

So what's next for Sir Alex Ferguson? No sooner had Manchester United's manager suggested he's only a couple of years from hanging up his hairdryer, than no less a sporting figure than Sebastian Coe found a nice little retirement job for him. Britain's great Olympic middle distance champion, now Lord Coe, wants Fergie to be the boss of a Great Britain football team in 2012. And this morning comes news that another Lord - Colin Moynihan who is chairman of the British Olympic Association - is also determined to recruit the master motivator to deliver gold in the football tournament.

In this year's Olympics, of course, there's no Great Britain team. The committee men who run the FAs of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland wouldn't have it for fear of losing their own status within FIFA. But Moynihan tells the Daily Mail's veteran football writer Jeff Powell today that he's determined there WILL be a GB United side when 2012 starts. "We must have a team in these Games and we will have a team," he says.

"We would also expect that team to be a strong medal contender and thereby generate tremendous excitement throughout the country. The impact of a British team on the public and their support of the Games will be enormous."

The Mail go to town on their exclusive story, with the revelation from Powell that he has already put Lord Moynihan and Sir Alex in touch with each other to discuss the idea. And they even pick a team that could represent GB now - a side of Under 23 players with three over age as allowed by the rules, plus a side of likely lads who might be hitting the top by 2012. There's a few obvious names like Arsenal's Theo Walcott and Tottenham's Gareth Bale. But what do you know of Manchester United's young Northern Ireland star Chris Curran, or Everton's chunky England youth teenager John Paul Kissock? Be interesting to keep the cutting and see how many names they've got right in four years time.

In the middle of all this debate about what might, or might not, happen in the future is a priceless gem to offer a good bet now. Powell discusses the fact that other nations are getting deadly serious about the Olympic tournament in Beijing. And confirms that Brazil, especially, are beefing up what is already a strong side by including Ronaldinho, Diego and Manchester City's £18million new signing Jo.

That trio makes Brazil a certain bet at [1.18] to win their qualifying group C with China, New Zealand and Belgium. It makes them cracking value at [3.75] to win the gold medal in the tournament too. The obvious danger comes from Argentina, favourites on [3.15]. They have Lionel Messi as the best known of the younger players in the squad, beefed up by the experience of Riquelme, Javier Mascherano and Nicolas Burdisso of Inter Milan. Holland, with a rich history of developing young talent, could be a good outsider at [10.5].

Five things you might not know about football at the Olympics

1. The first proper football tournament at The Games happened in London in 1908. Denmark's Sophus Nielsen set a record which stood for 90 years by scoring ten goals in one match

2. Czechoslovakia walked off the field in the 1920 final in protest at the referee

3. Between 1948 and 1980, some 23 of 27 Olympic medals were won by Eastern Bloc countries whose "amateur" players were being paid by their state

4. The current age regulations, meaning teams must be under 23 apart from three players per country, were introduced in 1992

5. Brazil may have a record five World Cups, but they have never managed better than silver (in 1984 and 88) at the Olympics