Anger as Banks calls for UK national team

Last night, however, the radical vision of Labour's most outspoken and football mad MP was dismissed by the Scottish Sports Minister, Mr Sam Galbraith, who said the merger would happen ''over my dead body''. The Scottish Football Association was equally scathing, while the SNP said Mr Banks ''should go homewards and think again''.

Mr Banks, who has been in office for eight days, said Tony Blair had told him '' 'to get in there and liven it up' and I'm going to do precisely that''.

He said he had long been an advocate of a UK team. ''I've put it forward in the House before and tried it in early day motions. It gets some support, though there's a lot of opposition to it, but I want to see success.

''We used to play a football league team where you could bring in anyone who played anywhere and there were some wonderful bloody teams that were better than the international team because the English League tended to suck in the best players. We used to be able to put a fantastic team out to beat the world.''

Should a UK team fail to materialise, Mr Banks had another idea up his jersey. Foreign players living in Scotland should, he said, be made eligible to be chosen for Craig Brown's squad - raising the prospect of Gascoigne, Laudrup, and Di Canio pulling on the dark blue shirt of Scotland.

The thought had come to him as he was watching England slump to defeat in the World Cup qualifier against Italy in March. ''It's not Government policy, but let's discuss it.

''Why don't we talk about it?''

He added: ''The more we're involved in Europe we ought to think about if you (a footballer) play in this country for one of the league teams you can play for the country as well - in other words the right to play is not one of birth but one of residence.

''Think about it, freedom of movement within the European Union, able to vote, let's start thinking the unthinkable - if people are playing over here and want to play for Eng-

land and Scotland why not play?''

England lost the game to a goal by Chelsea's Italian striker Gianfranco Zola.

Banks, himself a Chelsea supporter, said there were a lot of Chelsea players looking at that match and saying ''Do well Zola, do well''. ''Wouldn't it be better instead of sitting there and saying 'Do well Zola', when he actually puts your international team out, instead saying 'Zola, you're over here, we're paying your wages. Why don't you play for England?'

''These are things worth discussing. It's no good saying it's rubbish, we can't do it. Why shouldn't we discuss it? My road here is to be a bit challenging and controversial and to act as a catalyst.''

Mr Galbraith said last night: ''Some of the great overseas players who have graced our national game in recent years have been a joy to watch. However, there is nothing the Scottish public likes better than homegrown effort and sometimes a bit of homegrown success.

''I think we will continue to see Scottish football hopes raised, dashed and raised again for a long time to come. As for merging our team into a UK outfit I join Scottish fans in saying over my dead body.''

The SFA, along with the associations of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, has consistently battled with Europe's soccer bosses at UEFA to keep its independent status.

Chief executive Jim Farry said any proposal to rob Scotland of its national football identity would be unlikely to find a place in a Labour manifesto north of the Border.

Mr Farry also dismissed the prospect of foreign players living in Scotland being eligible to be chosen for Craig Brown's squad. He said: ''We would not want John Collins playing for France or Paul Lambert playing for Germany. It cuts both ways.''

SNP sports spokeswoman Roseanna Cunningham said: ''This is a silly idea and a complete non-starter. At the very time when the Scottish national team is working hard to qualify for the World Cup - cheered on by the loyal tartan army - the last thing it needs is this nonsense from the English Sports Minister.''