Wenger, Ferguson unite against Olympic dream

Soccer: Top Premiership managers Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger believe British hopes for Olympic gold next summer will make life impossible for Premier League managers with the Arsenal manager insisting it cannot work.

The Arsenal boss also insisted the Olympic football tournament is not a real competition and players should not be allowed to play in both the European Championships, in Poland and Ukraine, and London 2012 next summer.

The Football Association opened the door on Thursday for the possibility of England players at Euro 2012 potentially turning out for the Great Britain football team, if a schedule could be worked out between England manager Fabio Capello and newly-appointed Olympic head coach Stuart Pearce.

That could potentially affect Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, as well as Theo Walcott. Aaron Ramsey is also likely to be involved in Great Britain's 18-man Olympic squad.

Wenger said: "If you look at the organisation of the whole summer, it makes life impossible for the clubs and the players especially.

"At some stage you have to decide how far you can go medically for the players to play so many games under so much pressure.

"I would say there is already no real break because of the European Championship and the Olympic tournament for me is not a real football tournament, for me the Olympics is for track and field basically."

Wenger insists players require at least four weeks' rest after tournaments and believes playing in both would be unworkable.

He said: "The competition (Olympics) is after the European Championship. The Euros finish on July 1st, we start the championship on August 15th, we start pre-season training on July 4th or 5th, that means we will not have the players after the Euros.

"If we are losing them as well to the Olympic Games I think I will have to sign a licence to practise all over the summer because we will not have players. It cannot work.

"The Olympics finish in mid-August, so imagine a player who has played the Euros and Olympic Games. You think you can use him after that? It's impossible. I don't know what people think when they organise these competitions."

Wenger also believes there is no way the decision can be left to players and wants the FA, who on Thursday said they did not want to "lock ourselves in" to a hard and fast decision on the matter, to show leadership.

"Personally I think that is a very bad idea because, if the players decide if they play or not, whatever decisions they make they could be found guilty towards the club or towards the federation or to their country,” said Wenger.

"The worst thing is to leave that decision to the players. The FA has to be a little bit responsible.

"It is a tournament (the Olympics) that you want England to do well in, but we have to be sensible and not make silly decisions. I believe the federation and clubs have to sit together and analyse the situation for every single player."

Ferguson told reporters that the idea of putting strong teams into the Olympic Games has come from South America and Africa.

"This is spurred by Argentina in the last Olympics, and Nigeria, playing their strongest teams, that's where it's come from,” said Ferguson. “It's given the British Olympic team an opening to start thinking in the same way,”

"But we have a different type of football to abroad, as everyone knows the intensity of the English game is second to none, it's an exhausting and exacting season."

Unlike many other European leagues, the Premier League does not stop for a winter break and the game is often played at a higher tempo than in other countries.

"That's why I keep saying I never expect England to do well at a European championship or a world championship because the players have gone through a hell of a season," Ferguson said. "It's exactly the same with the Olympics. I don't see how they can possibly get players to raise the bar after the season they have in our game.

"They need the rest, they need the pre-season training, they need the recovery and recuperation from injuries, small injuries they carry right through the season.

"I am sure what I am saying won't make any difference but it is a fact."

Ferguson was briefly touted as a possible coach of the British team but the idea never materialised unlike in 1948 when Matt Busby, another Scot who managed United, coached the British team in the last London Olympics.