England football team to fly solo in London 2012

A GREAT Britain London 2012 football team, made up entirely of England players, has been given the go ahead by the rest of the home nations.

DECISION TIME: Should Fifa agree to a letter of conesent from the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish FAs, England will go it alone at the London 2012 Olympics (Getty Images)

A joint letter has been sent by the Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh FAs allowing England to form a one-off side for the men's and women's Olympic competitions.

The agreement, which confirms there will be no involvement from Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, has yet to be ratified by world governing body Fifa.

Fifa has set a deadline of the end of May for the four nations to come to an agreement over Olympic representation and it appears the drawn-out saga, which began in 2005 when London was awarded the Games, has now come to an end.

The fundamental concern of the Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh FAs was that their independence as separate football states would be jeopardised.

But Scottish FA spokesman Rob Shorthouse revealed a decision had to be taken before the saga itself had a detrimental effect.

"I think the English are going to go it alone," he said. "Fifa had asked us for a common decision amongst the four home nations by the end of this week.

"We have not been able to come to a common agreement because England want to take part and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland don't.

"Our stance has not changed. We will not be taking part in Team GB - we are sticking to our guns.

"England do want to go ahead. They are under unique pressure with the Olympics being in their home country.

"The debate is around whether we make a real issue about England going alone.

"We have also been speaking to people around the world and just testing the water to see what they think of England fielding a team by themselves - the feedback has been positive."