Exclusive – Pearce: Beckham will only make Team GB on merit

Team GB manager Stuart Pearce has told talkSPORT that David Beckham isn’t owed a place in the team for his part in London winning the right to host the 2012 Olympic games.

The England Under-21 boss has been put in charge of Great Britain’s football team at the event which gets underway in July.

But Pearce has insisted that Beckham, despite his work off the field to help secure London the games, won’t be in his side unless he proves he deserves to be in it.

He said: “David will get in on form and merit. I don’t think anyone should be allowed to enter within a squad purely for what they’ve done for the game of football.

“I quite understand that David has done a hell of a lot, not just for the Olympic cause but for football in general, but he’ll be picked on merit.”