Football FanCast columnist Adam Thompson cannot believe that the FA overlooked the prospect of a home nations tournament this summer.

As I prepare for another summer of overcast get together' at barbecues, rising fuel prices and a day by day countdown to next season's football. I can't help but think how much sweeter this summer would have been if my beloved England were participating in a competitive tournament. No not Euro 2008... I mean who wants to be there anyway (Not sour grapes at all) I'm talking about a Home nation international tournament. With not even a home nation's team playing in Austria and Switzerland the far North-West of Europe is going to have to settle with watching the rest of our continent have their party and prepare for a very bland and very boring footballing summer at home.

But how different this could have been, with England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland all having the summer off - would it have not made sense to have given the public what wanted by having the return of the Home Nations tournament? I feel such annoyance at the respective Football Associations of these countries that we could not have got all five nations in a room sat down and said what about it?

There are reports however that all the home nations teams (Baring England of course) were going to participate in the ‘Celtic Cup' next year. This angers me as the English F.A would rather play the U.S.A at Wembley then fly half way around the world to play Trinidad and Tobago giving the excuse ‘We need Trinidad and Tobago on our side for the 2018 World Cup votes'- could this friendly have not taken place earlier in the season? The fact of the matter is the English F.A have sold England fans short. They had a fantastic opportunity to win back the faith of the English nation after the fiasco of building Wembley and the hiring of Steve McClaren. With interest in the national squad at it lowest in over 10 years, if anything a summer tournament would have proven more profitable, not only money wise but also in the terms of bridging the gap between those who watch the game and those who attempt to organise it.

If anything it has shown how the people in suits at the English F.A headquarters are so out of touch with what the real football fan craves by organising two friendlies that only drew viewing figures on the basis people tuned in for the BBC's Apprentice against the U.S.A and sod all being on TV at stupid past 10 on a Sunday night. Somewhere in the ‘genius' minds of the F.A thought these games would be a good idea, however I've compiled a list together why a home nations tournament would have made far more sense.

Organisation

We've known since the end of November that all 5 nations would be staying at home; clubs involved with Champions League have less time to prepare to trips to the back end of Romania, what's our excuse? Play each other once, each respective nation's home ground; the winner is the one with the most points after 4 games.

Merchandise

The money that this tournament would have produced would have not only helped the respective nations but the economy. Why else was Gordon Brown so favourable for it? The sales of shirts, gate receipts, television revenue, advertising etc. all would have been more money for the football associations to invest into grass roots what all are crying out for.

Tournament football

England are infamous bottlers at Tournaments and the other 4 nations haven't done much better, would a high pressured, high tempo series of games not be more of a challenge and better preparation towards competitive international football?

Trust

Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have listened to their fans as they plan a tournament and have even invited England into it. Then please tell me why we have ignored this. The FA had the chance to listen to England supporters call for this tournament to be played and they didn't. This would have been a major step for the F.A to reach out to the fans.

Its simple the English FA sold out, the two money spinning games in the last week, were drab, lacked excitement and even though it's good to stick one to our transatlantic cousins its still not like beating Scotland at Hampden Park. It was two fingers up at the fans. Why do we need play expensive games when the F.A can afford to put millions in the back pocket of Fabio Capello and waste exceptional amounts on a stadium?

In hindsight many will look back at the summer of 2008 and seen this as a golden chance for an agreement to be reached between 5 countries that are ever increasingly dividing. In my eyes and many fans eyes the question raised ‘why wasn't there a tournament?' and even though all blame cant go on the English F.A but the respective but with a little more communication I am confident in saying we could have had a series of games to have brought just as much excitement as the European championships.

Grp B Austria vs. Croatia. 18:00

Grp B Germany vs. Poland. 20:45

NB - Adam Thompson is competing in our Bloggers Euro Championship so if you can give his article a rating in the voting box, it would be greatly appreciated.