For reasons that we have yet to establish at the time of writing, Harry Redknapphas shot to favourite in the next Premier League manager to go market. He is at 7/4, with Paul Hart languishing behind in the sack race at 3/1.
In the last hour, Paddy Power have stopped taking bets on his departure.
Has there been a fallout? Is it dangerously close to the annual date when Tottenham traditionally sack their manager? Or is this another Ribery/Benitez-style betting scam?
Spaniard becomes favourite to enter the world of unemployment
Following last night’s home defeat to Aston Villa, Senor Benitez has leapfrogged over Paul Hart to become the favourite to be the next Premier League manager to go. SkyBet put him at a worryingly short 11/10 to clear his desk first, with the Pompey manager following at 9/4, and Alex McLeish and Phil Brown circling the periphery at 7/1.
Rafa is no stranger to straddling the fine line between gainful employment and a P45: his brush ups with the Billy Bob Gillett and Hank Hicks over the past few years have encouraged rumours of disharmony, and just last week the Spaniard was subject to a Twitter-based rumour which suggested he had walked out.
So, will Rafa see through Liverpool’s current spate of patchy form, or will he claim the honour of the first unceremonious departure of the season? Let us know your thoughts below…
Ahead of tonight’s much anticipated Champions League final in Rome, our Spanish friends at Marca are doing everything to imply this will be Cristiano Ronaldo’s last game for Manchester Utd.
On the front page, they quote the tricky winger as saying “We are playing in white, which I like very much.” If you like having things spelled out very plainly to you (i.e. you enjoyed Angels and Demons), this is also the colour Real Madrid play in.
Unfortunately, Barcelona are almost certainly as excited about Manchester Utd’s third choice kit - the last time they played a team in all white, they won 6-2 (once again, if you need a little help, that was also Real Madrid).
Most bookies, including our friends at BetUS Soccer Betting, are also suggesting the Catalonians will trump the men in white, but C-Ron is generally the favourite for first goalscorer.
Lucky fan cashes in on successive eight goal thrillers
Tuesday night’s eight goal thriller at wasn’t only a disaster for Liverpool - the bookies also suffered. Paddy Power had to pay out £500,000 to 537 punters who correctly backed the 4-4 draw at odds of 500-1.
According to The Sun, a man from Leicester (who remains anonymous as gamblling is forbidden in his Muslim religion) caused the Irish bookmaker the most damage, after backing both of Liverpool’s recent 4-4 draws:
The 31-year-old landed £12,500 last week when he predicted the outcome of the club’s Champions League tie against Chelsea.Then he put some of the winnings on backing the same score in Tuesday night’s Premiership clash against Arsenal.
He was rewarded after Gunners’ goal hero Andrey Arshavin scored four and Liverpool’s Yossi Benayoun got a last-gasp equaliser.
The father of two bet £25 at odds of 500-1 on the first match and £57.64 at 500-1 on the second.
Through gritted teeth, Paddy Power said they “couldn’t be more delighted” that the punter scooped such a huge reward, in light of the fact that he had recently lost his job.
Following Alex Ferguson’s decision not to take the FA Cup semi-finals very seriously, Cristiano Ronaldo found himself with a rare weekend off. According to the Daily Mail, the Portuguese star channeled his inner Paul Merson, choosing to hit the table at Manchester’s 235 Casino on Friday night.
Apparently, he dropped up to one thousand pounds (or, one thousand ‘prostitute tokens’ as he prefers to call them) in the casino’s plush VIP suite.
It’s not known if he won anything, but he’d have to put down a lot more than a grand if he wants to compete with high rollers like Gisele Bündchen.
Extremely rich model is a little richer thanks to Mourinho
It’s no secret that the ladies love Jose Mourinho, but now it appears the cocky Portuguese has added one of the hottest women on the planet to his long list of admirers.
According to the Metropolitan Post (we’ve never heard of it either), Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen has won $1million betting on Inter Milan. The Spanish paper Sport adds that she could make even more from if Mourinho’s men secure the Scudetto.
Unlike most Italians, the world’s richest supermodel is said to have “complete faith” in The Special One, and has been placing weekly bets with british bookmaker Stanleybet since December.
As the owner of a $150m fortune, the ridiculously attractive Brazilian can easily afford to have such unfalrteing faith.
Spoiler bonus: Gisele is a WAG thanks to her marriage to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and a brief relationship with Italian man-o’-sex Francesco Coco. Check out more of Gisele’s work here.
Spanish giants threaten English dominance in the European Cup
In the first half of last night’s encounter with Bayern Munich, Barcelona were sublime. Granted, the Germans were fairly poor, but no team in the world could have competed with the Catalonians in such incredible form.
Clearly, this is a view the bookies share, as Thierry Henry and co are now clear favourites to win the competition at 13/8. Manchester Utd, who were favourites at the start of the week, are now available at a humble 5/1, behind Chelsea at 7/2.
So, will Barcelona get their names on the European Cup for the third time in their illustrious 110 year history, or will an English club show them why the Premier League is the best in the world? Let us know your thoughts below…
Grand National, Aintree, Tomorrow, 4.15, Free £20 bet
The Spoiler’s pick for tomorrow’s Grand National is Darkness. We didn’t pick him because he’s named after our least favourite spandex-wearing cheese rockers - check out our statistical approach here.
If you enjoy a good flutter, then you should back him with Boylesports. Place £10 on him (or any other nag) and they will give you a free £20 bet to play with. Our advice would be to stick that £20 on a football outcome with short odds (like a Manchetser Utd or Arsenal win this weekend) as a means of insurance. Sound like a plan? Then place your bets here.
Already have a Boylesports account? Then back Darkness with Bet365, who are offering a £200 Free Bet Basket, or Paddy Power, who offer a free matched bet of up to £25. Both firms are also paying each-way on five places.
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