Sport is made for betting

Just a short post to keep the site updated, so people don't think I've fallen off the face of the Earth... I love Next Manager markets on Betfair, the fluctuations are all based on hearsay and rumours, so the moves can be quite volatile, which is also due to limited liquidity available too. Let's look at some of the logic behind the key men in the market: Sven-Goran Eriksson: High 13, Low 2.0, current 3.0 One of the biggest media tarts there is, throws his hat in the ring every time a job comes up which might pay plenty. Did a decent job at Man City, but since then has been more of a comedy act. Still, it would be funny to give more ammunition to the funny people behind Special1TV. Bob Bradley: High 15, Low 4.0, Current 6.6 He's American, the owner's American, so therefore he must want him for the job... Can't see it personally, would be a huge step up from anything he has done in the past, and I could only see it devaluing the club - which the owner w...

Has someone been having a go at manipulating the betting markets over the last 24hrs? Several UK bookies have suspended the book on Next Premier League Manager to Leave after substantial backing for Harry Redknapp starting last night. The man himself denies it, which doesn't mean a lot considering when he outright denied he was going to Portsmouth in a press conference as Southampton manager a few years ago, whilst the price on him getting the job was getting smashed on Betfair, allegedly by people he knew rather well.... But this one doesn't make a lot of sense, unless there's a lot going on behind the scenes. We saw a few weeks ago where market manipulation was the sole reason behind a massive plunge on Rafael Benitez leaving and Franck Ribery heading to Anfield . It seems that here, some guys with plenty of money to splash around have tried to skew the books by backing Redknapp from any old price into single digits before the market closed, almost certainly creating arbi...

Hallelujah, the king of spin Terry Wallace is leaving Richmond Football Club (AFL) having wasted 4.5 years of the club's time and money, not to mention the emotional rollercoaster of die-hard fans like me. Sure, it's not all the coach's fault, but he's the one permanently putting the PR spin on how everything is improving, it's all looking much better and our players are committed, yada yada yada, while glossing over severe skills and attitude deficiencies which have seen the mighty Tigers really struggle this season. Betfair won't be allowed to run a book on the Next Permanent Richmond Coach market unfortunately, as part of their deal with the AFL. The new appointment won't be done overnight, they have three months to go with a caretaker in place for the rest of this season. Not sure if any of the NT bookies will offer it, the AFL likes to control which markets they can offer and block any which may have insider dealings. Who will be next for the poisoned c...

Chelsea and Portsmouth are managerless. Bring on the chaos that is the Next Manager Market! These markets can be absolute gold mines, but also very dangerous. As is the nature of them, the markets will fluctuate heavily based purely on rumours. People will put two and two together and come up with seven. ALWAYS be aware that humans make the decisions to interview, hire etc, and information always gets out. The worst case of this was when Harry Redknapp went back to Portsmouth - he held a press conference saying he wasn't leaving Southampton, meanwhile his price was getting hammered on Betfair. Watch the market constantly - if the market isn't behaving according to normal volatility. The best manager markets are the ones which last a few weeks or longer, however I doubt this time that's an option - unless caretaker managers are appointed until the end of the season, which are NOT counted by betting firms. The Spurs manager job when Jacques Santini got it (2004) and the Irela...