Alex Ferguson has promised to ring the changes following Man Utd’s embarrassing FA Cup exit to Leeds, with online bookmaker PaddyPower offering only even money that 5 or less of the losing starters against Leeds will appear on the team sheet for the City game. Ferguson may also have landed himself in hot water with the authorities once again following his post match outburst and he is 9/4 with PaddyPower to receive a touchline ban.
Evs 5 or Less
8/11 6 or More
13/10 Man City
9/4 Draw
21/10 Man Utd
paddypower.com reckon Leeds’ giant killing victory over Man Utd will be a flash in the pan, offering odds of 1/8 that they go crashing out of the FA Cup at the hands of Spurs in the 4th round. A Cup victory is a very unlikely 100/1.
Meanwhile with Alex Ferguson having celebrated his 68th birthday, punters are speculating as to whether or not he will keep to his promise to retire before his 70th. PaddyPower’s odds favour a 2011 retirement at 5/2, ahead of this year at 10/3. It’s 7/2 that he stays on until 2014 or beyond.
As for his successor, the bookmaker puts Jose Mourinho at 2/1 favourite ahead of the much touted Martin O’Neill at 6/1. David Moyes is 12/1 and Fabio Capello, who of course could be a World Cup winning manager with England, is 12/1. Recent speculation about Laurent Blanc has seen him introduced to the football betting market at 14/1.
PaddyPower said, “A Premier League without Fergie seems almost unthinkable but is inevitable. We know that Jose has the ego, but does have big enough feet to fill those size 10s? And just how long will we have to wait to find out?”
10/3 - 2010
5/2 - 2011
10/3 - 2012
7/2 - 2013
7/2 - 2014 or later
2/1 J. Mourinho
6/1 M. O’Neill
12/1 D. Moyes
12/1 F. Capello
14/1 L. Blanc
18/1 S. Bruce
18/1 C. Queiroz
18/1 G. Hiddink
20/1 M. Hughes
25/1 R. Keane
25/1 OG Solskjaer
40/1 O. Coyle
50/1 D. Ferguson
50/1 G. Strachan
66/1 S. McClaren
66/1 A. Wenger
66/1 K. Keegan
80/1 H. Redknapp
100/1 R. Giggs |
