Hello and welcome to the second leg of my 'special' edition guest blog. I am going to be previewing this week's 2nd leg play-off fixtures, and in particular those games involving Championship sides.
Drama, nerves and excitement are guaranteed, but hopefully I can also try and win you some cash with my best bet tips.
I told you last Wednesday predicting the play-off was hard, and as if to prove the point a narrow victory for Burnley was the only game I got right! Here’s hoping for better luck this week:
Sheff United v Preston - 2nd leg
Mon 11th May KO 19.45 LIVE ON SKY SPORTS
It is still all to play for at Bramall Lane after the two sides couldn’t be separated in the first game at Deepdale. Sean St Ledger gave Preston the lead only to be pegged by back Brian Howard minutes into the second half. With no away goals rule this one could go all the way to penalty kicks.
Current Match odds:
Sheff U 11/10 Preston 3/1 Draw 12/5
Scorecast:
Sheff U 1-0 7/1 2-0 17/2 2-1 8/1 3-0 17/1
Preston 0-1 17/2 0-2 20/1 1-2 13/1 0-3 69/1
Draw 0-0 17/2 1-1 6/1 2-2 15/1
My 'best bet' prediction:
It is almost too close to call but I am going to stick my neck out and tips United to go through - but only after extra time or penalties. I think it will be level after the 90 minutes.
1-1 draw @ 15/2
Reading v Burnley - 2nd leg
Tuesday 12th May KO 19.45 LIVE ON SKY SPORTS
Despite having an array of attacking talent on show, Saturday’s first leg failed to live up to expectations. The game looked to be heading for a bore draw until a moment of madness by Andre Bikey. The Reading defender inexplicably pulled back Stephen Thompson in the area with only six minutes of the match remaining. Referee Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot, and Graham Alexander duly converted the penalty to give the Clarets a vital first-leg lead.
Current Match odds:
Reading Evens Burnley 16/5 Draw 5/2
Scorecast:
Reading 1-0 7/1 2-0 9/1 2-1 8/1 3-0 20/1
Burnley 0-1 12/1 0-2 25/1 1-2 14/1 0-3 79/1
Draw 0-0 10/1 1-1 6/1 2-2 16/1
My 'best bet' prediction:
Steve Coppell's Reading team are in poor form of late, and they will have to produce a much improved performance on Tuesday night if they want to progress any further.
Meanwhile Owen Coyle's Burnley have been going great guns of late, and I fancy them to grind out a draw at the Madejski Stadium, and book themselves a place at Wembley on May 25th.
O-O draw @ 10/1
The Best Of The Rest:
Eight other teams face off this week in the race to earn promotion from Leagues One and Two.
Here are my predictions:
Home wins:
Sunday 10th May KO 18.30 Gillingham v Rochdale
Thursday 14th May KO 19.45 Leeds v Millwall
Draws:
Sunday 10th May KO Noon Bury v Shrewsbury
Friday 15th May KO 19.45 MK Dons v Scunthorpe
Sunday, May 10, 2009
'Best Bet Special' - 2nd Leg Play-Off Betting Tips with Betfair
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
'Best Bet Special' - 1st Leg Play-Off Betting Tips with Betfair
Hello and welcome to a 'special' edition of my guest blog, previewing this weekend's 1st leg play-off fixtures, and in particular looking at The Championship as four teams fight it out for that lucrative final promotion place, that will ultimately take them to the 'promise land' - The Premier League.
Friday 8th May KO 19.45 LIVE ON SKY SPORTS
Going into the final 45 minutes of the season Alan Irvine’s Preston were still outside the play-off places. But a Sean St-Ledger header against QPR coupled with Sheffield Wednesday’s defeat of Cardiff saw the Lilywhites sneak through in dramatic style, at the expense of The Bluebirds. Kevin Blackwell’s Blades still held hopes of automatic promotion on the last day, but with Birmingham ending the campaign with a win they had to be content with a play-off spot.
Current Match odds:
Preston 13/8 Sheff Utd 2/1 Draw 12/5
Scorecast:
Preston 1-0 15/2 2-0 13/1 2-1 11/1 3-0 37/1
Sheff U 0-1 8/1 0-2 16/1 1-2 12/1 0-3 47/1
Draw 0-0 9/1 1-1 6/1 2-2 18/1
My ‘best bet’ prediction:
Tight, passionate and tense – all the attributes we expect from the play-offs. Preston know they need to take some sort of result over the Pennines' for the 2nd leg, and they have been in good form at Deepdale recently. Because of that I am going for a narrow home win.
Preston 1-0 win @ 15/2
Burnley v Reading
Saturday 9th May KO 17.20 LIVE ON SKY SPORTS
Burnley’s mammoth season continues – this will be their 59th game of a campaign, which has also included a journey to the FA Cup fifth round and the semi-final of the Carling Cup. Standing in their way is Steve Coppell’s Reading. Pre-season favourites for automatic promotion the Royals will be disappointed to have finished 4th, as they now face the lottery of the play-offs. However with last year’s final day relegation still fresh in the memory, they will be hungry and determined to make a return to the Premier League at the first attempt.
Current Match odds:Burnley 6/4 Reading 2/1 Draw 5/2
Scorecast:
Burnley 1-0 15/2 2-0 13/1 2-1 10/1 3-0 33/1
Reading 0-1 17/2 0-2 17/1 1-2 12/1 0-3 45/1
Draw 0-0 9/1 1-1 6/1 2-2 17/1
My ‘best bet’ prediction:
Burnley are a tough proposition at Turf Moor, and despite their long season they are showing no apparent signs of fatigue. I think they will take a valuable lead to the Madejski Stadium for the 2nd leg.
Burnley 2-1 win @ 10/1
The Best Of The Rest:
Eight other teams face off this week in the race to earn promotion from Leagues One and Two.
Here are my predictions:
Home win:
Thursday 7th May KO 19.45 Rochdale v Gillingham
Away win:
Friday 8th Mat KO 19.45 Scunthorpe v MK Dons
Draws:
Saturday 9th May KO 12.45 Millwall v Leeds
Thursday 7th May KO 19.45 Shrewsbury v Bury
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Classic Football Quotations said by Football Fans or made about Football Fans - Part One
When we won the league in '89 it was the most cosmic thing that had ever happened. Better than any orgasm ever - EMMA YOUNG, an Arsenal fan, as quoted in Tom Watt's, The End: 90 Years of Life on Arsenal's North Bank, 1993.
At 6.45 the Millwall supporters were taken under escort towards the stadium. As they passed a public house, a group of 30-40 males came out, and bottles and glasses were thrown and pub windows smashed. After a while it became apparent that both groups were from Millwall and each thought the other were Bristol City supporters - REPORT from the National Criminal Intelligence Unit, before a match at Ashton Gate, 2001.
The only point worth remembering about Port Vale's match with Hereford on Monday was the fact that the attendance figure, 2,744, was a perfect cube, 14 x 14 x 14 - LETTER from a 'Disillusioned Supporter' to Stoke-on-Trent's Sentinel newspaper, 1979.
Adrian attends Bromley Comprehensive and is a keen goalkeeper. In his spare time he likes listening to music and playing computer games. His favourite players have left the club. - CRYSTAL PALACE programme on the mascot for a game v. Leicester, 1999.
It wasn't so much the death threats or the vandalism, but when you sit with your family in the directors' box and hear a couple of thousand people chanting 'Gilbert Blades is a wa*ker,' then you feel it's time to go - GILBERT BLADES, on resigning as Lincoln chairman in Anton Rippon's book Soccer: The Road to Crisis, 1982.
It's the right of every Englishman to fall asleep if he wants, particularly if he is watching Arsenal - JUDGE Michael Taylor quashing a fan's conviction for drunkenness after he dozed off during a match, 2004.
I went with two friends to watch Forest's game at Barnsley. It cost over £60 to watch the football equivalent of what French farmers have been feeding their cattle - LETTER to Nottingham's Football Post, 1999.
Man offers marriage proposal to any woman with ticket for Leeds v. Sheffield United game. Must send photograph ( of ticket ) - ADVERT in Yorkshire Evening Post as Second Division title race came to the boil, 1990.
I don't think it's much fun when 50,000 spectators are singing 'Posh Spice takes it up the ar*e' every weekend - VICTORIA BECKHAM on the TV documentary Victoria's Secrets, 2000.
At the Worthington Cup Final, when there was trouble on the pitch, with Robbie Savage involved, there was this guy behind me yelling: 'Savage, you cheating, long-haired, gypsy Welsh c*nt.' I had to turn to him and say: 'Oi mate, less of the Welsh.' - PAUL WHITEHOUSE, comedian, actor and Welsh-born Tottenham fan, 1999.
(To see more classic quotations made by Managers, Chairmen and Players alike posted on this site previously, type Quotations into the search box in the top left hand corner of the page).
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
An Insight into The Life & Times of Terence Fredrick Venables - alias ‘El Tel’
His resume lists amongst its particulars:
International footballer, football manager, football coach, businessman, TV pundit, big band crooner, board game inventor, author........the list is extensive & somewhat impressive to say the least!
However the list could be construed as being somewhat misleading, as in between the ‘glorious achievements’ is a man who is shall we say less than whiter than white - where there lies a sleepy, somewhat bumpy undercurrent beneath the surface!
Venables has the reputation of an archetypal rogue with his cockney charm & beguiling smile. 
Venables in his favourite role, (right) that of cockney wideboy.
He is a man as at ease in a tracksuit as he is in a tuxedo.
As a manager his tactical prowess is regarded as being of the highest class & he is famed for his ability to motivate players into producing their best.
Born in Dagenham in January 1943, Venables began his playing career at Chelsea, making his debut as a 16 year-old, captaining the team a year later & going on to make over 200 appearances.
He made his England debut in 1964, winning two caps as a 21 year-old before moving to Tottenham, where he spent three years before moving back west to join QPR, & then south to join Crystal Palace.
Having retired as a player he then returned to take charge of Crystal Palace, taking over from Malcolm Allison in 1976, when they were in the old Third Division & guiding them into the top flight as Champions of Division Two, in the 1978/79 season.
He then returned to take charge of QPR, guiding them to a Wembley Cup Final in 1982 & to the Second Division title the following season.
His success in charge of two London clubs did not go unnoticed & he attracted the interest of a number of clubs both at home & abroad.
In 1984, recommended for the role by Bobby Robson he was appointed manager of Spanish giants Barcelona, earning the sobriquet ‘El Tel.’
During his three seasons in charge of the Catalan club ‘El Tel’ led them to their first Spanish League title in eleven years, won the Spanish League Cup & took them to the first post-Heysel European Cup Final, which they lost on penalties to Steaua Bucharest.
He was sacked in September 1987 after failing to follow up his title success at the Camp Nou, along with the humiliation of losing home & away to Dundee Utd in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.
A month later he was appointed manager of Tottenham Hotspur.
Despite an FA Cup win in 1991, this was unable to paper over the ensuing cracks as Venables tried & failed in a £20m bid to purchase the club, before taking a role 'upstairs' as chief executive of the club following Alan Sugar’s successful takeover battle against Robert Maxwell.
A clash of personalities between the two saw Sugar dismiss Venables in November 1993 leading to lengthy, acrimonious & very tedious court cases & subsequent investigations into Venables's financial/business dealings.
The following year Venables was back in the hot seat, this time as manager of the England national team.
Terry’s style seemed perfectly suited to international management & he seemed to have the presence & charisma that could re-ignite some national pride & achievement.
On home soil & subsequently riding on that patriotic crest of a wave, Venables led England all the way to the semi-finals of Euro 96, before losing to the eventual winners Germany.
Venables then resigned in order to fight more murky & tedious court cases, effectively signalling the end of his credible coaching career.
Venables is the only England manager ever to resign from his post because of his muddy personal details relating to financial irregularities. He is also the only disqualified company director ever to be indirectly accused of accepting bribes to sign players, while also being in a courtroom battle with Tottenham Hotspur.
A web of complex accusations & counter-accusations seems to have followed Venables wherever he has managed in recent times.
So what went wrong?
At the age of 17 Venables had made himself a limited company, one whose stated aim was 'to exploit the talents of Terence Venables.'
But what are those talents exactly?
As we are aware Venables has dissipated his energies into countless business ventures, most notably with English football clubs, QPR (as Managing Director), Tottenham Hotspur (as Chief Executive) & Portsmouth (as Chairman). However, on 14 January 1998 he was disqualified by the high court from acting as a company director for seven years under section 8 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 for mismanagement of four companies - the London drinking club Scribes West Ltd, Edenote plc, Tottenham Hotspur plc and Tottenham Hotspur Football and Athletic Company Ltd. The case was brought by the Department of Trade and Industry who cited instances of bribery, lying, deception, manipulation of accounts & taking money that should have been given to creditors.
In addition to his widespread business interests, Venables also co-authored four novels with writer Gordon Williams and is credited as co-creator of the ITV detective series Hazell.
Having been a football pundit for BBC since the mid-80s, he left for ITV in 1994, following a legal dispute with the corporation over allegations made against him in a Panorama programme.
In 1990 Venables co-devised the board game, "Terry Venables invites you to be... The Manager". This is a football management game and is a cross between the 'Game of Life,' 'Risk' & 'Trivial Pursuit.'
In 2002 Venables recorded a single for the World Cup together with the band Rider. 'England Crazy' reached number 46 in the UK charts.
El Tel was a true renaissance man - and crooned his legendary version of "What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For" live on TV (right).
In May 2006, Venables guided the England Legends and Celebrities squad to victory in the charity 'Soccer Aid' programme.
In 1997 Venables became manager of Australia.
His side swept through the Oceanic World Cup qualifiers but were beaten in a play-off by Iran on away goals, a match often referred to as the most tragic moment in Australian soccer history. With the team having drawn 1-1 in Tehran, Australia lead the second leg 2-0 at half time, but the partisan crowd were left stunned when they conceded two late goals. Venables was later sacked.
Then followed brief but disastrous spells back at Crystal Palace & Portsmouth, both of whom were suffering financial difficulties at the time.
He joined Pompey first as a consultant, then as Chairman and left with Pompey bottom of Division One & on the brink of bankruptcy & Palace under acrimonious circumstances as they were about to go into administration.
Following a further brief spell in management at Middlesbrough, Venables decided his business interests & media work would not allow him the time to take up a permanent role on Teeside, & he continued to work as a pundit on ITV, seen particularly during the 2002 World Cup.
Just days before the end of the tournament Venables was linked with the vacant managerial position at Leeds & by July 2002 he was unveiled as their new manager.
Leeds’ disastrous financial predicament only began to truly surface two weeks into his tenure, as players such as Jonathan Woodgate & Robbie Keane were sold without Venables being informed, in an effort to pay off mounting debts.
With the team spiralling towards relegation, & the club into a financial crisis, amid later substantiated rumours of player sell-offs by the board, Venables was sacked in March 2003.
Venables again found himself back in the England set-up in 2006, as assistant to new manager Steve McClaren.
He was later sacked from this role in November 2007, along with McClaren after England failed to qualify for the 2008 European Football Championships.
To conclude this critique on the colourful life of 'El Tel,' here are some amusing quotes made by Terry Venables........that in hindsight he possibly wished he had never said!
"If you can't stand the heat in the dressing-room, get out of the kitchen."
"Apart from their goals, Norway haven't scored"
"The mere fact that he's injured stops him getting injured again, if you know what I mean"
"You either win or you lose. There's no in between."
"It may have been going wide, but nevertheless it was a great shot on target"
"They didn't change positions; they just moved the players around"
