THEBERNIE THE SOMETIMES YOU JUST
HAVE TO SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!!!
LIKE THE VILLA... LET’S PREPARE FOR THE 2013/14 SEASON. What? have I gone mad? Surely Aston Villa cannot win the Premiership? Of course not! But sometimes you just come accross a bet and price which you know is fantastic value... In fact more than this... A price you have to just go to war with. And here it is... Here it is now...
Have you got your pen ready...
There is a market with all the major bookmakers where they are betting WITHOUT THE BIG SIX. So there is no Chelsea, no United or City, no Liverpool, and no North London rivals Arsenal and Spurs. So it is now a division of 14.
What price Villa now? Well if I tell you they are 16/1 in the Also Rans market and I consider their true value if I was laying a book at around 5/1 you can appreciate the disparity. Just consider at the end of last year they had finally melded together as a unit and finished on a high, they had avoided relegation by some margin and they were playing attractive and winning football under the now established Paul Lambert.
But in addition their wantaway talismanic striker Christian Benteke has now joined back the fold and signed a four-year contract with the Villains. Over and above that lets look at the competition...
Everton are false favourites (new manager, limited budget) and however much I rate Martinez, time will prove that Moyes contin- ued to over perform mas- sively. Newcastle could self-im- plode with bizzare ap- pointment of Kinnear, surely undermining Alan Pardew, and as for Sun- derland (too inconsis- tent) and West Brom and Fulham, all in my opinion over-performed
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BOOK
last year. Swansea (10/1) are the only dangers. In conclusion this market is available each way at 1/4 odds the first three, and I simply cannot see Villa finishing outside the first 9. Each way alone pays 4/1, but I would suggest a maximum wager of 100 units each way with any of the major firms.
Sergio Garcia
Now that I have got that off my chest, here are my picks for the forthcoming season, which starts in early August.
PREMIERSHIP
This should be a titantic and very close contest between the main players and as I write this column in late July, we are still unaware of where all the main players will be dancing next season. Doubts continue over Rooney, Fàbregas, Bale, Higuaín and Ronaldo, but at time of writing and more perti- nently at time of placing a bet I think that CHELSEA will emerge on top. They have a large, talented squad which I be- lieve will contain Rooney by September and a Manager that needs to win despite his laconic attitude. And I think 5/2 represents very good value.
CHAMPIONSHIP
By far my most confident of predictions is BOLTON WANDERERS to win the Championship. They are roughly 3rd favourites at around 10/1 to win the division. They still have a good squad with plenty of Premier League experience and have appointed a young and energetic manager with the golden touch, Dougie Freeman. They have also been ac- tive in the transfer market and I think come December the 10/1 on offer will be long gone.
LEAGUE 1
Similarly in League One it may pay to side with another Lancashire team, this time PRESTON NORTH END. Again they finsihed last season on a high and have recently ap- pointed a new manager to help them gain promotion. They have also been active in the transfer market and they have a good squad for their division. They are currently available at a top price of 16/1, but 14/1 is common amongst most lay- ers.
LEAGUE 2
People tell me (and those people are in the know) that HARTLEPOOL UNITED are going to have a good season, and at 22/1 they certainly need to be backed. I admit my knowl- edge of League Two is varied (read... poor) so I am confident in my soundings.
As to the bet, I would suggest a 5 unit each way Yankee on the above 4 which totals 110 units. The magic return for the
PHTM AUGUST 2013
PREMIERSHIP WITHOUT THE ‘BIG 6’
ASTON VILLA
16/1
100 UNITS EACH WAY
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