'Brits All Ready To Hit The Ground Running' - Betting Tips with Betfair

In the last five years English teams have dominated Europe's premier competition and while that may not last forever, few would bet against a perfect start to this year's event, for all four Premier League sides.

Last night Chelsea and Manchester United both picked up three points, with victories against Porto and Besiktas respectively.

Tonight sees Liverpool and Arsenal enter the fray as they take on Standard Liege and Champions League newcomers Debrecen of Hungary.

There's very little value to be had backing a Liverpool victory, with the Reds as short as 1.11 in the match odds. However, there could be money to be made by predicting a high scoring affair. All three of Liverpool's wins this season have witnessed four goals or more and with Debrecen inexperienced at this level, there could be another goal fest at Anfield.

The Champions League betting odds currently stand at: over 3.5 goals in the match available at 2.08, with +4.5 goals a tempting 3.55.


Arsenal should face a tougher test as they travel to Belgium to play Standard Liege. The hosts came within two minutes of taking Liverpool to penalties in last season's Champions League third qualifying round and could provide tricky opposition for Arsene Wenger's team.

Unfortunately for Liege, they will face an Arsenal side with a real point to prove, after suffering successive league defeats. Arsenal can be backed to win both halves at 2.86 but if you fancy an upset, the Belgian champions look good value at 5.5 in the 'draw no bet' market.

Elsewhere, Rangers will be desperate to restore some pride in Scottish football after the national side's failure to qualify for the World Cup.

German side Stuttgart stand in their way, but could be prime candidates for an upset after picking up just five points from their opening five league matches in the Bundesliga.
Rangers are a massive 6.6 to win the game and complete a good opening week for Brits abroad.


By Josh Allen.
(Guest writer from Betfair on behalf of Beer Footy and Birds!)

Promotion to & Relegation from 'The Football League.'

The 2009/10 football season maybe barely a month old, but fans of Clubs up and down the country are probably already dreaming of a trip to Wembley, promotion to the Premier League, creating a major Cup upset e.t.c, but spare a thought for those Clubs in League Two who come the end of the season, will be battling for their lives just to keep their Football League status!

For much of the last century, the Football League was a distinct entity, a private members' club if you like. The reason was re-election.

Rather than a system of promotion & relegation that the four Football League divisions operated, any top non-league club hoping to become a member of the elite 92, had to wait for a current member to be 'kicked out.'

At the end of every season clubs in the top two divisions, 'Full Members' and four 'Associate Members' representing the bottom two divisions were presented with a ballot, comprising of the four clubs who finished at the foot of Division 4 (now League 2) and the names of a substantial number of non-league clubs, who were applying for League membership.
Each representative of an 'Associate Member' had to vote for the four clubs they wished to participate in the League the following season

A Football League club having to apply for re-election may have seen it as some form of ignominy, but for 50 years or so it was mostly nothing to worry about.
The system ensured that League membership remained relatively static, with non-league clubs having almost no chance of joining.

For some clubs it was an 'annual humiliation.' Several non-league clubs in particular, namely Nuneaton, Chelmsford & Cambridge City, routinely put themselves forward without success.

Only if a club applying for re-election were located in some tiny northern coastal town, meaning long awkward trips for other teams, and/or the size of their crowds was extremely poor, bearing in mind at the time that gate receipts were shared between clubs, were you in any danger of not being re-elected.

As a result Gateshead were replaced in 1960 by Peterborough, Barrow lost their league status to Hereford in 1972 & Wokingham (who had replaced another northern coastal town, New Brighton in 1951), were dropped in favour of the now defunct Wimbledon in 1977.

Other teams to lose their League status include Southport, who were replaced by Wigan in 1978, Bradford Park Avenue, who were replaced by Cambridge United in 1970, & are now ironically back playing non-league football themselves.

As it stands at the time of writing this piece, 7 out of the current top 10 positions in the non-league Conference division are occupied by former Football League clubs.

Finally in the late 1980's the League conceded that the 'closed shop' mentality they were running was indeed unfair. Therefore re-election was replaced initially by one-up, one down in 1987 (although it was on condition that the non-league Conference Champions were deemed as having stadium facilities of a League standard).

Since 2002-03 a change to a two-up, two-down system has been implemented. The bottom two teams in League 2 are replaced by the Conference Champions plus one other team. This is decided through a play-off system, made up of the Conference teams that finished 2nd down to 5th place.

Since 2002/03, none of the perpetual strugglers have slipped out of the League, with Hartlepool (re-elected 14 times), Crewe & Rochdale (ten each) all surviving & sometimes thriving!

Babe Of The Month - Top Totty-enham as Spurs set Premier League pulses racing!

The Physio Room - Injury Update

It has been a busy week in the world of English football.

As well as a full programme of English Premier League fixtures last weekend, we also had the 2nd round of the Carling Cup and some UEFA Europa League matches in midweek too.

Which players from the English Premier League came away unscathed from the last 7 days of action on the field, and who on 'millionaires row' picked up a bump or a bruise that might rule them out of their teams' weekend EPL game.

I can tell you the team with most to worry about in terms of injuries at the moment is Birmingham City, although they have several players due back this weekend, whilst Sunderland and Wigan it would appear have the least to worry about in terms of injury woes.

Click on the 'link' to find out the latest on your Club's injury worries, and how soon it will be before some of your teams high profile player's will be back in action.

After-Dinner Sports Tales - Phil Tufnell

My after-dinner sports tale for this month is one told by the charismatic and controversial Phil Tufnell, the former England cricket bowler with a talent for spinning the ball on the field and getting into trouble off of it.

Nicknamed 'The Cat' for his ability to sleep anytime, anywhere, Tufnell made his debut for Middlesex in 1986. It was here that he developed a reputation for being a cricketer with big talent, but little dedication for the discipline of the game. He was occasionally in trouble for missing practice or minor matches and once missed a game when shopping for a fridge instead.

Despite brilliant bowling figures, once getting 11 wickets for 93 runs, he was an abysmal batter whose career average did not reach double figures. He played 42 Tests and 20 One Day Internationals for England between 1990 and 2001, and 316 first-class matches, mainly for Middlesex.

Tufnell’s larrikin tendencies meant he was later disciplined for numerous offences to do with birds, booze, drugs and generally offensive behavior.
In 1997 on an England tour to New Zealand he unwittingly became the focus for a publicity campaign for a winebar in Christchurch.

Here is an amusing excerpt from an after-dinner speech made by Phil on that infamous incident in New Zealand in 1997

"I woke one morning to find myself plastered all over the front of the local paper for apparently having smoked grass in the gents at an establishment called Bardelli's. By 10 o'clock that same morning a rash of posters appeared around town declaring, 'Tufnell reckons that Bardelli's is the best joint in town.'
It was complete nonsense, of course. I was invisible at the time."

Tuffers' retired from professional cricket 2003 in order to participate in the reality television show 'I'm a Celebrity.....Get Me Out of Here!' from which he emerged as King of the Jungle. He was a team captain on the sports quiz show 'They Think It's All Over', did analytical punditry on Sky Sports and Channel 4, and has made appearances on current affairs programmes, chat shows and quiz shows. He has co-authored a humorous book called 'Phil Tufnell's' A To Z of Cricket' and wrote his autobiography, 'What Now?'

He is extremely accommodating to people who wish to discuss matters with a sporting celebrity.

A Roll Call Of ‘Refereeing’ Faux Pas!

The season is barely up and running – but we've already had one of the blunders (faux pas) of the season courtesy of referee Rob Shoebridge and his officiating assistants, who somehow missed the fact that Crystal Palace striker Freddie Sears' shot hit the back of the net, before rebounding out off the stanchion inside the goal during Palace's defeat at Bristol City last Saturday – choosing to award a goal-kick instead.

Although I am Palace fan and season ticket ticket holder, I am not going to get into a debate about the use of technology, the actions of both sets of players, managers or chairmen, and the subsequent post-match mud-slinging by all concerned.

Of course I have my own thoughts and opinions on the incident, and I could write a dissertation on the subject if required, but I shall not be disseminating them on here.

The newspapers, football websites, radio phone-ins, club messageboards and so forth have gone into meltdown with the coverage of the incident, and its all getting rather irritating and tedious.

Nothing is going to change the events of last weekend, and as long as Sepp Blatter remains President of FIFA these 'goalgate' issues will never go away.

The game is over, Palace lost 1-0. End of story........until of course the next time that controversy of a similar nature rears it's ugly head!

But as major refereeing blunders go, Shoebridge has plenty of competition, as I shall substantiate for you now.

How many of you, the readers of this blog article remember the following six refereeing/refereeing assistant 'howler's ranging from just last season to almost 30 years ago?

To watch a video of the incidents click on the link inserted into the line containing the referee's name, the clubs involved and the date.

1/ STUART ATTWELL – Watford v Reading 2008

Possibly the strangest decision of the lot? In a Championship match last year Reading winger Stephen Hunt's corner hit Watford defender John Eustace and looked to go out of play for another corner.

Unbelievably Attwell awarded a goal after his assistant informed him that the ball had crossed the goal line when in fact it had gone wide of the upright, much to the bemusement of both sets of players.

2/ CHARLES CORVER – France v West Germany 1982

West Germany keeper Harald Schumacher's vicious attack on France's Patrick Battiston was the most brutal foul ever seen on a football pitch.

Instead of producing a card or awarding a penalty, Corver inscrutably signalled for a goal-kick, as Battiston lay motionless on the pitch with his own teeth lying around him.

Germany went on to win on penalties and book a place in the World Cup final – Battison eventually recovered but only after slipping into a coma.

3/ RAY LEWIS – Man Utd v Spurs 2005

Tottenham Hotspur looked to have secured a famous win at Old Trafford back in 2005 when in the last minute Pedro Medes' audacious effort from the halfway line beat United keeper Roy Carroll.

However, despite the ball having clearly crossed the line, assistant referee Lewis did not give the goal and the game finished in a 0-0 draw.

4/ DEREK WEBB - Coventry v Crystal Palace 1980

In similar circumstances to Freddie Sears' 'goal' last weekend, Clive Allen 'scored' one of the most controversial disallowed goals of all time in a game between Coventry and Palace in 1980. Allen curled a stunning direct free-kick into the top corner of the net where it rebounded off the stanchion and back into play. Webb enigmately waved play on despite the protests of the Palace players. Palace went on to lose that game too!

5/ GRAHAM POLL – Australia v Croatia 2006

Graham Poll's long and distinguished refereeing career will be remembered predominantly for his highest-profile error.

Poll has never been a stranger to controversy and his critics were given plenty of ammunition when he messed up on the biggest stage of all – the World Cup.

Poll had been tipped as a possible World Cup final referee – but his tournament ended in the group stage with his famous three-card trick.

After booking Croatia's Josip Šimuniæ, Poll then failed to send the same player off when he booked him a second time and only showed him red when issuing a third yellow card.

6/ STEVE CREIGHTON - Millwall v Peterborough 2009

Last season Millwall beat Peterborough 2-0 at The New Den thanks in part to a thrice-taken penalty. Gary Alexander twice saw his spotkicks saved by Joe Lewis but each time assistant referee Steve Creighton ruled the England Under-21 keeper had come off his line. Winger Dave Martin made no mistake third time around.

However on watching the video footage you will notice that yes the goalkeeper Lewis does come off his line, not once, not twice but on all three occasions. Yet Creighton did not flag the third time.........the only time the penalty was actually scored!!!!!!!!

The Physio Room - Injury Update

Click on the 'Link' below to see which Premier League players are feeling below par this week, as this may well and more importantly impinge on YOU, the footy fan as you jig and re-jig your 'Fantasy Footy' teams for the forthcoming Premier League season.

Who are those players who are going to get you off to a flying start, and have any of the players you want in your starting XI already picked up an injury before a competitive ball has been kicked.

Can players such as Ledley King, Torres, Gerrard and Walcott stay injury free, and how long will it be before last year's victims of serious injury, the likes of Phil Jagielka, Jimmy Bullard, Chris Iwelumo and Dean Ashton be back in competitive action?

Here is the latest on the injury woes that may affect your last minute decisions.

Finally good luck to all those fans taking part in the many fantasy football competitions that are running this season.

Crystal Palace Squad List - 2009/10

Goalkeepers:

# 1.Julian Speroni
# 12.Darryl Flahavan

Defenders:

# 2.Nathanial Clyne
# 3.Clint Hill
# 5.Patrick McCarthy
# 6.Jose Miguel Fonte - Sold to Southampton in Jan 2010
# 15.Lee Hills
# 20.Danny Butterfield
# 22.Johannes Ertl
# 24.Claude Davis

Midfielders:

# 4.Shaun Derry (Captain)
# 7.Darren Ambrose
# 8.Neil Danns
# 10.Nick Carle
# 21.Kieran Djilali
# 26.Kieron Cadogan
# 29.Ryan Smith - Released Jan 2010
# 33.Alassane N'Diaye
# 37.Nathanial Pinney
# 42.James Comley


Strikers:

# 9.Stern John - On Loan at Ipswich since Nov 2009
# 11.Victor Moses
# 14.Sean Scannell
# 16.Freddie Sears - Loan Cut Short - Recalled by West Ham, Jan 2010
# 17.Simon Thomas - Released Jan 2010
# 18.Calvin Andrew
# 19.Alan Lee

# Subject to change.

My Pre-Season Predictions 2009/10 - Winners & Surprises!

Premier League Winners: Chelsea 2/1*

Championship Automatic Promotion: Middlesborugh 7/1* & Sheff U 11/1*
Surprise Top 6 finish: Peterborough 6/1#

League One Automatic Promotion: Huddersfield 8/1* & MK Dons 10/1*

Surprise Top 6 finish: Brentford 9/2#

League Two Automatic Promotion: Rotherham* 8/1 & Chesterfield 12/1*
Surprise Top 7 finish: Darlington 7/1#

Champions League Winners: Inter Milan 11/1*

* Odds are for the named teams to WIN their respective leagues OUTRIGHT.
Each Way 1/4 odds a place 1, 2, 3 (Premier League 1/3 odds a place 1, 2 and Champions League 1/2 odds a place 1, 2).
# Odds are for the named teams to finish in the Top 6/7 ONLY.

Betting odds supplied courtesy of Coral bookmakers.

Babe Of The Month - Kit On, the Season Is About To Begin!