BLOODY LONG ODDS…

Paddy Power To Refund CL Final Bets If Ronaldo Scores!!
A rather interesting offer arrived in my inbox today. Now normally I bin these but this one caught my eye as it strikes me as a bit of a stick-on!

Basically, in a nutshell, Paddy Power are offering your money back on certain bets if Ronaldo scores in normal time during next week’s Champions League final.

Hang on let me just read that again. Hmmm, yep. That’s what it says. Now I’m no idiot, according to my mum, and correct me if I’m wrong, but if Man U score, Ronaldo scores. I mean OK, Scholesy got the emotional goal in the semi, but that was written in the stars back in ‘99, and this Portuguese boy…he’s the man in front of goal. Not to mention he takes all the Pens and FK’s too.

Why are they doing this??! Now I’m taking a punt here, but my guess is Paddy Power see Ronaldo scoring as a dead cert and if everybody punted on him they’d get taken to the cleaners. So, they worked out that refunding certain types of bet would put punters off betting on him. I’ll leave the maths to them, but I’m game!

So anyway, here’s the terms quoted by Paddy Power:

If Ronaldo scores in normal time, Paddy Power will refund ALL losing single pre-match Win-Draw-Win, Correct Score, 1^st/last/anytime goalscorer and Half-time/Full-time market bets on this match.

- Applies to singles placed before kick-off only

-Applies only to Win-Draw-Win, Corrrect Score, 1^st/last/anytime goalscorer and Half-time/Full-time market bets

- Max Refund €300/£200 per customer/bet

- Applies to win part of each way bets only

- Paddy Power football rules apply

- Ronaldo must score in normal time, offer does not apply to extra-time

- Own goals do not count

- Opta Index decision is final.

Er…see you there! Paddy Power…

Oooh - we’re getting close. Chelsea take on Liverpool while Ronaldo takes on the might of Barcalona…minus Ronnie The Magician apparently, who twisted a knee in training last week. The good news is that Lionel’s back! Well, he was included in the La Liga squad today so that’s a good sign.

As an Englishman, albeit biased towards goonerdom, I want Man Utd to win the Premiership - they deserve it. The best team this season for sure - entertaining with it and love him or hate him, Ronaldo is quality. One of the few players I’d pay to watch. Even if the other 21 didn’t show up! Actually, I wonder if Man U would consider swapping him for Eboue? Come on Arsene…chuck in Senderos if Fergie gets arsey.

But having said that, I don’t want them to win the CL. Nor Liverpool, nor Chelsea. Why?! “You should support English teams (more…)

Live in Wales? Rate their chances? Think they’ll even get there? Well Ladbrokes reckon you’re a mug and you can go get 2500-1 on them holding up the trophy at the end of it all. Even the Northern Irish can only get 350-1 on their team doing the busniess, while England are at a ridiculously low 8-1. Seriously, do they not watch England play? Unbelievable…I’d rather put my money on Wales, or even *gulp* Scotland who rate 150-1 right now.

Plenty of time left mind you - McClaren and the boys will probably codge up a couple of away games and before you know it, we’ll be 100-1 needing 3 pts from the last game away to qualify. I think I’ll wait!

Ok so if the Jamie Carragher deal isn’t quite within your sights, how about some long odds on more potentially realistic scores. How about odds of 500-1 for Xabi Alonso to score first and Milan to win 3-2? That’s what Laddies are offering in their “Scorecast” service, and it’s not bad that actually. You could do the same result with John Arne Riise firing in the first for 450-1 as an alternative. Or take the mercurial Stevie Gerrard and get 250-1 if you’re easily scared!

Liverpool To Walk It?

Once again, good old Laddies are offering neat odds on Liverpool turning over Milan 4-1 (more…)

Jamie Carragher to score Liverpool’s goal in a 1-6 defeat to AC Milan in the Champions League Cup Final on Wednesday 23rd May 2007 gives odds of 2,800-1 at Will Hill - now that’s worth a quid or two surely?! It may be throwing £10 down the drain, or it may be £28,000 in the pocket. Hmmm. Mug punter?

Or if you fancy something a little less optimistic, try Sami Hyppia to score first in a 1-3 defeat and get odds of 900-1 (more…)