Will Portsmouths problems continue in tonights Carling Cup fixture?

August 9, 2010

Cash strapped Portsmouth hit the Championship with a bump when they recorded their first (presumably of many) loss of the season when they travelled up to the Midlands to face Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena and came away with a 2-0 defeat, neither side looked fantastic but Portsmouth’s lack of squad was obvious when new boss Steve Cotterill was only able to name 4 subs on the bench out of a possible 7, currently the Portsmouth side is down to just 18 eligible players.

Now Portsmouth must try to bounce back as they take on Stevenage tonight in the first round of Carling Cup, a loss tonight for last years FA Cup finalists could put Pompey fans in a disparate place for the rest of their season.

Stevenage v Portsmouth match odds

This will be the first time that these two clubs have ever faced each other, the last time Portsmouth were eliminated at this stage of the competition since they were beaten by Colchester in 2001.

  • 15/8 – Stevenage win
  • 5/4 – Portsmouth win
  • 5/2 – Draw

Click here to place your Carling Cup bet claim your free bet from Bet Fred

Will Norwich be triumphant in their return to the Championship?

August 6, 2010

The first game of the Npower Championship kicks off tonight between Norwich who gained promotion from League one and last years Championship strugglers  Watford. Norwich will be looking for a good start to their Championship campaign but the opening result of last years opening match may be playing on their mind when they were humiliated by their 7-1 defeat by Colchester and they may have to do this without last years Supporters Player of the Year Grant Holt who is standing trial for a motoring offence in Shropshire.

In their last four games against each other at Carrow Road Norwich have only managed to win on one occasion but last year saw Grant Holt, Chris Martin and Wes Hoolahan excel in League One where all are expected to excel in this higher level.

Bookmakers Bet Fred are running a cash back offer on the game between these two sides if Norwich’s midfielder Wes Hoolahan scores the last goal of the game then Betfred will refund all losing correct score, first and last goal scorers as well as scorecast bets made on the game for you to use as a free bet.

Norwich v Watford match odds

Although Norwich have lost their opening game of the season for the last two seasons they are the favourites to win this fixture they will be facing an inexperienced Watford side.

  • 5/6 – Norwich win
  • 5/2 – Draw
  • 10/3 – Watford win

Click here to place your Championship bet and claim your free bet from Bet Fred

Could Coventry City be the dark horses to gain promotion to the Premier League?

August 5, 2010

The npower Championship starts in just two days but you do still have time to place an ante post bet on who will get promoted from the Championship to the Barclays Premiership. Of the teams that were relegated from the Premiership only Burnley look like they could gain automatic promotion the other two teams, Hull City and Portsmouth could be spending the first of many seasons in the Championship.

One of the teams that are looking to gain promotion have one of best cashback offers currently running on the Championship. The offer comes from the shirt sponsors of Nottingham Forest, the bookmakers Victor Chandler. If you place a bet on Forest to gain promotion and they fail to make the play offs then Victor Chandler will refund your losing stake, with Forest at odds of 9/4 for promotion this is almost like giving money away as they had a fantastic season last year ending up 3rd in the league but losing out to Blackpool in the play off final.

Championship Promotion odds

It looks like it could be another tight league and there are several teams hopingto be promoted to the Premiership which are all the usual suspects, if you fancy a flutter outside of the norm with higher odds we recommend that Coventry City could be the surprise of the season with odds of 40/1 to be promoted, they welcome back players Lee Carsley and Gary McSheffery into their fold and with their new manager Aidy Boothroyd behind it could be a good year for the Sky Blues.

  • 7/4 – Middlesbrough
  • 11/4 – QPR
  • 11/4 – Burnley
  • 9/2 – Sheffield United
  • 4/1 – Leicester City
  • 4/1 – Reading
  • 9/4 – Nottingham Forest
  • 9/2 – Bristol City
  • 5/1 – Leeds

Click here to place your Championship promotion bet and claim your free bet from Victor Chandler

Blackpool odds on in Barclays Premier League relegation betting

July 19, 2010

The 2010/11 season of the Premier LeaguPremier League begins next month and the league welcomes three new teams into the division Newcastle United as winners of the Championship, runners-up West Bromwich Albion and Blackpool as the winners of the play offs (it is the first time since 1970 that Blackpool have been in the top flight) and it sure to be an exciting season for The Seasiders.

They are closely followed in the odds by Roberto Di Matteo’s West Brom who did have quite a strong season last year and are no strangers to the Premiership so could find their feet very easily. The Championship Champions, Newcastle find themselves squeezed between Premier League strugglers West Ham and Wigan. If Chris Hughton can stabilize his squad early on in the season he has good chance of finishing in a respectable place in his first season in charge of a Premiership club.

Premier League Relegation odds

It is no surprise that Ian Holloway’s Blackpool side are being quoted as the favourites to be relegated back down to the Championship having surprised many fans and football pundits alike by beating the favourites Nottingham Forest in the play off finals.

  • 2/7 – Blackpool
  • 4/5 – West Bromwich Albion
  • 9/4 – Wolverhampton Wanderers
  • 9/4 – Wigan
  • 11/4 – Newcastle United
  • 7/2 – West Ham
  • 9/2 – Bolton
  • 13/2 – Blackburn

Click here to place your relegation bet and claim your free £100 in free bets from Bet 365

Cardiff favourites to progress to the Premiership after play off final

May 20, 2010

The finalists for the Coca Cola Championship playoffs finals have been confirmed following the games between Nottingham Forest and Blackpool and Leicester and Cardiff and to some surprise Blackpool and Cardiff have emerged as finalists’. This has brought heart ache again for Nottingham Forest who finished 3rd in the Championship table and narrowly missed out promotion and in 2007 missed out on promotion to the Championship from League One in similar circumstances.

The two teams will face each other this coming Saturday 22nd May at 15:00 from Wembley Stadium, and can be watched live on Sky Sports or if you are in the Cardiff area on large screen televisions in Cardiff Bay with 7,000 other Bluebird fans!

Cardiff are the marginal favourites to win this tie although when both teams played each other this season each of the two games (home and away) have resulted in a 1-1 draw. Hopefully with the excitement of a Wembley fixture the result of the game will be much more exciting and we could even look to see a result to the game in 90 minutes and therefore avoid the tedium of extra time and worse still a penalty shootout.

Blackpool v Cardiff match odds

  • 11/5 – Blackpool win
  • 5/4 – Cardiff win
  • 9/4 – Draw

Click here to claim your free £50 bet from Victor Chandler

Could Gary McAllister come back to save the Sky Blues or is O’Leary on his way?

May 5, 2010

In a decision that did not come as a shock to Coventry City fans their manager Chris Coleman was relieved of his duties as Coventry City manager the morning after the teams awards dinner and a shocking 4-0 home defeat against relegation fighters Watford. The game that sealed Coleman’s fate could have easily been a 6 or 7 goal affair due to the extremely poor performance on Coleman’s side. Since appointment by Coventry in February 2008 Coleman has been in charge for 117 games his side had produced only 34 wins and 37 draws, losing a shocking 46 games meaning his win to game percentage was only 29%, statistically this has made him the worst manager since Ron Atkinson took control of the side in February 1995 for 74 games.

Whoever takes charge of Coventry will have to face the similar struggles that a host of recent managers have come across (Adrian Heath, Micky Adams, Ian Dowie), in fact since they were relegated from the Premiership in 2001 they have gone through 7 permanent managers. Coventry currently play in a purpose built stadium that they do not own nor get any revenue from other than gate receipts (which only averages 17295 per game) and are unlikely to receive any great investment from the Ray Ranson (SISU) fronted hedge fund company that saved them from administration back in 2007.

As well as the normal faces that appear with every managerial job opportunity some surprise names have come into the fold which include some strong rumours that former player and manager of Coventry City Gary McAllister is in contention for the spot, he was resigned his position to care for his terminally ill wife and took a break from football, a return from him would be welcomed by the Sky Blue Army, however the favourite David O’Leary would not get such support having been in charge of arch rivals Aston Villa.

Next Coventry City Manager odds

All odds have been supplied by Victor Chandler

Click here to claim your free £50 bet from Victor Chandler

Nottingham Forest look the favourites to win the playoffs

May 3, 2010

Another exciting season of the Coca Cola Championship has now come to end, the two teams that have gained automatic promotion to the Premiership did so several games before the end of the season. Nottingham Forest managed to squeeze into third place by just 3 points, if there home form could have been continued to their away games they very easily could have gained themselves one of the automatic promotion spots, out of their 23 away games they managed a paltry 4 wins compared to their 18 wins at home.

This will hopefully work to Billy Davies side favour however for the play offs as the second leg of their play off game will be played at the City Ground where they have excelled and scored plenty of goals and once again Davies can go to the play off finals at Wembley Stadium.

Coca Cola Championship playoffs outright winner

Odds for the winner have been supplied by William Hill.

Click here to place your play off bet and claim your £25 free bet from William Hill

Sheffield Wednesday look set for Coca Championship relegation

April 26, 2010

Sheffield Wednesday have a difficult mountain to climb following their close defeat at Cardiff as the Bluebirds managed to edge ahead in the close tie that ended 3-2 in Cardiff’s favour. Wednesday are now placed in the third relegation spot on 46 points with just one game to go and a one way ticket to League One seems imminent.

However tonight if Paul Hart’s Crystal Palace side fail to beat the already promoted West Bromwich Albion then there could be a party atmosphere come Sunday at Hillsborough as Wednesday could have a chance no matter how slim of staying up. If this is the case then the owners of Crystal Palace have cost the team their place in the Coca Cola Championship after they were docked 10 points for going into administration.

Relegation Odds

  • 1/3 – Sheffield Wednesday
  • 9/4 – Crystal Palace

Even though the two teams are at opposite ends of the table, the odds for the outcome of tonight’s game are quite even. This is in part that West Brom will be likely to field an under strength squad as they literally have nothing to play for now that they have been confirmed as runners up and will be playing in the Premier League next season, but Palace have everything to play for as they fight for survival.

Crystal Palace vs West Brom match odds

  • 13/8 – Crystal Palace win
  • 13/8 – West Bromwich Albion win
  • 12/5 – Draw

Click here to place your relegation bet and claim your £25 free bet with Stan James

What goes up must come down, will this be true for Newcastle?

April 6, 2010

Backs are sure being patted all around the Newcastle United boardroom following the club achieved promotion back to the Premiership on its first attempt. The Magpies promotion was secured following their 2-1 win against Sheffield United over the Easter bank holiday weekend, United are now guaranteed to finish either as Champions or at very least runners up.

The current owner of Newcastle United Mike Ashley (the man behind Sports Direct) will now be glad that he could find a buyer for his club after he put them on the market following relegation to the Coca Cola Championship last year. He had at first touted the club for around the £300 million mark but later reduced this to a bargain £80 million, which is now sure to increase now they have access to Premiership money.

Magpies manager Chris Hughton along with his assistant Colin Calderwood have succeed in getting his Newcastle side to gel and has had the full support of the Toon Army during their tenure in the Championship. However will this be enough to keep United in the Premiership, during the close season will they spend their windfall on building up the squad or will they just be happy to take a year of Premiership money followed by the four years worth of parachute payments now on offer which is thought to be worth around £100 million.

Newcastle Betting Specials

  • 8/11 – Chris Hughton to stay with the Magpies till end of next season
  • 4/9- Newcastle to stay up
  • 13/8 – Newcaslte to be relegated
  • 5/1 – Newcastle to finish in top half of Premiership
  • 1/9 – Newcastle to finish in bottom half of Premiership
  • 33/1 – Newcastle to win League Cup
  • 50/1 – Newcastle to win FA Cup
  • 5000/1 – Newcastle to win Premiership next season

Click here to claim your £25 free bet from William Hill

Will Cardiff be another notch on Forests home fixture belt?

April 5, 2010

The third and fourth teams in the Coca Cola Championship face each other late this afternoon in a game that if Cardiff win by 3 or more goals could see them overtake Forest as the third placed team in the league. Forest have seen their lead diminish each week as they failed to capitalise on their amazing home form with a string of poor away results, there game on Saturday against Bristol City saw Billy Davies’ side pick up their first away point in eight games, Forest are now on 71 points and Cardiff on 68.

Although Forest have had a great record at home (out of their last 16 home games they have won 15 and drawn once) they have not managed to beat Cardiff at the City Ground in five matches, losing on three occasions and drawing twice.

The current sponsors of Nottingham Forest Victor Chandler are running a free bet offer on this match if you place a bet on the correct score or first goal scorer market and Forest beat Cardiff then they will refund all losing stakes as a free bet.

Nottm Forest v Cardiff match odds

Click here to claim your free £50 bet from Victor Chandler

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