Betting.Betfair

Get on the value sled, giddy up the huskies and pile into Betfair's White Christmas market while the price is still ripe. After that, hot toddies all round!


With race meetings and football fixtures obliterated by the torrid conditions, Betfair punters might be wondering where to put their money this week.

While there's plenty of exciting sport going on in warmer climes - and at the PDC Championships at Alexandra Palace - if you fancy punting on something closer to home, this might be the year that the White Christmas market yields value.

When I look out of my window, see the pond frozen and the ground caked in snow, I can't believe that Yes is as long as 3.0 in Betfair's White Christmas market. The odds, which have been steadily coming in for weeks, touched 7.2 when the market opened and narrowed to 2.54 during the first deluge just over a fortnight ago. There was a brief drift (sorry, couldn't resist!) when things warmed up last weekend but by now I would have expected a plunge to around evens.

Perhaps punters are stranded away from their computers and simply can't get on. Too cold for betting? If airports and, gasp, shopping centres can go into lock down over a couple of inches of the white stuff maybe bettors activities' will be similarly disrupted. I doubt it but, while we're on the subject, I have a couple of friends coming to England for Christmas. They are currently stranded after their flights were diverted away from Heathrow yesterday. They've flown in from Moscow and Boston, places where the snow soaks your knees and the cold makes you feel like your face is bleeding. It's fair to say they are bemused by our inability to cope.

Of course, a meteorologist I am not, but with this December due to be the coldest on record, freezing conditions prevailing across Christmas week and the country in meltdown, I'm having me a slice of that 3.0 before the odds, like the temperature, drop again.

Happy holidays!


(Read more at betting.betfair.com)

There were mixed fortunes for the English teams in this morning's Champions League draw with Arsenal set to face Barcelona once again whilst Chelsea have a far easier task on their hands....


Arsene Wenger may be considering a second career as a psychic after his prediction earlier in the week that Arsenal were going to draw Barcelona in this morning's Champions League draw was bang on the money. Arguably the two most entertaining top European sides on their day, these two had already met in last year's edition with Barcelona coming out on top on that occasion. The odds suggest a repeat of that scenario is on the cards again. Within moments of the two being drawn against each other, Arsenal drifted out to 28.0 on Betfair to win the Champions league for the first time whist Barcelona came in to 3.2, the shortest they've been since the market went up.

There was far better luck for Chelsea, who drew FC Copenhagen. The Danish champs, who were matched at Betfair's maximum price of 1000.0 early on were already the biggest price of anyone still in the competition and have lengthened further after drawing Carlo Ancelotti's side; they're currently 270.0. Chelsea, who have never won the Champions League despite the best efforts of two-time winner Jose Mourinho, are the third favourites at 6.0 after being handed what the market considers to be a pretty easy draw.

France's other representatives, Marseille, will face Manchester United, who are into 9.6 to win this year's Champions League. The first leg will be played at the ever-intimidating Stade Velodrome.

Speaking of the 'Special One', his Real Madrid side have drawn Champions League stalwarts Lyon. After a shaky start to their domestic campaign, Claude Puel's men have found their stride and have in Lisandro Lopez one of the most in-form strikers in Europe. The market makes the French outfit the 3.75 outsiders but Mourinho knows that Lyon have plenty of experience in the competition and won't be taking any liberties. 'Los Merengues' are the 5.2 second-favourites to lift the trophy.

It may be Tottenham's first Champions League campaign but the Betfair market likes what it's seen of them so far and is finding it hard to split them and their opponents AC Milan in the 'to qualify' market. Despite Milan's pedigree in this competition, it's almost evens the pair and the 2003 winners will know that they will have to keep a close eye on the fleet-footed Gareth Bale if they're to get the better of the north Londoners after the Welshman scored a hat-trick at their ground earlier in the campaign when Spurs faced their rivals Inter. The 'Rossoneri' and the 'Lillywhites' are both 27.0 to go all the way.

Elsewhere, last year's winners Inter and beaten finalists Bayern Munich were drawn against each other and are also difficult to split in the betting. With Mourinho having moved on to pastures new, Bayern will fancy their chances of getting some revenge at the first time of asking after some pretty indifferent performances from Rafael Benitez' side in the group stages.


Full Draw:

Barcelona v Arsenal
Lyon v Real Madrid
Tottenham v AC Milan
Roma v Shakhtar Donetsk
Marseille v Manchester United
Valencia v Schalke 04
FC Copenhagen v Chelsea
Inter Milan v Bayern Munich


(Read more at betting.betfair.com)

Name five goalkeepers who have made the transition into successful football managers. The question that stumped doyens of the UK Pub Quiz League - The Eagle and Child Eggheads. They managed Dino Zoff who won the UEFA Cup with Juventus in 1990 and was of course only denied Euro 2000 success in the dying seconds of the final against France.

They also got Raymond Goethals who led Marseille to European Cup glory in 1993. Walter Zenga of Steua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade fame got them a third tick in the box but they then fell foul of fourth choice Neville Southall on the technicality of the word 'successful'! One game in charge of the Welsh national team (lost 2-0 to Denmark on 9th June 1999) does not apparently constitute success. The aggrieved Eggheads lost their appeal and we never got to hear who their fifth candidate would be.

We racked our brains here at betting.betfair.com and Pacman gets the credit for coming up with current Twente manager Michel Preud'homme who won the Belgian league First Division with Standard Liege in 07-08 and the Belgian Cup with Gent in 09-10. You can back Twente at 60.0 with Betfair to win the Europa League after their third place in Tottenham's Champions League group qualifies them for the next phase. Goalkeepers as managers on the continent is less of an issue it would seem.
Successful goalkeeping managers in UK football is a rarity -arguably never happened. England stopper Tim Flowers is giving it a go at BSN relegation contenders Stafford Rangers. Record so far: seven games, seven defeats. Looks like he's going to conform to type!

Scottish keeper Bryan Gunn looked to be about to break the mould when he took over at Norwich and led them to a 4-0 win over Barnsley. The infamous 1-7 start of the season defeat to Colchester saw the end of his short tenure. Twenty one games and ten defeats with a 28.57% win ratio. Not good enough. Gunn took the hint and is now a director of business development for a Great Yarmouth based digital phone company. Par for the course in UK football.

So what is it that marks out the psychology of goalkeepers and makes them rare candidates for success in football management? David James is on the case. Currently doing his coaching badges, he has been told by backroom staff that he must become good at understanding his strengths and weaknesses and learn to delegate. Tough lesson for keepers that. Years of solitary control and detachment from the team ethic. What Peter Schmeichel called being 'one on one. Me against the strikers. More like being tennis players than team players. Solitary combat.' You can see how that doesn't bode well for man management! ' I'd be good at bawling them out in the dressing room half time when they've played like a bunch of pandas but how the heaven am I going to teach them to dribble?'

It's a fair point. James says that football for goalkeepers is very black and white. 'Whereas an outfield player can make a bad pass and expect to get covered (unless he plays for England perhaps?), a goalkeeper has no margin for error. He must learn to become very singleminded to succeed.' Eleven of the 20 Premier League reading Star ambassadors for the current Library Literacy programme are goalkeepers. Robert Green lists his favourite book as Homer's Iliad.He also identifies with the plays of Albert Camus who was himself a goalkeeper for his University team. More evidence that goalkeepers are perhaps a breed apart.

No hope for James and Flowers then in UK football? Neville Southall's eccentric career as manager of Dover and Margate would suggest not. Jock Wallace did ok for a while for Rangers in the Seventies but Psychology Today's recent study shows goalkeepers to have highly developed pre-frontal cortex. Makes them good at tunnel vision and concentration and also presumably gives them an edge in penalty shoot outs against strikers with poorly formed pre-frontal cortex who just hit and hope! Not going to make them good in the man management/delegation stakes though. Not here in the UK at any rate, where perhaps we are also more likely to treat things in a black and white way.

Jose Mourinho's Dad was a goalie. Perhaps there lies an answer. Five successful football managers whose fathers were goalkeepers? Where are those Eggheads when you need them?


By Gary Boswell

(Read more at betting.betfair.com)

The Betfair Contrarian explains why Cardle and Cowell can be stopped and why he's desperate to recover some funds....


The Contrarian is rarely wrong when it comes to reality TV, so was naturally feeling a little sheepish when Matt Cardle defied him by winning The X Factor. He never accepts defeat without a fight though, and is delighted to spot an opportunity to make back his money and much more besides - by opposing Cardle to be Christmas number one at 1.08. Here's why the singing painter will miss out...


Last year showed that Cowell can be stopped

Punters who are heavily swayed by where the money is going will look at the odds of 1.05 on Matt Cardle's single reaching number one and assume that it is a foregone conclusion, but last year's events suggest that would be a mistake. Then, the campaign to keep X Factor winner Joe McElderry off the top of the charts by getting people to buy Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name proved successful - ending a four year spell of festive domination for the show - and that was just as unexpected at the start of the week, when McElderry's The Climb traded at 1.17.


Facebook has spoken

Rage Against the Machine's ascent to number one was orchestrated by Facebook users and there is a well-supported attempt on the social networking juggernaut to engineer another huge upset. The single they are getting behind this year is The Trashmen's 1963 release Surfin' Bird, which returned to prominence two years ago after being the focal point of an episode of Family Guy, in which Peter Griffin obtained a copy of the track and brought it to everyone's attention. The bid to get it installed as the Christmas chart-topper is backed by a staggering 626,415 members of the site and it is already third according to early sales figures, a considerable achievement given that the media are only now picking up on its potential. They initially reported the Cage Against the Machine effort to outsell The X Factor with a cover of John Cage's silent number 4'33" as the main challenger. With more publicity to follow now that it is clear that Surfin' Bird is the chief rival, sales are certain to improve.


Surfin' Bird is a more viable contender

Word about the push to get Surfin' Bird to number one has spread slower than the Rage Against the Machine rally last year, in the mainstream media if not online at least, although it is arguably an even stronger challenger for top spot than Killing in the Name. It's an endearingly irritating novelty song in the same vein as some of the most memorable successes of years gone by - think Benny Hill (1971), Mr Blobby (1993) and Bob the Builder (2000). The Family Guy tie-in will help too because the show's popularity with teenagers and young adults surely makes it a more likely seller in those demographics than last year's more niche candidate. Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills has championed it and played it on his drive-time show.


Biffy Clyro fans are annoyed

As has been the case on all bar one occasion, The X Factor winner's song is a cover, but this time the ITV show's producers have really provoked fans of the original by changing the name of the Biffy Clyro hit they are using, from Many of Horror to When We Collide. The danger of angering advocates of other versions and the impact it can have on a chart battle was showcased two years ago when Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah cover was the second biggest seller behind Alexandra Burke's offering, kicking off the protest movement against X Factor Yuletide singles. There are over 40,000 Facebook users backing a campaign to get people to purchase the original instead and while that may not prove enough to shift more copies than Cardle (though it is currently destined for the top ten) it would mean fewer buyers for When We Collide, which would help the Surfin' Bird bid.


(Read more at betting.betfair.com)

Everyone loves that classic Kaiser Chiefs song 'Ruby' so don't be surprised to hear the Barmy Army giving it their own rendition in Perth should England triumph.

Little Ruby Anderson might have a tale or two to tell her friends when she grows old enough to take those first steps into the big world that is also known as the Kindergarten.Should her father James fail to inspire England to victory here in Perth then question marks over the decision to allow him to return home from Australia will surface almost instantly.

If not, then she'll be able to negotiate over the Doll's House with the famous line, 'But my Dad won the Ashes'. Not bad I guess, although I always used to claim that my Dad was a pirate...incorrectly of course.

Anderson flew home from Adelaide last Tuesday and returned to Perth at 5pm local time following a mammoth journey across the globe to take in the birth of his second child. The precedent for this kind of thing was set long ago with Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Andrew Strauss and Michael Vaughan all having travelled home from tour to be with their partners during such an emotional and momentous occasion.

Yet, with Stuart Broad having been ruled out of the tour, there is even more pressure on Anderson to produce something special on a ground where England have not triumphed since 1978.To have kept him against his will would have been counter-productive, especially as he would not have featured against Victoria at the MCG.

So, as long as Anderson performs to his maximum, the ECB will be vindicated in their decision to allow him to return home.

With eight wickets to his name in the series already, Anderson has silenced the doubters who claimed he would be unable to adapt to the infamous Australian conditions. His opening spell at the Gabba was simply exhilarating and although he failed to reap the rewards which his effort deserved, he showed enough to suggest that he will be a force to be reckoned with.

And despite spending the best part of two days in the air, Anderson says he is in ideal shape to lead England to an Ashes defining victory at the WACA.

"I don't see why I won't be at my best," said Anderson.

" I didn't get into a sleep routine in England or acclimatise to English conditions. I tried to stay on Australian time and I think I've done that well.

"I had a good night's sleep last night, I've got two days' preparation before the third Test and I don't see why they won't go well.

"I feel fresh and probably happy for the rest from bowling after a tough first two Tests."

Watching him in the nets today, there certainly doesn't appear to have be any fatigue in his body. There was no sign of him taking it easy either, this was Anderson going at full pelt and looking every inch a man in form.

Anderson's ability to bowl into the the infamous 'Fremantle Doctor' breeze could also give England an extra edge to their attack. The Lancashire seamer is one of the world's best swing bowlers and if he can utilise the afternoon breeze then he may yet have some success here.

Win here and it's all over - that's incentive enough for anyone.


By James Masters

(Read more at betting.betfair.com)

We're off to see the Wizard - the wonderful Wizard of Oz. With the PDC World Darts Championship starting on Thursday it seemed a good time for Betfair to meet last year's shock finalist Simon Whitlock and find out if he's ready to go one better this time...


Hi Simon. You pretty much came from nowhere to reach last year's World final - how have things changed since?

I'd like to think I've grown as a player over the last 12 months. I'm a much more confident player than I was then. It started a big year for me, it's been life changing as well. Doing so well at Alexandra Palace got me into the Premier League, and in turn that meant I had to move over here full time. Big changes.


One thing that doesn't seem to have changed is that Phil Taylor still dominates everything...

It's crazy. I think the rankings show he's made three times more than James Wade who is second and five times more than me in fifth. To be honest I don't really know what makes him special or what he does different, but whatever it is it works.


Does that mean he's certain to win the world title again? How do the other players break up his dominance?

I think it is up to us other guys to lift our game and be a bit more competitive - and to be honest I think it is happening right now. I think people have got better, and I also think Phil has dropped off a little bit. He's back in the field now, he's beatable at the moment.


Really? Brave words?

Maybe but it's what I think. I'm only being honest.


What about your own form?

I think it's good. As I said, last year was a key breakthrough for me, and then winning a lot of tournaments this year has meant my confidence has grown and I think I'm playing better than ever. I didn't think I would do as well as I have done, but playing regularly on the PDC circuit has brought a different mentality. It's a lot harder, the players are so much better, but I've found I've been able to lift my game and be a lot more competitive.


Is there anything you've done to help that?

Just practising, and maybe just playing lots of tournaments. Just playing in the Premier League makes so much difference, it's intense, and more from the experience it gives you than anything else. More TV time, playing on stages. You get used to the heat from the arc lights and the pressure of performing. Every stage is different, too. You'd struggle to explain it unless you've been up there because the board is the same, it's the same height, everything else is pretty much constant. It's just somehow the feeling is different in each one and the crowds are different, it's more difficult to play in some places than others.


One thing that stays the same is your beard and pony tail. It fits the Wizard image now, but why did you grow it first?

My mother used to cut my hair when I was young, and I didn't like the way she did it so I said I'll cut it myself. I couldn't see what I was cutting at the back so I just left it and that's how it ended up!


You mentioned moving to England full time. Have you settled well over here?

Yes I have. I just enjoy what I like doing on the bigger scene, I've made a lot of friends too through darts.


What do you miss?

I miss my kids obviously, and my friends - and the weather a bit. Ok, the weather a lot at the moment! Plus other things I used to do like breeding my fish, I had to give all that up.


You liked beach fishing too. Have you tried rivers or canals?

No I've not had the time. I went out on a boat once but that's it.


Can't let you go without bragging about the cricket. Have you seen much of the Ashes series?

No, I've been on the road and it seems the places I've stayed at have not had it on TV. I've been tuning in to Test Match Special on the radio instead. It's not gone too well at the moment, but I'd still like to be watching it and cheering on the boys. I'm just hoping I can do my bit for Aussie sport once the World Championships start. We need a lift from somewhere at the moment!


Thanks for your time and we've a free £50 bet in aid of a favourite charity...

I've supported the Movember movement to fight prostate cancer. I couldn't grow a moustache because I've already got so much facial hair! I did grow it a bit longer, but I don't think anybody noticed. And as for the bet - as it is for charity I can back myself to win the world title at 17.0. I really think I can do it.


*Simon Whitlock will be competing in the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship, from December 16-January 3 live on Sky Sports.


(Read more at betting.betfair.com)

Back in 1966 and again in 1970, the West Ham and England captain Bobby Moore agitated for a move to Tottenham. On both of these occasions, the Hammers boss Ron Greenwood vetoed the move and Moore had no choice but to live with the decision.

Bobby Moore was one of the greatest players in the world, but in those days it was the clubs that wielded the power and there was precious little a footballer could do if the club were determined to retain his services.

If Moore were playing today, he would have a lot more options. He could let his contract run down and leave on a lucrative free transfer, or buy out his contract and leave on a free immediately. Then there is the option of going on strike, in an effort to force the club to agree to a transfer.

All of these options are ones open to Carlos Tevez, who is apparently desperate to leave Manchester City. These days, if a top footballer wants to leave his club, then the chances are that he'll get his wish... eventually.

Tevez may have to play a waiting game, because of all the clubs to try and force a transfer from, Manchester City are perhaps the most powerful. No other team could afford to banish one of football's top talent to the reserves and still go out and spend fortunes on a replacement, but City are one such team.

Although this is the hard-line option that City could take, I tend to think that pragmatism could take over. The Arabs at Eastlands might have a bottomless oil well of money, but they are working towards ridding the club of the sort of losses that might see them banned from European competition in a few years time.

If the recent claims of Rodney Marsh are correct and Tevez does earn £286,000 a week, then that is an awfully expensive reserve, even for Manchester City. It is also unlikely to do wonders for the team morale to have a divisive figure such as Tevez, still around the club.

There is talk that Tevez may go on strike or try to retire. Again, City have the finances to absorb the loss and take legal action, but it would be to the detriment of the club's short term aims.

The moralists might prefer City to stay strong and see if Tevez is really prepared to forsake his career, but the pragmatists would see that the best way forward is to bend a little.

What might be the best result for City is if they agreed to make Tevez available for transfer at the end of the season, in return for the player continuing to play until May. He is the most important player in the team and with him City look likely to qualify for the Champions League and could even challenge for the title. City are 1.42 to finish in the top four and 8.6 to win the league.

Without Tevez, City could well fall short of their ambitions. Although of course there is always the possibility that they could buy someone like Fernando Torres in January and that's why they are such a fascinating club right now.

As was the case with his former colleague Cristiano Ronaldo, it might prove that Carlos Tevez has to wait a while for his move, but he'll probably get his wish. It is the players who are the most powerful forces in football nowadays and the irony for City is that one of the reasons for this situation, is because certain clubs are willing to pay vastly inflated salaries.


By Dan Fitch

(Read more at betting.betfair.com)

The Australians are not used to defeat and consequently they are leaving no straw unclutched, no barrel unscraped and no loony selection discarded as they try to get themselves back into the series. However, drastic times call for drastic measures so here are five 'alternative' actions that the Aussies might consider to get themselves back on track.


Number Five: No more fair play cobber!

A plea to the ICC to return to the good old days of having a home umpire out in the middle. Let's get back to basics and get the big decisions going the right way, none of this 'the batsman gets the benefit of the doubt' malarkey, 'the Aussie gets the benefit of the doubt!' It would make the commentator's job so much easier during reviews. "Let's have a look at this then, it's pitched outside the line, the hot spot clearly shows that it caught the inside edge first and there looks to be a doubt about the height. There you go, Hawk-Eye clearly shows that it's going over the top but the batsman is a Pom - that's out - plum as you like!"


Number Four - Remind the English where they were born

It's a sore subject but one that has to be addressed, particularly with the Sydney Test coming up on Boxing Day. It's not the old chestnut about England having a load of South Africans in their ranks - oh no, this one is much more embarrassing. An hour or so to the North of Sydney lies the town of Newcastle and, like their English counterparts the Geordies, these New South Welshmen are a passionate bunch. Paul Collingwood tries hard to hide his past, he refers to his place of birth as being Shotley Bridge, County Durham but this column can reveal that he is - oh this is so embarrassing - a Mackem! The folk of the Australian Newcastle won't be able to understand how Collingwood gets in the team and that good old Geordie boy Steve Harmison doesn't. That's what happens when you let trivial things like talent, commitment and desire influence team selection.


Number Three - Make the addicts suffer

All's fair in love and war and it's time to hit the English where it hurts. Removal of the mirror from the English dressing room would stop Kevin Pietersen seeing the thing he loves looking at most! He could well get timed out as he searches for a teaspoon shiny enough to allow him to see his reflection. The Aussies should look at banning all 3G devices from the ground and the team's hotel. If Graeme Swann doesn't get his Twitter fix and get his tweets out he'll not get any turn because he'll be shaking with withdrawail so much that he won't be able to hold the ball!


Number Two - Change the skipper

It's something that the Aussies are considering and you can understand why. Ricky Ponting is a real gentleman, a fantastic batsman, great ambassador for the sport and is respected throughout the world - not the kind of guy that you would associate with Australian cricket, so in order to kill two emus with one boomerang the selectors should turn to a player who is semi-retired (less so than Shane Warne) but typifies the world's perception of an Aussie cricketer: Andrew Symonds. It's such a pity that Jesse Ryder was born the other side of the Tasman!


And Finally...

Number One - A return to their roots!

If all else fails why don't the Aussies just do what their forefathers did best - steal the Ashes! Seriously, that's their deportment - oops, department - and probably why the MCC won't allow the little urn to leave our shores.

* A little note to all our Australian readers - we're only kidding. It's just that we're not used to watching you in disarray but if you still think you can rub our noses in it there is 6.4 available on an Australian series win.


By Frank Gregan

(Read more at betting.betfair.com)

What a great season this is turning out to be for Manchester United. They remain unbeaten, one point off the top with games in hand and are happily looking on while their title rivals do their level best to self-implode.

First there is Chelsea, Super Chelsea. The mighty Blues, who swept all before them on the way to the double last season and steamrollered the first five matches of this campaign before shooting themselves in the foot by sacking Ray Wilkins, isolating Carlo Ancelotti and embarking on a six-match winless run that has left the Blues as long as 3.1 to defend their title.

Then there is Arsenal, sexy Arsenal. The Gunners may be sitting pretty at the top of the pile but, having lost four times already this season - including home reverses to West Brom and Newcastle - they are mere pretenders to the throne; paper tigers whose roar is more of a miaow thanks to holding midfielders deployed in the opponents' penalty area and a tinderbox defence liable to catch fire at any time. Hence their title odds of 5.1.

And then of course there is Manchester City, who climbed to the Premier League summit yesterday, only for their achievement to be soured by news that Carlos Tevez, their captain and talisman, had handed in a transfer request.

City (8.4) have denied Tevez's request but now have a battle on their hands to keep their best (but clearly disaffected and homesick) player happy and prevent him from destabilising an already fragile dressing room at Eastlands. Tevez is an extraordinary talent - as his 39 goals in 60 appearances reflect - but Roberto Mancini has over-indulged the Argentinian, who is said to be missing his family in his homeland.

Mancini has tried everything, from making Tevez captain, despite his only cursory handle of English, to giving him special dispensation recently to spend time at home. But Tevez has repaid his boss with petty acts of insubordination - like his harrumphing off the pitch after being substituted against Bolton last weekend and his subsequent no show at the club Christmas party.

If Tevez is suffering from depression then Mancini has gone out of his way to show understanding. But if the rumours are true that his agent recently tried to renegotiate a new, longer, even higherpaid contract for his client then it's difficult not to conclude that Tevez - or his agent at least - is trying to hold the club to ransom.

It is a nightmare scenario for City, who have spent some £500m on luring some extremely talented and even more extremely overpaid players to Eastlands only to find themselves having to fire-fight as jealousy, rancour and in-fighting (quite literally in the case of Jerome Boateng and Mario Balotelli) among mercenary players escalates over who has the best contract, who is getting the most playing time and who is getting the most preferential treatment.

These developments should come as no surprise to Brian Marwood, who was a footballer himself in a former life. Indeed before restyling himself as City's director of football - whose job entails working up detailed 45-50 page dossiers on transfer targets including player attributes, personal and family background, command of English, experience of transition, cultural fit, international calendar issues, agent's details and press cuttings - he inhabited one the most volatile dressing rooms in the game at Arsenal in the late 1980s.

He fought many battles both on and off the field at Highbury, eventually coming a cropper when he dared try to renegotiate the players' antiquated win bonus system with George Graham, who responded by selling him to Sheffield United.

In the day and age of player power it is incredibly difficult to rule with an iron fist Graham-style; even Sir Alex Ferguson was held to ransom recently by Wayne Rooney and his agent Paul Stretford. On the other hand, Ferguson gave up on Tevez, refusing to pay the £25m his agent was asking for his registration. And something tells me that for all Tevez's goals and tireless running, Fergie won't be shedding any tears over his decision.

City are suffering the sort of consequences parents have to contend with after spoiling their children and dispensing with basic discipline. And Tevez's bad example has started the rot. Yesterday against West Ham, Balotelli threw the first of many hissy fits when he stormed off the field after being substituted.

So what are City going to do about Tevez? They may have won without him
on Saturday, but you don't play West Ham every week. For all the money they have spent, City are still over-reliant on their captain, who has scored ten league goals this season and remains the favourite to top score in the Premier League at 7.0. (The 7.8 lay might be a wiser move).

Mancini has three options. 1) Swallow his pride, try and persuade Tevez to change his mind and up the contract offer to £300,000 a week, 2) sell him in January for any price and cut his losses or 3) strip him of his captaincy and drop him to the reserves. After all, it's not as if City need the money and unless they make an example of the insubordinates they will have a mutiny on their hands. In the meantime, I'd insist Marwood has a closer read of those player dossiers in future.


By Richard Aikman

(Read more at betting.betfair.com)

Let's make one thing very clear - England's minds were not on the game against Victoria at the MCG.

If being forced to play in such a meaningless fixture was irksome enough for the players, then for the watching members of the press it was simply tortuous. Such was the farcical nature of the game that Andrew Strauss managed to take a wicket with a rather unique brand of bowling, while part-time trundler Eoin Morgan was smashed for 22 off a single over.

Perhaps the fact that there was more of a buzz surrounding tomorrow's big match in Perth between the Australian journalists and their English counterparts shows that the game in Melbourne was unimportant in the extreme.

All eyes are on Perth and on the WACA in particular, with Australia needing to avoid defeat to keep the series alive going into the iconic Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

With Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus back in the squad, Australia are hoping to take advantage of the infamous afternoon breeze and the green tinge on the surface of strip five. And according to WACA groundsman, Cameron Sutherland, both sets of bowlers can expect pace and bounce, although nowhere near the levels that were present in those fabulous pitches of the 1980s.

"We're going to aim for a fair bit of grass on top this year," said Sutherland.

"Certainly we want a result and we're confident we'll have a pitch that will produce a result.

"We always aims for pace and bounce. Each year we've got better and better with it, and that's why we dug the pitch block up and started again with it.

"It was its first first class game last year and it played pretty well, so we envisage it playing similar.

"I think the signs are that last year and this year we're certainly getting close where we want to be."

For Australia, who need all the help they can get, a change may be needed in the tactics department with captain Ricky Ponting thought to be considering a different approach.

Ponting has not sent the opposition in since losing at Edgbaston in 2005, having chosen to bat on the past 30 occasions he has won the toss. Yet, with the pressure mounting over his role in the side, Ponting will also remember how South Africa embarked on the second highest successful run chase in Test history of 414-4 to win in Perth two years ago.

At least Ponting can console himself with the fact that England will be without Stuart Broad, who has been ruled out of the series with an abdominal injury.

Chris Tremlett, Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shazhad all failed their MCG audition after failing to impress on a lifeless pitch against some determined Victorian batting.

But expect Tremlett to get the nod at the WACA with his ability to generate plenty of bounce and height lgiving him the advantage over his rivals.The 6'8 giant has not played a Test match since facing India in 2007 where he took 13 wickets in three matches at an average of 29.69.

Impressive at Hobart against Australia A, Tremlett claimed seven victims to put himself in pole position to be first reserve in the case of injury. And the Surrey man insists he is ready to make the most of his opportunity when England go in search of the victory which would retain the Ashes.

"When you come to Australia, you hope your attributes will play a part on these wickets," said Tremlett.

"Obviously, being 6ft 8in myself and the others being very tall as well, we can intimidate these guys and get in their faces a bit.

"Getting some overs and wickets under my belt has given me lots of confidence and if that opportunity does come along, then I'll be ready.

"I've worked hard in the nets and it's nice to get some miles in the legs and some match overs."

England are currently 2.78 to win the match and seeing as they're the ones carrying all the momentum, have far more in-form players and we're likely to get a result on this wicket, they have to get the nod to go 2-0 up.


By James Masters

(Read more at betting.betfair.com)