Giggs gamble is gathering pace

SPORTS AND SHOWBIZ BETTING: HOT favourites for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award have the alarming habit of being pipped at the post.

Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 Formula 1 World Champion, was considered a certainty to win last year but lost out to cyclist Chris Hoy, so anyone contemplating backing Jenson Button at even money for this year’s award might want to think again.

Button, whose against-the-odds triumph in the 2009 F1 Championship was televised by the Beeb, will be the man the corporation most want to lift the trophy in the Sheffield Arena on Sunday night.

After all, the BBC has invested a huge amount of their sporting budget on F1 so it is only natural that their bosses would see a Sports Personality triumph for Button as vindication of their policy.

But public votes are always unpredictable and the betting markets volatile, so don’t be surprised to see the odds change dramatically come Sunday night once the programme gets under way.

Button is a worthy favourite, but represents little in terms of value given the strength of opponents against him.

Jessica Ennis (6-1), Britain’s heptathlon world champion, is an attractive girl with a sunny disposition and is sure to be a popular choice.

And new world heavyweight champion David Haye is surely overpriced at 20-1 bearing in mind the number of boxing fans out there (Joe Calzaghe won two years ago) and the fact that his triumph is fresh in the memory.

As the winner of five stages in this year’s Tour De France, Mark Cavendish (33-1) would be a worthy winner but, along with England cricket captain Andrew Strauss (33-1), gymnast Beth Tweddle (66-1), teenager diving sensation Tom Daley (125-1), tennis star Andy Murray (200-1) and triple jump world champion Phillips Idowu (250-1), is unlikely to make the first three.

From a bookmaker’s perspective, the fly in the ointment is Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs.

Available at 14-1 a fortnight ago, the 36-year-old is now a best-priced 13-5 and the reason for that is not hard to work out.

United are a huge club with millions of fans in this country. If a reasonable percentage of them vote for Giggs – and there is said to be an organised campaign on his behalf – then the rest have no chance.

Personally, I think it would be illogical and against the very essence of the competition were Giggs to win.

Sure, the guy is a great player and the perfect role model for all young footballers. What’s more, he seems a decent bloke, too.

But what has Ryan Giggs done in 2009 that he hasn’t achieved in previous years?

This is an award for outstanding performance in the last 12 months and in my view the main contenders should be Button, Haye and Cavendish.

Of course, they will not finish in that order, but I expect Haye to be voted into the top three and will be looking to see if there are any suitable betting markets to this effect during the build-up to Sunday’s big bash in Sheffield.


Joe hot favourite to have x factor

THE X Factor is done and dusted for this year – well, that’s what the bookies would have you believe.

Joe McElderry, who bears a passing resemblance to Cristiano Ronaldo, has been head and shoulders above his rivals in recent weeks and is the 1-2 favourite to win the final of the competition this weekend and all the subsequent riches which go with it.

Stacey Solomon, who is not in the Leona Lewis class (nor Alexandra Burke, for that matter) is 9-2 second favourite, with Olly Murs the outsider of three at 5-1.

n WHO would have thought it? Chris Hollins, 14-1 three weeks ago, is now ODDS-ON to win Strictly Come Dancing with his partner, the gorgeous Ola Jordan.

Now we are down to viewers’ votes deciding the competition, it has become a popularity contest and it seems sports newsreader Chris is winning that hands down.

He is 4-5 to win SCD, with Ali Bastian 2-1 and Ricky Whittle – once as short as 8-11 but friendless with the viewers since his run-in with a cameraman in Liverpool – out to an amazing 6-1.


England 4-11 to top soft group

ENGLAND are a mere 4-11 to win Group ‘C’ in the World Cup finals next summer.

Fabio Capello’s men have been drawn alongside USA (5-1 to win the group), Slovenia (12-1) and Algeria (25-1), and if we can’t take care of that opposition, then quotes of 6-1 about us winning the whole shebang for the first time since 1966 are mean in the extreme.

England are 8-13 to win their opening game against USA on June 12, with the draw at 11-4 and the Yanks 11-2.

European champions Spain are 9-2 favourites to lift the cup, followed by Brazil (11-2), England, Argentina (10-1), reigning champions Italy (12-1), Germany and Holland (14-1) and France (16-1).

Having looked at the draw, I rather fancy Italy to go close again, but there is such a long time to go before the competition begins that to have a bet now would be plain foolish given the potential for injuries to key players.



POOL’S Mosconi Cup gets under way at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, tomorrow and it’s Europe who appear to hold all the aces.

The USA have lost the outrageous, but talented Earl Strickland, but the absence of the carefree Rodney Morris is likely to be felt even more and I fancy the Euros to win in style.

I was tempted to have a proper bet at 8-13 – USA are 13-8 – but have decided that if Europe are to win, then they are going to rely heavily on the outstanding Mika Immonen and Ralf Souquet.

I am going to split my stake on this pair in the top-points-scorer market.


RECOMMENDATION: Mosconi Cup, Mika Immonen and Ralf Souquet to be top points scorer from either side, 9-2 and 11-2 (Boylesports).