Power out on his own

SPORTS BETTING: SUPPOSE it had to happen given the number of Manchester United fans in this country.

Ryan Giggs duly won the BBC Sports Personality Of the Year award, having been backed to do so from 14-1 to 5-2.

I still can’t understand why he was nominated for the short list of 10 in the first place, however, bearing in mind the award is supposed to reflect achievements in the last 12 months.

Giggs may be a terrific professional and superb player, but he did nothing out of the ordinary in 2009 so the voting of the public (or rather the massed ranks of United followers) proved to be a real kick in the teeth for the likes of Button, Ennis, Cavendish and Haye.

The short list was compiled by members of the national sporting press, who really should have known better.

Why, for instance, was iron jockey Tony McCoy, who rode his 3,000th jumps winner in 2009, not in the 10?

And what about Phil Taylor, whose achievements in his sport make even Giggs’ accomplishments look small fry?

The Power has 14 world darts titles to his credit – and a clean sweep of all the major events in 2009 – which is a truly staggering achievement in a sport played by millions.

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of Taylor as a person, but his record is awesome and I would have had no complaint had he received the Beeb’s award.

All this brings us rather neatly to Taylor’s bid for a 15th world title at London’s Alexandra Palace.

The tournament gets under way on Friday and goes right through until January 3 when Taylor is expected to be crowned champion yet again and justify bookies’ odds of 2-5

Such is The Power’s domination of the sport and intimidatory advantage over his rivals that I can’t justify selecting anyone to beat him.

For those of you brave enough to have a go, the unflappable and talented James Wade can be backed at 9-1, Raymond van Barneveld 14-1, Gary Anderson 16-1, Mervyn King 33-1 and Terry Jenkins and Adrian Lewis 50-1.

The rest are any price.Draw specialists to strike again

AS Premier League football matches go, they don’t come much harder to predict than Tottenham v Manchester City.

Tonight’s Sky Sports-televised match at White Hart Lane really could go either way.

Tottenham, with home advantage, are 13-10 favourites to win.

But should they really be so short after throwing away a 2-0 lead at Everton and losing 1-0 at home to Wolves in their most recent league fixtures?

Then again, are Manchester City value at 9-4 bearing in mind their inability to kick opponents when they are down?

Mark Hughes’ men returned to drawing ways at Bolton on Saturday and I would not be at all surprised to see the points shared again tonight.

Spurs are having a wobble down the back straight and City can’t fall over the finishing line. It all adds up to a dead heat at 12-5.




DING Junhui might have landed the UK snooker title at the weekend, but he can still be backed at 12-1 to win the Masters at the Wembley Arena next month.



Ronnie O’Sullivan, who appears to be running into something approaching his best form, is an 11-4 shot, while the admirable John Higgins is 6-1.

Other prices: 8-1 Mark Selby, 10-1 Stephen Maguire, Shaun Murphy, 14-1 Neil Robertson.




ENGLAND’S in-form cricketers were in action on the first day of a four-Test series in Johannesburg today, but it’s the hosts who began as 4-6 favourites to come out on top.



England were a very fair 3-1 to win the series, with the draw at 15-4.




JOE McElderry justified odds of 2-5 to win the X Factor, but bookies can barely split the two Strictly Come Dancing finalists.



Ricky Whittle is clearly the superior dancer, but Chris Hollins enjoys greater public support.

That said, now that the X Factor has finished a new audience will tune into the SCD finals this weekend and the majority are likely to vote for the better dancer.

It really is touch and go and the bookies have probably got it right in making Whittle 4-5 and Hollins at 11-10.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned McElderry is the hot favourite to secure the prestigious Christmas No. 1 slot.

He is a prohibitive 2-7 shot, so those of you looking for more rewarding odds during the festive season may like to have a couple of quid on there being snow in Manchester on Christmas Day. Betfred offer 3-1.




RECOMMENDATION: Spurs and Manchester City to draw tonight, 12-5 (bet 365, Skybet, VC Bet, Paddy Power, William Hill).