Advice Line

Would you take advice from someone who, unless a clear profit of £105 is achieved by tomorrow evening, will have ended April with a monthly P&L shown in brackets? No, thought not.

So rather than offer advice, I will point you in the direction of a couple of recent posts from those with more experience and days in front of the computer than I - Leon The Fixer and Cassini. Worthwhile reading.

Analysis of my month gives me the following list to take forward into, hopefully, a better May.

i. My main profit stream has been limited by the tennis circuit moving to Europe, where playing hours coincide with my working hours. Answer - shrug shoulders, take what I can from the evening matches, remember that I earn money whilst working.

ii. The football silly season. Note for 2010 - stop pre-game footy betting at the end of March. Come back in mid September. I will limit my betting until then to Scandinavian soccer ( different stage of season ).

iii. Analysis of my P&L identifies an unsurprising red figure for the combined total of the following sports - Horse Racing, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Snooker. Analysis of a longer term P&L would certainly add darts and cricket to this list. Answer - read my own previous posts! I know I should stick to my specialised areas, but just get tempted, particularly as now I'm only playing for fun.

iv. I'll get more satisfaction from a steady small profit than regular ups and downs. Keep this thought in mind whenever I open Betfair.

Sorry, must rush, got £105 to win urgently.... ( kidding, honest ).

Value

A follow up post to my comments regarding Leeds' chances come the annual play-off lottery. I'm sure you can guess the amount of ribbing I have taken since the debacle at the end of the Ridsdale era at Elland Road.

So it was nice of a work colleague to point out that Jermaine Beckford's transfer fee when signed from Wealdstone ( £45,000 ) equated to 8 days wages for Seth Johnson during his 4 year, 50 game Leeds career. Spot the value.
I hold no grudges to Johnson, who suffered unfortunate injury woes during his Leeds career, and his refusal to tear up his own contract when Leeds were in the financial mire was probably due to a realisation that his career was heading towards an end due to injury.

But Johnson's is just one name of many that Leeds fans hear with a shudder. If anyone has a great book inside them, but is struggling to find a subject matter, may I suggest that the Leeds United story, from Peter Ridsdale's 'Living The Dream' period through to Ken Bates' under-the-table re-purchase of the club, awaits it's definitive history.

One Down, One To Go

Like many people, my footballing allegiances come from, firstly, the place of my birth, and latterly, my recent residence. The fortunes of both teams has meant I have rarely announced these allegiances over the past couple of years. But with something to celebrate today, I can confess ( it is Sunday ) to being a supporter of both Burton Albion and Leeds United.

Today belongs to Burton. They came into their final match with the worst form in the division ( check out Cassini's preview ), and as many feared, they went down to yet another defeat at Torquay, despite taking an early lead. However, as often happens at this time of year, a result elsewhere ( Cambridge ) meant the outcome became irrelevant. The last 10 minutes of the game was less than eventful, with both sides happy to hold the result.

So league football next season in a nice shiny new stadium worthy of Division 2. Sadly, the major element of the club's recent success - one Nigel Clough - has moved on, and the dip in form can be attributed directly to his departure. At least there are now 3 months to forget the recent form and prepare for the next challenge. Dagenham & Redbridge, here we come.

As for Leeds, all fingers are crossed that the division's best player, Jermaine Beckford, can stay fit and card-free for 4 more games. He really is the key to success or failure.

Knowing When To Stop

I was having a frustrating day by 6.00 this evening, and I'm sure it was my disgruntled attitude which caused me to lay Man Utd at half time, in a push for quick profit. Fortunately, I wasn't too greedy with the seemingly good value 6.0, but the speed of the turnaround still did enough damage to throw away half of my week's profit.

It's a sign of my progress ( mental rather than financial ) that I chose to close down Betfair rather than chase a recovery.

Spent a couple of hours perusing various blog sites, and found the above which I thought I'd share - light relief after a crap session.

Common Sense v Rules Of The Game

Came across an interesting moment whilst watching the Tommy Robredo v IgorAndreev match in Barcelona.

In the final set, Robredo served out to go 3-2 up, and both players walked back to their chairs and sat down to towel off. Andreev obviously had a ‘hang on a minute’ moment whilst thinking through the game just played, and after 30 seconds or so pointed out to the umpire that he’d only lost three points in the game. After much discussion and shaking of heads, an official ( presumably a scorer ) was called and both players were sent back out to a reset score of 40-15. Whilst the umpire had called game, those involved came up with the sensible answer. Robredo looked suitably aggrieved, and had a squeaky moment at 40-40, but won the game and the match progressed to a satisfactory conclusion.

It struck me how different an outcome was achieved than in the now infamous Watford / Reading clash in September, where referee Stuart Attwell managed to award a goal to Reading when the ball went five yards wide following a corner, on the advice of his linesman.

Mistakes happen, but in English football the authorities allow no-one any discretion to correct such errors. As the Football League’s CEO stated in the aftermath of the unsurprising rumpus that followed the game – ‘ the referee’s decision is final and binding’.

I have no problem with a binding decision once play has finished, and would hate to see a regular stream of replayed matches following errors, but what about during play? It transpires that the official’s match assessor had instant video evidence of the error. Nearly everyone in the ground apart from the three officials knew it wasn’t a goal. The Watford players spent 5 minutes arguing before the game restarted. Yet, no-one was able to pass information onto the referee to allow him to correct his decision.

Who’s at fault? The football authorities. It is obvious to anyone who regularly watches premiership football that with a couple of exceptions ( Howard Webb being one ), players and managers have little respect for referees or their bosses. Technology is available to help officials, but it isn’t used for fear that referees will be seen to have made mistakes.

Until common sense comes back into fashion, thus it will remain.

Born to Win

It’s 1987, and in Basel, Switzerland Mr & Mrs Federer’s youngest child is about to pick up a tennis racquet for the first time at the age of 7.

But as this document ( found hidden deep in the 1987 archives of the Spanish secret police ) shows, in the Balearic Islands, Uncle Toni had hatched a plan to create a sporting colossus in his own image. The upper arm development is clearly being worked upon using ‘baby press-ups’, and within weeks the child would be moved off the mattress to crawl around on red clay.

Tangerine Alert

Spotted at the gym....

On the left is a young lady ( sorry I didn't catch her name ) presenting on Sky Sports News this morning. On the right, the Ford Focus ST, finished in Electric Orange.

Not sure what made me link the two.