Joey in the window

Today's big betting news centres around the latest saga to hit the Toon Army, a certain Joseph Anthony Barton. Apparently big Mike Ashley has had enough and Alan Pardew now has to contend with losing last seasons player of the year, for nothing. Quite a shocker considering the fact that a mere net value of £4million has been spent since Ashley's assurances that the £35million raised from Andy Carroll's big move to Liverpool would be used solely on rebuilding the 1st team squad. Anyone who believed that at the time is quite frankly a mug.

courtesy of fansonline.net

I have no personal affiliation to the Toon, particularly as I am from down 'saarff', but ever since Kevin Keegan through a wobbler at Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Robson took them into the Champions League a few seasons later they have always been one of my favoured EPL teams. Mike Ashley, however, does his club no favours whatsoever and not one person, outside of Newcastle of course, will show sympathy when they find themselves in a relegation battle this season. I believe that they will survive, and quite comfortably at the end of the season, but for the first few months of the season I expect to see them languishing in the bottom half of the table.


And what of Barton? Well accordingly to most bookies it’s a 5-team race between Tottenham Hotspur (3/1), Arsenal (9/4), Everton (9/2), Manchester United (4/1) and Aston Villa (3/1). Those odds are the best available via SkyBet at the moment. All five of those clubs could do with Barton but there's a little nagging feeling in my head that Sir Alex Ferguson will be the victor, despite argueably needing Barton less than the other 4. Why? Simply because Joey Barton can become his new Roy Keane and with the release of Owen Hargreaves then who knows. Watch this space.


Anyway, on to tonight and we see the next round of qualifiers for the Uefa Champions league and I have placed a simple 2.5pt TREBLE that returns 10.96pts on the following selections:

• BATE Borisov vs Ekranas - Both teams to score = NO @ 4/7
• Panathinaikos vs OB Odense - Both teams to score = NO @ 8/13
• Shamrock Rovers vs FC Copenhagen - Total goals UNDER 2.5 @ 8/11

Obviously we are hoping for very few goals tonight which is a slightly different approach to my usual picks but the prospects look good. I have also placed a 1.5pt DOUBLE that returns 10.57pts on the following picks to create a two pronged attack for today:

• Shamrock Rovers to win or draw vs FC Copenhagen @ 29/20
• Panathinaikos (-1 goal) to beat OB Odense @ 15/8

Happy hunting to all.



** Please do not use my bets yourselves as you should always be responsible for your own betting. However, if you decide to use my bets, please ensure that you only bet with money that you can afford to lose. **