Hoping For The Best
So this morning, my Internet gear was delivered at 7.30 am and it's sad to relate that I was already awake, eagerly anticipating this like a kid on Christmas morning. I plugged it all in, rearranged my furniture while it was warming up and finally kicked it off. The first site I went to was the official QPR website which informed me that Danny Shittu is on his way to West Brom. Bollocks.
Shittu was our best player by a considerable distance. Someone has cocked up here. It was in his contract that if someone offered £3 million the club would have to inform him and let him go if terms were agreed, which is all fairly standard, but the cockups number two ; 1) this was made public, although the club can't be blamed if this was leaked by an agent, and 2) there was no stipulation that all the £3 million had to be paid up front. As a result, Big Dan appears to be on his way for only £1.5 million down. Barring injury he should make enough appearances to qualify for payments on that front but if any of it is dependent on West Brom being promoted this is clearly a gamble, although they probably have a better chance than most.
The timing is also a problem, two days before the season kicks off, in fact the club even allowed Ian Evatt to move out on loan the day before. Evatt probably doesn't have a long term future at the club it's true, but he would have been OK as a stop-gap. Replacing Shittu is now crucial for Rangers' season and it's going to be very difficult. Betfair basically ranks Rangers 19th in the division, barely above the three promoted sides. Pre-season odds are often overly dependent on a team's form over the last three months of the previous season, and as such Rangers are possibly under-rated. Results over that period were very poor but I saw quite a few of those games and they were very unlucky on several occasions. All in all though, hoping for the best is about as positive as I can be. Down in League Two, Barnet are similarly ranked 23rd.
I will be easing up on the betting and concentrating on match reports and bollocks-talking on here instead, except when I reckon there is some massive value. Let's hope that the Rs and the Bees can do enough to keep me happy, and right now mid-table would be just fine in each case.
Shittu was our best player by a considerable distance. Someone has cocked up here. It was in his contract that if someone offered £3 million the club would have to inform him and let him go if terms were agreed, which is all fairly standard, but the cockups number two ; 1) this was made public, although the club can't be blamed if this was leaked by an agent, and 2) there was no stipulation that all the £3 million had to be paid up front. As a result, Big Dan appears to be on his way for only £1.5 million down. Barring injury he should make enough appearances to qualify for payments on that front but if any of it is dependent on West Brom being promoted this is clearly a gamble, although they probably have a better chance than most.
The timing is also a problem, two days before the season kicks off, in fact the club even allowed Ian Evatt to move out on loan the day before. Evatt probably doesn't have a long term future at the club it's true, but he would have been OK as a stop-gap. Replacing Shittu is now crucial for Rangers' season and it's going to be very difficult. Betfair basically ranks Rangers 19th in the division, barely above the three promoted sides. Pre-season odds are often overly dependent on a team's form over the last three months of the previous season, and as such Rangers are possibly under-rated. Results over that period were very poor but I saw quite a few of those games and they were very unlucky on several occasions. All in all though, hoping for the best is about as positive as I can be. Down in League Two, Barnet are similarly ranked 23rd.
I will be easing up on the betting and concentrating on match reports and bollocks-talking on here instead, except when I reckon there is some massive value. Let's hope that the Rs and the Bees can do enough to keep me happy, and right now mid-table would be just fine in each case.
posted by Andy_Ward @ 9:36 AM
1 Comments:
At 4:38 PM,
Andy_Ward said…
Stevie, I was going to say I haven't had time when I realised that would be complete bollocks :-). I've had 6 days sitting here with no TV and no Internet. Not once did it occur to me so pop into the bookies (all of 10 minutes walk), pick up the coupons and spend an hour or two scoping the odds. I clearly don't have the inclination to think about football betting at the moment.
With the World Cup and the early start I just haven't had enough of a break from football I think !
Andy.
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