Strachan for Pompey?
GORDON Strachan is the 5/4 favourite to replace Paul Hart if the Portsmouth boss gets the boot, bookies said yesterday (Weds).
Hart presided over the club’s first league win at the weekend but it followed seven straight defeats for the South Coast side.
And Ladbrokes reckon former Celtic and Southampton manager Strachan could head the queue if the new owners make a move. The firm are also quoting 5/1 about Alan Curbishley and make Harry Redknapp an unlikely 50/1 for a third stint at the club.
Spokesman Robin Hutchison said: “Despite his Saints connections Strachan looks one of the more eligible candidates currently available.”
LATEST MANAGERIAL BETTING Next Portsmouth Manager
5/4 Gordon Strachan
5/1 Alan Curbishley
10/1 Glenn Hoddle
10/1 Slaven Bilic
14/1 PaulJewell
14/1 Steve Coppell
20/1 Ian Woan
20/1 Sol Campbell
20/1 David O`Leary
20/1 Gary McAllister
20/1 Iain Dowie
50/1 Harry Redknapp
GRANT 5/2 TO TAKE HART’S JOB AT POMPEY
WITH Avram Grant being parachuted into struggling Portsmouth, William Hill offer 5/2 that the former Chelsea boss will have taken over as manager on the last day of the season – and make Hart a 6/5 chance still to be in charge then.’Having a high profile personality who has done the job someone else is currently doing, but at a much higher level, brought in in close proximity to the incumbent would not seem to make for an ideal working relationship, despite the way in which it will undoubtedly be presented to the world’ said Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe.
Hills also offer 4/6 that EITHER Grant or Hart will be boss on the last day of the campaign, 11/10 that it will be someone else.
Paul Hart to be Pompey manager on the last day of the season = 8/13 no 6/5 yes
Avram Grant to be Pompey manager on the last day of the season = 2/7 no 5/2 yes
Paul Hart or Avram Grant to be Pompey manager on the last day of the season = 11/10 no 4/6 yes.
Ladbrokes should play a waiting game
Ladbrokes to take over 888……Good Move………?…
The old rule says that the longer takeover negotiations drag on, the less likely they are to succeed. It is now seven weeks since Ladbrokes said it was talking to 888.com, the online poker and casino group. Even allowing for the holiday season, that’s a long time, which is one reason why outsiders doubt whether Ladbrokes’ chief executive, Richard Glynn, really wants to stake his chips on 888 – or, at least, wishes to do so immediately.
Gigi Levy, boss at 888, says that the deal is “definitely not off the table”, which is stating the obvious, since an announcement would have to be made if talks had collapsed.
But 888 also had something interesting to say. It seems that the best-performing part of its operation is a business called Wink Bingo, which was bought in December 2009 at a price to be determined ultimately by its performance.
Such “earn-out” arrangements are standard in the online gaming world. But it is less common to find the buyer short of cash as the deadline for payment approaches. In fact, 888 has said that the earn-out will be “at the upper end of the range”, implying a few dollars more than the group’s cash balances of $34m (£21m). It is now talking to Wink’s vendors about the “structure and timing” of the May payment.
That sounds like a weak base from which to be conducting simultaneous takeover negotiations with Ladbrokes. For Glynn, it ought to be an excuse to string out the talks and hope that 888 becomes desperate to do a deal. The tactic, if that’s what it is, seems to be working just fine – 888′s share price has fallen 22% since the talks were first announced.
It doesn’t add up
Well, OK, the Huffington Post is an interesting business that has made a big splash in medialand. But, come on, it is economic madness to buy it for 10 times last year’s revenues, as AOL is doing. 1+1=11, says Arianna Huffington, who can afford to enjoy the joke. The laugh is at the expense of AOL shareholders.
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