Gordon Strachan’s spending spree sees north-eastern club listed at odds as low as 6/1 to achieve a spot in the Premier League come 2011.
Monday 19th July 2010
In England, the start of the domestic soccer season is less than three weeks away with Nottingham Forest, Burnley and Middlesbrough among the favourites to win promotion from the second-tier Championship to the Premier League
After replacing Gareth Southgate as manager at Middlesbrough in October of last year, Gordon Strachan has splashed the cash to bring in top players in an effort to aid promotion. Coral.co.uk, SportingBet.com and WilliamHill.com currently have ‘The Boro’ at odds of 6/1 to win promotion this season while BetDaq.com shows the slightly longer 61/10.
The side finished eight points short of the playoffs last season in eleventh spot but Betfair.com, SkyBet.com and Bwin.com are going with odds of 13/2 on the north-eastern team winning one of the three spots in next season’s English Premier League followed by BetFred.com, ToteSport.com, BoyleSports.com, Ladbrokes.com, BlueSq.com Bodog.com and 888Sport.com with 7/1.
Middlesbrough begins its campaign on August 7 at home against Roy Keane’s Ipswich Town with Bet365.com, PaddyPower.com and VictorChandler.com offering odds of 15/2 on promotion come May while punters can get 8/1 from ExtraBet.com and StanJames.com.
Nottingham Forest made the playoffs last season before eventually losing out to Blackpool with WilliamHill.com showing odds of 7/1 that the Midlands team will go one better this season and achieve promotion to the Premier League. This is being followed by BetDaq.com with 37/5 and Bwin.com, PaddyPower.com and BoyleSports.com offering 15/2 while Betfair.com is going with 38/5.
Billy Davies’ men are shown at odds of 8/1 on making it to the top-flight in 2011 by StanJames.com, Bodog.com, Ladbrokes.com, Bet365.com, 888Sport.com, ExtraBet.com, BetFred.com, VictorChandler.com, ToteSport.com, BlueSq.com and SkyBet.com before SportingBet.com with 17/2 and Coral.co.uk at a longer 9/1.
Relegated from the Premier League last season, Burnley is among the favourites to make a prompt return with Bwin.com and Coral.co.uk showing odds of 8/1 on promotion come May for Brian Laws’ team.
Slightly longer, BetDaq.com has the ‘Clarets’ at odds of 17/2 to be playing in the Premier League for the 2011/12 season while WilliamHill.com, VictorChandler.com, BoyleSports.com, Bet365.com and BetFred.com show 9/1.
Burnley opens its 2010/11 account at home against Nottingham Forest on August 7 with Betfair.com currently showing odds of 19/2 on promotion for the Lancastrians this season followed by BlueSq.com, ExtraBet.com, PaddyPower.com, Ladbrokes.com, 888Sport.com, Bodog.com, StanJames.com, SportingBet.com and SkyBet.com with 10/1 while bettors can get 11/1 from ToteSport.com.
Other selected teams tipped for promotion include London’s Queens Park Rangers at odds of 9/1 with BlueSq.com, 888Sport.com and Bet365.com while Reading is not far behind at 10/1 at StanJames.com and Bwin.com. Punters can get 12/1 from ExtraBet.com, SportingBet.com, SkyBet.com, BoyleSports.com and Bodog.com on Cardiff reaching the top-flight come 2011 with BetFred.com, VictorChandler.com, StanJames.com and BlueSq.com listing 18/1 on newly promoted Norwich City making its first appearance in the Premier League since 2005 next year.
