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THE WEEK ON THE TEES 19-3-08
Luke Raine
The summer before each Premier League season starts, the fixtures are drawn at random on a computer. It is therefore very surprising that the "Big Four" are contesting the newly named “Grand Slam Sunday” on a bank holiday weekend. Or is it?
There is no doubting that this makes for a potentially exciting day of football but it is another sad indication of the effect money and television has on our national sport.
I fail to remember the last time football was played on Easter Sunday and the fact that these four teams will be the ones to break the mould makes me even more cynical.
Bank Holidays mean that people are off work and have more time on their hands. No better time then to sign up for a meaty twelve month subscription to Sky Sports. To be honest it comes as a surprise that something like this hasn’t happened sooner.
In my opinion, the holiday weekends should be reserved for local derbies. You only have to look as far as rugby league to see the positive effect this can have. Fans wouldn’t have to travel as far and would save a lot of time over the holiday period.
Yet you only have to cast your mind back to Christmas when the Boro had two long trips to Birmingham and Portsmouth.
On to the subject of television in football, it is becoming hard to ignore the negative press that Middlesbrough keep getting, especially from the London-based media.
The first signs of this was the BBC's coverage of the Sheffield United FA Cup replay. Their presenter and pundits were negative from the off, practically urging viewers to switch off by predicting a boring game.
I find it hard to compare this treatment of a Premier League team to that of any other in the country.
Then on Saturday after producing a fine rearguard display to force a 1-1 draw at The Emirates Stadium, Setanta Sports pundit Tim Sherwood went on to say: “Their tactics were so defensive, at times it was embarrassing”.
In my opinion, this was another indication of the bad press that the team seem to get for no particular reason.
Maybe people like Sherwood would prefer Boro to go to The Emirates playing four players up front so we could concede a few goals.
For these companies, showing Arsenal in swashbuckling mood is much more appealing than screening two colossal performances from David Wheater and Robert Huth.
The phrase “Credit where credit’s due” comes to mind when thinking about coverage from the BBC and Setanta – and maybe they should take it on board more.
As for the team itself, the mood is slightly brighter than when I was writing this column a week ago. The team have produced two away performances that have oozed character and one of the reasons for this has got to be the return of George Boateng to the side.
I still agree with the decision by Gareth Southgate to take the captaincy away from Boateng, and I feel that this, coupled with his time out of the side, may have increased his level of hunger and had a positive effect on his football. He certainly looked back to somewhere near his best on Saturday.
After the Arsenal result at The Riverside, the team went to Pride Park and claimed a hard fought 1-0 victory.
This time around we welcome The Rams to The Riverside and it is imperative that we claim all three points on Saturday. If we don’t, then the two points picked up in the last week will pale into insignificance.
It is an ideal opportunity for the team to show that they can be consistent. It is coming to the time in the season where there can be no room for excuses. With the games that remain, surely three points on Saturday are vital and would go a long way towards securing our Premier League status.
Finally, another week goes by and more issues have arisen regarding poor officiating in England’s top league. The only surprise this week is that instead of one official making a poor decision against us, it is two.
Looking at the Mido incident, he was shown a red card for serious foul play. In my opinion that must constitute the player showing some sort of intent against his opponent.
If the offending player's eyes are fixed on the ball (like Mido’s were) then how can there be any intent? It was yet another decision from a referee which comes under the category of baffling.
Worse still is that Mido must serve a three game ban after Mark Halsey chose not to rescind the card.
There was also no chance of the club appealing after the Aliadiere incident. What sort of game is it when a club is scared to contest a poor decision because they are fearful of the consequences?
We have now lost two strikers for a combined total of seven games. We all saw against Arsenal just how good an outlet Aliadiere’s pace is. One wonders if his presence in the side would have made a difference against Reading in the league, and more importantly, Cardiff City in the Cup.
Luke Raine
RETURN TO THE WEEK ON THE TEES INDEX HERE
A GUARANTEED PROFIT OF AT LEAST £36.50 ON SOUTHEND v DONCASTER
Did you know that it is possible to win money on Friday evening's League One Play-Off clash between Southend and Doncaster, whatever the result?
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We're going to lay out a total of £71.00 on the Southend v Doncaster match and we will collect £107.50 if Doncaster win, £107.50 if Southend win and £107.81 if it's a draw. That's a minimum profit of 51%, a much higher interest rate than you will get in any high street bank.
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Open an account with Extrabet
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This shouldn't take you any longer than a few minutes.
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Deposit £20.00 into your new Coral account.
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Deposit £25.00 into your Extrabet
account.
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The £25.00 matched bet will not show in your account but you can read all about how it works on the Extrabet site. It's the purple box that says '£25 FREE BET FOR NEW CUSTOMERS' on the top right hand side. Click here to visit the Extrabet site.
If you are unsure about placing these bets, please feel free to mail us or call us on 01642 223229 and we will talk you through it, no problem at all. There is no such thing as a stupid question.
You have temporarily laid out a total of £71.00 on the Southend v Doncaster match. I stress, temporarily... Now sit back, crack a beer open and enjoy the match.
4. Here's what happens at the end of the game.
If Doncaster win, you collect £107.50. That's £82.50 from Coral plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
If it's a draw, you collect £107.81. That's £82.81 from Betfair plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
If Southend win you collect £107.50. That's £82.50 from Extrabet plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
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Also, before you place your bets, you should check that the odds haven't changed. If they have, let us know by mail or phone us on 01642 223229 and we will rework the bet for you.
Please feel free to contact us or phone us on 01642 223229 if you have any questions at all about this bet and we will help you as much as we can.
Please note that the bonuses are valid for new customers only so if you already have an account with one or more of the bookies we are using, you won't be able to do this. If that is the case, mail us or phone us on 01642 223229 and we'll create an alternative bet for you using different bookies.
This method of betting was used very successfully during the 2006 World Cup and you can read all about how it was done right here.
We guarantee this bet
It's understandable that some people will not believe that it is possible to do this. "What's the catch?" I hear you asking. My answer to that question is that we have been publishing arbitrage bets for four seasons now and literally hundreds of people have profited from following the advice on these pages.
Only twice has our refund guarantee been triggered and that was when we did all the figures wrong and sent refunds out to those who had followed our advice and made a small loss.
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The only stipulation here is that you must click on the links on this page to be eligible for the refund guarantee, not that you'll be needing to claim anyway. Just enjoy the profit and stay posted for many more of these throughout the season.
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