FA to investigate bets on Martin Jol's downfall

[gdoguk22]

Please note that in view of its content, this article was not approved until after the end of the Derby game

Source: Daily Telegraph

The Football Association are to investigate yesterday's decision by bookmakers Coral to suspend betting on Martin Jol as the next Premier League manager to be sacked.

Coral stopped taking bets on Jol to leave White Hart Lane after they were alarmed by a series of large transactions in quick succession early yesterday morning.

Although they reopened the book later in the day, a spokesman for the betting company said that they were forced to take precautionary measures after becoming concerned at the "unusual timing" of the punts. The FA said last night they would be contacting Coral early next week to ask them for any information relating to the suspension of betting.

Under the new licensing system which forms part of the 2005 Gambling Act, all bookmakers will have to share details of suspicious betting patterns with sports governing bodies from Sept 1.

But with the FA determined to avoid a major betting scandal, officials are hopeful they will volunteer to hand over any relevant evidence which will help them decide whether to launch a full investigation.

An FA spokesman added that they would also be contacting internet betting exchange Betfair, with whom the FA have a memorandum of understanding to share information, to see if they experienced any similar irregularities yesterday.

The suspicious betting on Jol was fuelled by growing uncertainty over the Dutchman's position after Spurs lost their opening two Premier League fixtures of the new season.

Jol is now under intense pressure to deliver a victory against Derby at White Hart Lane this afternoon after a meeting with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy on Wednesday where he was told in no uncertain terms that he must turn the situation around quickly.

Despite insisting that he enjoyed Levy's full support on Thursday, it is understood that relations between Jol and the club's chairman have deteriorated significantly.

After backing him with £40 million to bring in new players over the summer including Darren Bent, Gareth Bale and Kevin-Prince Boateng, Levy expected Tottenham to make a flying start to the new campaign.

But with striker Dimitar Berbatov now added to his side's injury list, Jol knows he cannot afford any more slip-ups with Manchester United waiting next Sunday following today's game against Derby.

[eurodat]

Looks like who ever placed those large sums now have egg on their faces :rofl:

[oobaties]

Going by the volume of support for Jol at todays match, it would take Levy to have a huge set of conkers to give Jol the boot.

But going on the great way in which Levy has run our club over the past few years, i can't see him suddenly pulling the carpet from under the man who has been "INSTRUMENTAL" in dragging our mediocre team into a genuine top premiership club.

If, (and it's a big one) but if we can get a reesult against slow starters Utd next Sunday, Jol will be given the key to the city.

[NeverRed]

Jol is now under intense pressure to deliver a victory against Derby at White Hart Lane this afternoon after a meeting with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy on Wednesday where he was told in no uncertain terms that he must turn the situation around quickly.

Despite insisting that he enjoyed Levy's full support on Thursday, it is understood that relations between Jol and the club's chairman have deteriorated significantly.

After backing him with £40 million to bring in new players over the summer including Darren Bent, Gareth Bale and Kevin-Prince Boateng, Levy expected Tottenham to make a flying start to the new campaign.

I hate the media n their bullshit! They meet every week and he wasn't told that at all, we don't have a board and chairman so stupid... more likely it was to do with the sale of mido and some new funds to invest in our injury-depleted squad if necessary. I think we'll be seeing maybe curtis davies soon

[Destroyer]

Has anyone else been sacked yet ?? Hmm

[mawspurs]

Has anyone else been sacked yet ?? Hmm

Yes a manager in the lower divisions was sacked after 1 game believe it or not. Can't remember who though.

[gadget]

posts shouldnt be approved on how spurs are doing,aint this a free site....arsehole...

[Geez]

posts shouldnt be approved on how spurs are doing,aint this a free site....arsehole...

I had announced at the top of the front page the reason why all the negative stories the press was coming out with were being delayed - I felt the fans should feel positive on a match day especially today

I note that this is your fourth post in two and a half months

Quality over quantity?

[ostrov]

People who took the bets are idiotic vulchures with no knowledge of football whatsoever.
Martin Jol is manager of Spurs!

[claphamspur]

I had announced at the top of the front page the reason why all the negative stories the press was coming out with were being delayed - I felt the fans should feel positive on a match day especially today

An intelligent and sensible measure which I'm sure is supported by the vast majority of posters to this site.

Cartoonish press reports shouldn't be allowed to dictate the agenda of this forum. :clap:

[BobC]

being delayed - I felt the fans should feel positive on a match day especially today

I note that this is your fourth post in two and a half months

Quality over quantity?


Sorry Geez - I have to agree that there is no point in delaying postings according to how it will affect the Spurscommunity morale. This is a forum - we are supposed to discuss what we think about all Spurs related news - not just the good stuff. And before you get angry - I haven't posted that often recently as your mum's been keeping me busy.

[octavian]

Coral stopped taking bets on Jol to leave White Hart Lane after they were alarmed by a series of large transactions in quick succession early yesterday morning.

Although they reopened the book later in the day, a spokesman for the betting company said that they were forced to take precautionary measures after becoming concerned at the "unusual timing" of the punts.

One way to get the field money in if you understand the operating methods of these bookmakers.There is no greater source of misinformation released to manipulate a gullible betting public than by the bookmakers themselves.Smoke ,without fire,fall in line,place your bets,and the moneys theirs.How to create a false favourite!

[Spur-of-the-moment]

Coral stopped taking bets on Jol to leave White Hart Lane after they were alarmed by a series of large transactions in quick succession early yesterday morning.

Although they reopened the book later in the day, a spokesman for the betting company said that they were forced to take precautionary measures after becoming concerned at the "unusual timing" of the punts.

One way to get the field money in if you understand the operating methods of these bookmakers.There is no greater source of misinformation released to manipulate a gullible betting public than by the bookmakers themselves.Smoke ,without fire,fall in line,place your bets,and the moneys theirs.How to create a false favourite!


Yes and no. Coral could easily be taking advantage but if the FA are investigating it then it's something more. The false favourite was being created in other ways.

[tingy98]

I had announced at the top of the front page the reason why all the negative stories the press was coming out with were being delayed - I felt the fans should feel positive on a match day especially today

I note that this is your fourth post in two and a half months

Quality over quantity?

I was fuming this morning over this article i found on newsnow from the mirror......

Jol must take each cliche as it comes<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Brian Reade 18/08/2007 <o:p></o:p>
You don't have to be at the races to realise that if football (http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/##) didn't have cliches it would only be a game of one half.<o:p></o:p>
And with the season merely a week old, I'll put my house on the fact that you're sicker than a parrot at the number of times you've heard the following:<o:p></o:p>
"Modern boots are to blame for the curse of the metatarsal....Reading are bound to suffer Second Season Syndrome.....Ask any Liverpool (http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/##) fan what they'd like to win and they'd say the League.... Expectations have gone through the roof at Spurs but it just goes to show, money can't buy success."<o:p></o:p>
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="http://m1.2mdn.net/879366/globalTemplate_19_09.js"></SCRIPT>And without exception they are all correct. Especially the last one. Which is a cliche that can be qualified by another cliche: The table never lies.<o:p></o:p>
Spurs are bottom and deservedly so. With a net spend of £35million, only Manchester United (http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/##) have been more lavish in the transfer market. But how has it bolstered their attempt to (cliche alert) break into the top four?<o:p></o:p>
They were booed off the pitch on Tuesday after their second gutless surrender in a week and it was hard not to empathise with the fans. Against Everton they lacked spirit, aggression and most of all nous. And this is where Martin Jol has really come in for stick.<o:p></o:p>
When your side is crying out for at least one creative midfield player of genuine class, why waste £16.5m on a third-choice striker? Jol has been unlucky with defensive injuries, but it barely disguises the evidence thus far that hurling huge sums of cash at a side does not guarantee success. Which is why his job is on the line so ludicrously early in a season.<o:p></o:p>
Alan Curbishley is in a similar position after spending £49m this year, and on the evidence of their nightmare against Manchester City, when they looked like a shower of Sunday League strangers, he doesn't have much of a defence.<o:p></o:p>
Contrast his position with David Moyes, whose Everton sit proudly at the top. With the £4m received from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on">Sheffield</st1:place> United for James Beattie cancelling out the £4m he gave them for Phil Jagielka, he's spent only £6m on Leighton Baines. Yet they're flying.<o:p></o:p>
By keeping faith with the players who earned a UEFA Cup place last season, morale is buoyant. Moyes knows he needs attacking reinforcements and, if he brings them in, they're set for a successful season.<o:p></o:p>
Sven Goran Eriksson has hit the shops ike a scally with a snide Visa card, and some of his signings have settled remarkably well, but his two star men to date have been Micah Richards and Michael Johnson. Who cost nothing.<o:p></o:p>
Rafa Benitez has spent £32m on strikers Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel, but the scorers responsible for their two opening victories were Steven Gerrard and Andriy Voronin. Who cost nothing.<o:p></o:p>
Then there's <st1:City w:st="on">Manchester</st1:City> United and <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chelsea</st1:place></st1:City>. One spends £50m and draws twice, the other spends £13.5m and gets off to two wins and rave reviews.<o:p></o:p>
Which mirrors last season, when United flogged Ruud van Nistelrooy and bought Michael Carrick for a net spend of £7m, then walked the League, while Chelsea spent £50m on Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, John Obi Mikel and Salomon Kalou and fell apart.<o:p></o:p>
With more money sloshing round the Premiership than in any other league in the history of the game, we may be about to learn a profound, and positive, lesson. That success comes to managers who use money to oil their machine rather than overhaul it.<o:p></o:p>
As for Jol, anything less than a convincing win against Derby County today will teach him this brutal, possibly fatal lesson: If taking cocaine is God's way of telling us we're making too much money, having too many strikers on the bench when you're getting played off the park is His way of telling you that you're wasting it.<o:p></o:p>
Let's hope it becomes the new cliche of our time.<o:p></o:p>

i googled the guy and he was sports writer of the year at one point......

never have i read some much shit on one page!!

[yanno]

What follows are my observations about the betting markets, and whether they throw any light on whether Jol is or isn't about to lose his job. (For what it's worth, I very much hope he stays).
So, it's important to understand that the various "manager to get sacked" markets are very different from the other football markets. By their very nature, they're open to abuse through "inside information" and rumour - because someone claims to know someone who knows a director who just had a meeting with someone who knows blah blah blah...
Whereas normal football markets - such as whether Spurs beat Derby, and how many goals are scored - are not open to inside information to nearly the same degree. The only meaningful inside information in normal match markets would be along the lines of whether a key player is carrying an injury which might rule them out very late (eg Henry having an injury would routinely move the Goons to win market several points, and lower the goals quote). But the role of inside information in normal football markets is marginal, compared with the "sack the manager" markets.
This is why historically there was such a fuss about the various Redknapp manager markets. Since 'Arry comes from a bookmaking family, and there was huge volume - millions of pounds - being bet for and against him, conventional bookmakers and exchanges like Betfair were very wary about the possibility of manipulation and insider trading about what was essentially a boardroom decision. Ie a select few people would know what was going to happen long before any public announcement was made.
I've just checked the "Next Manager to get Sacked" market on Betfair. The entire market has only £19k matched, of which £8k is matched for and against Big Martin Jol. Since Jol is priced as second favourite for the chop, after Sammy Lee, (because of all the press rumours) this represents entirely normal, and low activity. If somebody really knew something, or was pretending to know something to profit from a market move - there would be far larger sums of money being staked on Betfair.
Coral's move was presumably a purely defensive bookmaker's move - if a couple of shrewdies try to get money on in a market Coral know is subject to "inside information", they're going to try to limit their potential loss. That means either slashing the odds, or refusing to take bets. Apparently, they're now taking bets again which again suggests to me that the Ramos rumours are hot air.
I very much hope so.

[Sanj]

I was just thinking this week how keen the Press seem to be to stick the knife into spurs.
It seems as if they are willing Spurs to fail so they can say i told you so, and bring out more of the same cliched stories.
I hope Jol sticks some of the anti-spurs material on teh dressing room walls and that will be all the teamtalks necessary for the next few vital games.

[sussex.spur]

First let me say a big thank you for running the best Spurs forum on the net, however I believe the strength of this forum is open discussion, censorship doesn’t show much respect for the membership of this forum.

[Geez]

Sorry Geez - I have to agree that there is no point in delaying postings according to how it will affect the Spurscommunity morale. This is a forum - we are supposed to discuss what we think about all Spurs related news - not just the good stuff.

And it is being discussed, in a reasonable manner but just a few hours later.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. :shrug:

I believe the strength of this forum is open discussion, censorship doesn’t show much respect for the membership of this forum.

Censorship = removal of anything offensive or parts considered unsuitable.

All I did was delay the publication of certain negative stories, all of which were already in the public domain (NewsNow), and letting people know that I was doing so and the reason why.

They were all subsequently approved without any changes.

This was a one-off decision by me (I advised the other staff that I had done it) in exceptional circumstances.

[fatspur]

you know what? they're not having my money, because I love Martin Jol


and Martin Jol loves me!

[gerrar]

Heard something about the Sevillia manager taking over, was a snipit of tomorrows papers on Skynews, hope its not true.

[claphamspur]

Censorship = removal of anything offensive or parts considered unsuitable.

All I did was delay the publication of certain negative stories, all of which were already in the public domain (NewsNow), and letting people know that I was doing so and the reason why.

They were all subsequently approved without any changes.

This was a one-off decision by me (I advised the other staff that I had done it) in exceptional circumstances.

Perfectly reasonable.

The moderators of this forum have a right to exercise their judgement when necessary. Why should every ludicrous press report find it's way immediately on to this site and prompt the kind of mindless slanging matches which occur in other forums. This is not censorship - if anything it helps to preserve balance and intelligence in this forum.

[felmonger]

I hope that the originators of recent contributions to this site's ITK (Read Only) thread will be assisting the FA with their enquiries.
(See Boonie, 09.37, and dragon1, 17.31, both 16/08/07.)