Who are the most hated team in Britain? ** Man United, one half of the Old Firm, Leeds, Millwall? Depending on who you support this may vary but I reckon it could be Forfar or Gillingham or possibly even Torquay…….Let me explain.
Every Saturday, thousands of football fans walk into their local bookies and put on a line. This army of experts, armed only with a 3 inch pen, stare at the long list and decipher this in a way a world war 2 code breaker could only dream of.
Starting at the top, our Enigma team, rattle off 4 or 5 teams in record time:
Arsenal v Everton HOME
Man Utd v Wolves HOME
Birmingham v Doncaster HOME
Leicester v Peterboro HOME
Celtic v Hearts HOME
Now backing these 5 teams may get you a return, but it’s not going to be a massive return, and the top of the coupon has little incentives on it like 8 homes correct guaranteed 20-1, so having banked the first 5 as certainties the task is now to find at least 3 more so that you can have a Sat night out courtesy of Mr William Hill. This is where the bookies bank on Mr Average football fan adding more teams and therefore increasing their potential winnings but more importantly increasing your chance of “one letting you down”
Football fans are creatures of habit, they will happily wear the same unwashed football top because they happened to have put it on when their team started this 6 game unbeaten run so they won’t change now. The average fan knows about their team, their rivals and usually the teams around them yet suddenly they come out with statements such as “Peterhead’s away form this year is pretty good” or “Queen’s Park, playing well at the moment, just been unlucky”. WTF!
The three remaining teams are usually chosen on 2 or 3 criteria:
• The odds are good so will boost the winnings
• Memories of a previous coupon win where said team did you a favour.
• Sheer pot luck.
Lets be honest, there are no poor bookies, and the “form guide” – WWWDDL – that they provide is not much use. It tells us nothing unless it’s the beginning of a website for big breasted learner drivers. The form guide doesn’t take into account opposition, luck, bad refereeing decisions, bad managerial decisions, own goals, red cards or midweek cup ties that went to extra time and penalties. Take the form guide and replace it with rock, paper, scissors! RSPSSP! Now predict what comes next? It can be that difficult.
Good Luck.
** (the answer is obviously Bolton Wanderers)
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About the Author
For as long as he can remember, Mark has loved football. Originally from just outside Manchester, he supports Bury FC so can’t be labelled as a glory hunter (although they do hold the record for the biggest FA Cup final winning margin, 6-0 in 1903 and it still stands today!).
Mark drives a cab, so automatically he “has an opinion and usually it’s the right one!” All opinions are the author’s own, and they can be heard on twitter @bigmarkdavies. You can contact Mark via email at bigmarkdavies@talktalk.net
