99reds

My professional career was spent as a Chartered Surveyor, for 20 years, during which time I built up quite a portfolio of property. They have all been sold now, well the money just isn't in the market any more. I then spent 5 years as a Maths teacher at the local College before moving onto become Royal Mail Manager at Bradford, before retiring at 50. Certainly a varied career but the one thing that has been constant through all that time is my love of football.

I spent my early teens playing for various teams before being turned down for a professional contract at 16. I thought at that time that the world had ended but of course it hadn't.

I continued playing at an Amateur level until almost 40 and then spent 10 years as a Manager of a couple of clubs before retiring from the game at 50. So I had retired from my professional career and my football career at the same time, 50. That was 7 years ago and a lot has happened since then.

I had a lot of time on my hands and now was able to do what I had wanted to do for a long time. Could I make a living from what had become my hobby-----betting on football. Only time would tell.

I had already built up my own football ratings and stats over a number of years and now I could test them out properly. My first year of stand alone just didn't work out at all well, losing half my bank. The close season was spent assessing what had gone wrong and how could I turn it round. The next 2 years were profitable but I had only re-couped what I lost in the very first season.

The eureka moment came in season 4 when I combined my original ratings with other parameters I had built up over the previous 3 years. The combination worked and is now into its' 5th season and still going strong. I feel confident about the edge it has got and I may even market the product and/or tips next season.

I am really going to enjoy my time on LTO because what I have been doing over the last couple of years is really getting into the horse racing, where I have been blogging on another site. I have also developed a number of back and lay systems for the horses, which on the completion of 12 months live testing will be brought to market.

When I retired 7 years ago I thought this is going to be brilliant, not having to work for a living, how wrong I was. I work more now than I ever did before, spending 10 hours a day / 7 days a week in my office. OK my office is right next to my bedroom and I keep my own hours but there is nothing easy about it, the bookmakers make sure of that.


Choose A Review In The Dropdown Box, And Hit Read Live Review!

0

We are moving on apace now and we have arrived at Group F in our search for the World Cup winners.

In this group we find the current World Champions, Italy alongside the rank outsiders New Zealand, the best Paraguayan team they have ever had and the tough Slovakians. Let’s find out how they are all going to get along.

Group F

Italy  -  Azzurri,  FIFA ranked 5,  Price to win group  1.5

Paraguay  -  La Albiroja,  FIFA ranked 23,  Price to win group  4.7

New Zealand  -  All whites,  FIFA ranked 79,  Price to win group  40.0

Slovakia  -  Fighting Jondas,  FIFA ranked 33,  Price to win group 9.0

Italy

The current World Champions will be looking to defend their crown. This is their 17th World Cup and are only second to Brazil in winning it. They have won the World Cup 4 times but crucially, they have never won it outside of Europe and I’m afraid they will not win it this time. They beat France in a penalty shoot-out in 2006, when Trezeguet hit the crossbar from the spot, in that very infamous final, when ZZ was sent off for headbutting Mr Matterazzi.

Their latest friendly was a disappointing 0-0 draw with Cameroon in Monaco, at the beginning of March. They have further friendlies against Mexico and Switzerland before the real thing starts. A curious fact was that all of the 23 man squad for that game against Cameroon were based in Italy and whilst they had 6 players with great experience, Cannavarro, Gattuso, Pirlo, De Rossi, Di Natale and Chiellini, the rest of the squad was pretty inexperienced. True, they do have others outside of that squad who can come in with experience but I think they are probably past it. The only English based player who may make it to South Africa is Aquilani from Liverpool.

Two of their games are at altitude but their first game against Paraguay is at sea level and that will suit the Italians better. I don’t think they will mind playing Slovakia and New Zealand at altitude. Lippi is their very experienced coach and Cannavarro the captain. They no longer have the great names of the game and I am not sure they even have the balance of the side right yet. They should get through the group but that may be as far as they go. They are no longer the dour defenders that they used to be and that fact alone will catch them out in South Africa.

Paraguay

This is the best side they have ever had. I am taking the Red and Whites to win the group if they can overcome their pathological fear of playing top European teams away from Paraguay. They finished 3rd in the CONMEBOL qualifying group, just 1 point behind Brazil and 5 points ahead of Argentina. This will be their 8th World Cup and have previously got past the group stages 3 times but never gone any further, this could be their best World Cup.

Although still in a state of an evolving team, they have found the right mix and balance that allows them to perform at a high level. It is now just a question of getting the consistency of performance. Under the guidance of the Argentine, Martino and the captain Caniza of Leon in Mexico, they can give any team in the world a game if they are on their day.

They are strong throughout the team, with Villar in goal, Silva and Caceres in defence, Barreto, Santana, Vera and Riveros in midfield and Santa Cruz, Cabanas and Valdez up front. If they can cure their travel sickness and get something from their very first game against Italy, they will be fine. They should get through the group and probably win it. They have got warm up games against Republic of Ireland, Ivory Coast and Greece before the big day, so we will know more about them before the start of the tournament.

New Zealand

The All Whites come into this as the lowest ranked team in the competition and I suspect they are just pleased to be there and whilst they will undoubtedly try their very best, I’m afraid it will fall far short of what is required. Coming through the Oceana qualifying group, this is the second World Cup for New Zealand, in the first one in 1982 they ended up losing all 3 matches and unfortunately, I think it will go the same way this time.

More on World Cup 2010 – The Greatest Show on Earth VI

Written by on . Comment#

Passed with 5/5 Stars!

Passed with 4.5/5 stars!

0

It is getting ever closer to the start of the World Cup 2010 and by now you should be putting plans into action which mean that you can make more profits from the extravaganza. The best teams in the world, the colour, the razzmatazz, the noise, the crowds, the excitement, the pain, the penalties—–oh, those damned penalties.

This post is just to give you a couple of hints and a few facts and figures that should help you in your search for profit making avenues. Will you just be following your favourite tipster? Or have you already got a system that allows you an advantage over the Books? Whatever you are going to do, there are a few facts that you need to know about the World Cup.

First off, of course, it is THE biggest football competition in the world. The stakes and pressure on teams, is at its’ greatest and the highs and lows are completely polarised. How does this manifest itself in World Cup games. We shall now have a look at the stats. The last 2 World Cups at South Korea/Japan in 2002 and Germany in 2006, gave some very similar statistics and if this World Cup follows suit, and there is no reason to believe it won’t, then you should be onto a winner. So we shall be using the stats from the last 2 World Cups as the basis for our profit making and pointing you in the right direction to make those profits.

 

Fact 1  -  60% of World Cup games go under 2.5 goals

That is far higher than any of the leading leagues around Europe, although the French Ligue 1 does come close.

England   48%   Under

Spain   51%   Under

Italy   52%   Under

Germany   45%   Under

Holland   48%   Under

France   58%   Under

So if you are a fan of the Under/Over 2.5 goals market (and I include myself in that club) then you will immediately see where the value lies. In a typical game where the Unders are rated at 60%, if you can get odds of more than 1.7 then you are in the money. In the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, if you had blindly placed a £100 bet on every single game to go under 2.5 goals at typical odds of 1.8, you would have made more than £1,000, just on one simple strategy.

 

Fact 2  -  22% of World Cup games finish 0-0 or 1-1

Again, this is higher than any leading European league other than Serie A.

England   19%

Spain   20%

Italy   22%

Germany   21%

Holland   16%

France   21%

For those that like the Correct Score market you would have been able to Dutch the 0-0 and 1-1 scorelines, inevery game  over the last 2 World Cups and at odds of say 10/1 for 0-0 and 6/1 for 1-1, you would have made a profit of 88 points or £880 @ £10/point. That is now about £1900 using 2 simple strategies.

 

Fact 3  -  the total number of Draws at the last 2 World Cups has been 27%

Turning 27% into odds gives you 3.7. So from that you can deduce that if the odds are greater than 3.7 you can back the Draw and if they are less than 3.7 you can lay the Draw and over the stretch of the World Cup you would come out in profit. There are provisos to that statement though. In the first round of Group games I would never lay the Draw and once you get to the Quarter Finals and beyond, I would never lay the Draw. That would leave you 40 games in which it would be safe to lay the Draw if under 3.7.

Fact 4  -  38% of World Cup games finish 1-0 or 2-0

Again this is far higher than any top European league.

England   29%

Spain   31%

Italy   30%

Germany   24%

Holland   32%

France   36%

You can use this information to Dutch a couple of scorelines and make yourself a nice little profit or you can go one better and use all of the above information, actual facts and stats, put it together with a fabulous piece of software called BOSS and make yourself a real killing on this year’s World Cup.

For those that don’t know, BOSS is a Correct Score piece of software that allows you to formulate plans and strategies around different scorelines. With a fair degree of accuracy, we know what the vast majority of scorelines will be at the World Cup this Summer and the BOSS will allow us to use that information to make certain profit from the event.

It is a fantastically simple piece of software that generates win after win, profit after profit, no long losing runs, it is just a bank building machine that works time after time, not just for the World Cup but during the normal football season as well. It is one piece of armour that we all need when taking on the Books.

Please go check it out here. 

The Friday Footy Tips are going from strength to strength. Two winners last week and we are now showing a 54% Strike Rate and a 23% ROI, a very healthy situation all round, especially as the tips are at average odds of 2.3. The Lay trial is still going well, with an almost 59% Strike Rate and a 27% ROI, this is laying odds-on football teams where they are not worthy of being odds-on. For this weekend’s Friday Footy Tips we are backing one and laying one.

Back  Hamilton  2.2  Betfair  -  Hamilton are at home to Kilmarnock. Not long ago Hamilton were at the bottom and Kilmarnock were doing fine but now it is the opposite way round. Hamilton are on a fabulous run that has seen them lose only 1 in their last 8 games and that was to Rangers, whereas Kilmarnock have only won 1 of their last 8 and that was at home to Aberdeen. Their away form has been atrocious all season, winning just 2 games away from home. Jimmy Calderwood is doing all he can but it will be their home form that keeps them up, if indeed they do stay up. Hamilton are really cooking with gas at the moment, 4 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat in the last 8 matches, have shot them up the table to safety. They can now play with no pressure on at all but Kilmarnock have the pressure of the world on their backs and finding it difficult to cope with. At 2.2 with Betfair, there is definite value for Hamilton and I am willing to give the team from Douglas Park the nod. 

Lay  Leicester  1.8  Betfair  -  Leicester are at home to Watford, both teams desperately need the points for different reasons, Leicester to stay in the play-offs and Watford to avoid relegation. Leicester have been a bit hit and miss all season at home, they have dropped points in almost 50% of their home games. They have come back into a bit of form at just the right team, winning their last 2 games but they have only once this season won 3 games in a row, so maybe they are due a bit of a reversal. Watford have struggled most of the season but since they lost at home to Palace in March, they have drawn 3 and won 1 of their next 5 matches, including draws against West Brom, Middlesboro and Preston and of course we were with them last week when they beat Plymouth. They have picked up at least a point in almost 50% of their away games and I just think they are on a bit of a roll at the moment. There is certainly no value in the price to back Leicester, so I would be happy to lay them at 1.80.

  

Written by on . Comment#

Passed with 5/5 Stars!

Passed with 4.5/5 stars!

3

We have now arrived at Week 5 in our meander through the World Cup Groups for South Africa 2010. In Group E we will find 2 Europeans, 1 African and 1 Asian team competing to progress through to the knockout stages.

There is certainly a contrast in this group, with 2 free flowing football teams and 2 dour, hard working teams that will compete for every ball.

Group E

Holland   -   Clockwork Orange,  FIFA ranked 3,  Price to win Group 1.7

Denmark   -   Danish Dynamite,  FIFA ranked 26,  Price to win Group 5.6

Japan   -   Samurai Blue,  FIFA ranked 45,  Price to win Group 15.0

Cameroon   -   Indomitable Lions,  FIFA ranked 20,  Price to win Group 5.6

Holland

The Dutch have long been admired for their free flowing football but for all their kudos, they have performed poorly when it has come to the greatest stage of all. True they have reached the World Cup Final twice, in 1974 and 1978, before losing out to the two host countries West Germany and Argentina.

Their hey-day was in the 70′s when their “Total Football” won them respect the world over and led to their nickname of the Clockwork Orange due to their precision passing and playing football all over the field. Yet they have never won the World Cup. They did win the Euros in 1988 in Germany and that is their finest hour in International terms. They won through to this World Cup by winning all 8 games in their qualifying group which included Scotland and then proceeded to play out 3 consecutive 0-0 draws in friendlies before beating USA 2-1 in Amsterdam last month.

They are a very classy and experienced side but for me they don’t have the strength throughout the team to go on and win this World Cup in South Africa. The manager is van Marwijk and the captain can either be van Bronckhorst of Feyenoord or van der Vaart of Real Madrid. A fair number of their side do play their football in Holland, which is just not strong enough to compete at International level. Of course they do have a number of players throughout Europe as well, including a few in Britain, Braafheid (Celtic), Heitinga (Everton), de Jong (Man City), Kuyt and Babel (Liverpool), van Persie (Arsenal). The ex Man Utd forward van Nistelrooy, who now plays in Germany will also be hoping for a recall but we shall have to see if that happens or not.

Their only group game to be played at altitude is their first game and it will be against Denmark, so there is no great disadvantage to them there. To be honest they should get through this group with little difficulty and I can forsee a situation where they may be able to play out a friendly little draw with Cameroon in their final group game, that will enable both of them to go through.

More on World Cup 2010 – The Greatest Show on Earth V

Written by on . 3 Comments#

Passed with 5/5 Stars!

Passed with 4.5/5 stars!