NEXT MIDDLESBROUGH MANAGER BETTING ODDS

Following Saturday evening’s defeat against Leeds United there was an air of inevitability about the news that Gordon Strachan had resigned as manager of Middlesbrough Football Club yesterday. And it seems that the bookmakers feel there is a similar inevitability about who will be his successor.
Tony Mowbray has been installed as the odds on favourite across the board of bookmakers with Victor Chandler going 2/5 about the local lad’s chances of replacing the Scot. Mowbray enjoyed successful spells in management at Hibernian and West Bromwich Albion before lasting less than 12 months as Celtic manager. After Strachan brought in so many players from the SPL it would be logical to appoint a manager with a good understanding f the Scottish league.
Second favourite in the betting is former Boro midfielder Paul Ince (7/2), former Hull manager Phil Brown (6/1) is third favourite and Alan Pardew can be backed at 10/1.
Higher up the football ladder the Champions League returns this week. Sir Alex Ferguson is set to be grilled by the media over the Wayne Rooney saga in his customary pre-Champions League tie press conference today.
Victor Chandler are offering odds of as short as 11/8 that the 24-year-old will leave Manchester United in the January transfer window and are 8/15 that he stays. One of those two prices could look extremely large following today’s press conference.
And finally, the Grand Slam of Golf gets underway today with Ernie Els and David Toms stepping in for US Masters champion Phil Mickeslon and Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen. They will join Ryder Cup heroes Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell in Bermuda.
Kaymer’s win in the recent Dunhill championship makes him a deserving favourite at 7/4 with William Hill, G-Mac and Els are both 5/2 and Toms is the outsider at 9/2.