BetUK Blog

Ex-England manager Terry Venables is expected to decide today whether to take over as interim Newcastle boss. According to a report on the BBC Newcastle hope to make an announcement before the weekend regarding the appointment.

Newcastle’s Carling Cup exit on Wednesday was their third straight loss since Kevin Keegan’s resignation. They were defeated 2-1 by fellow strugglers Tottenham, and urgently need someone to bring stability to a club its owner, Mike Ashley, wants to sell following fan protests over Kevin Keegan’s departure as manager on 4 September.

The 64-year-old Venables has been out of work for nearly a year after he was sacked as assistant to former England coach Steve McClaren in November 2007. He is a close friend of Newcastle director of football Dennis Wise.

Since Keegan left the club over a dispute regarding control of player transfers, Newcastle have been in free-fall.

They face Blackburn in the Premier League on Saturday. You can view BetUK’s range of markets on this game here.

An enthralling showdown between the two stables that have dominated Europe’s Group 1 races this season looks set to go ahead at Ascot on Saturday. Aidan O’Brien and French trainer Freddie Head confirmed on Monday that top-flight milers Henrythenavigator and Tamayuz will lock horns in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes – setting up one of the clashes of the season. BetUK goes 13-8 the pair.

Winner of the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh, and of the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, Henrythenavigator’s run of Group 1 victories came to a halt at Longchamp this month when he could finish only fifth behind Tamayuz’s stablemate, Goldikova, in the Prix du Moulin.

Soft ground was put forward as the main reason for Henrythenavigator’s defeat and earlier this week O’Brien said: “Henry is in good form and we’ve been happy with him since he came back from Longchamp. We’re hoping to have the nice type of ground he likes on Saturday. He just wasn’t able to perform to his best on the soft ground in the Moulin.”

Henrythenavigator heads a list of five O’Brien-trained acceptors, with Astronomer Royal, US Ranger, Honoured Guest and Minneapolis other options for Ballydoyle.

To bet on the race with BetUK click here.

Nick Faldo is a much maligned man this side of the Atlantic for his slightly forced persona. Considering he is Europe’s greatest-ever Major winner we don’t cut the chap much slack but I hear rumours there are one or two issues within the European Ryder Cup side concerning their captain.

That’s hardly revelatory, but this is of course a team game and therefore the unit should be greater than the sum of its individual parts. Now a journalistic comrade tells me the wildcard picks in Casey and Poulter are, by all accounts, not everyone’s cup of tea. It is also understandable that Lee Westwood is a touch irked that his long-time partner Darren Clarke is not in the side, despite having a very strong claim for a place. The two have an excellent record together and their bond is clear. Also, there is no Monty to ally with Harrington, and no Luke Donald (injury) to partner Garcia. Add in that Oliver Wilson and Soren Hansen have, to date, been spoken to only once by their Captain this season and things don’t exactly bode well for the inner spirit of Team Europe.

Could this be the time to pile into the Americans? They are currently priced at 13/10 to win with BetUK which could prove a big price come Sunday evening. Click here to view our range of Ryder Cup markets.

Europe is the word on everyone’s lips this week. The Champions League kicks off tonight, with last season’s finalists Chelsea and Manchester United heading the market. The Blues are 5/1 Fav with BetUK while United are a 6/1 chance.

Inter Milan (13/2) are third favourite - a price that appears largely down to the Jose Mourinho factor. It would be no surprise to see Mourinho lead the Nerazzurri to the last eight, and possibly last four – but the single-figure price on them lifting the trophy next May has little appeal.

Barcelona and Real Madrid lie next in the betting at 7/1. Both clubs have something in common with Inter – in the case of Barcelona, that’s a new coach in Josep Guardiola, and in the case of Real Madrid, it’s a focus on the Champions League to the detriment of league matters. That could make the price a gift come next May.

To bet on the outright market with BetUK click here.

Wayne Rooney says there there is no need to panic over his lack of goals in an England shirt, but there is no sign of the drought coming to an end as the team prepares for tomorrow’s crucial 2010 World Cup qualifier away to Croatia in Zagreb.

With Michael Owen deemed unfit by Fabio Capello, there is even more pressure on Rooney to deliver in front of goal, something he has failed to do for his country on a regular basis since dazzling at Euro 2004.

Rooney has played 17 competitive matches since that tournament in Portugal four years ago and he has scored just twice, while including friendlies the record is only slightly better with five goals in 28 outings.

So tomorrow would be the perfect time for him to improve those sorry statistics in such a huge fixture! BetUK are offering 7/1 about the Manchester United being the first to find the net in the all-important clash.

The BetUK quotes for tonight’s big game in New York between US Open title holder Roger Federer and upstart Andy Murray make the Swiss legend odds-on favourite at 4/9 while the Scot is 9/5.

Federer looked much more like his former self during his 6-3 5-7 7-5 6-2 win over Novak Djokovic, the Swiss No. 1 serving brilliantly while cutting out most of the sloppy moments that have plagued him since Wimbledon.

With the forehand working again his unforced error count was down to just 28 – he hit 60 against Igor Andreev in the fourth round – and a repeat of that form will make him very hard to beat.

The Swiss ace is now unbeaten in New York since a five-set defeat to David Nalbandian in 2003 and he looks a million miles away from the player beaten by James Blake in the Olympics three weeks ago.

If Federer can land a fifth title it will take him to within one of Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 14 Grand Slams and somewhat make up for the disappointment of losing both his Wimbledon crown and the No. 1 ranking to Nadal.

You can bet o the match here at BetUK.

Andy Murray faces Rafael Nadal for a place in the US Open final tonight and the Scot is great value to finally get the better of his Spanish rival.

He may need to produce the performance of life to do so, but the Dunblane battler is in the form ofhis life and will never have a better chance to make his first Grand Slam final.

That said it’s easy to see why Nadal is such a warm favourite – he has won all five of the pair’s previous meeting and thrashed the Scot in their last five-set match at Wimbledon this year.

His performance that day was totally dominant and if after that match, someone had offered you 1/4 about the the Majorcan winning their next Grand Slam encounter, you would have snapped it up.

However, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. Murray’s game has come on in leaps and bounds, while the newly crowned world No. 1 appears to have gone slightly off the boil.

Arsenal have been backed in to 13/2 with BetUK to win the Premier League title after the impressive 3-0 hammering they dished out to a depleted Newcastle at the Emirates at the weekend.

Robin van Persie was the on-fire player, netting twice, and Denilson completed the scoring after putting the finishing touches on a fine team move.

The Dutchman, who opened the scoring with a penalty, is also attracting support in the Premiership Golden Boot too.