Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day - Thursday, April 15

By Derek McGovern in Betting Blog

Published 22:00 14/04/10

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While at Chelsea Avram Grant finished second in the Premier League and runner-up in the ­Champions League yet was deemed a failure.

This season Pompey have had four owners, ­administration, a nine-point deduction and ­relegation, and Grant is hailed as a hero.

Everybody is pleading with Avram to stay at Fratton Park – that includes the players, the chairman, the ­administrators and the local massage parlours.

The Israeli is 4-6 to still be at Portsmouth next season - that should cheer him up.

Hills offer 7-2 for at least 19 of the current Premier League bosses to still be at their club at the start of next season. It’s just 8-1 for 12 or fewer.

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How refreshing that for tonight’s TV political debate it’s the general public and not just privileged Westminster journalists who get the chance to hear their questions avoided.

I love a good debate. I almost joined the school debating team but someone talked me out of it.

Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg was the man most heavily backed yesterday to be declared winner of the three-way head-to-head, for reasons that escape me. Usually it’s his name that escapes me.

Clegg and Labour leader Gordon Brown spent yesterday worrying about the questions they will be asked. David Cameron was panicking over the answers.

There are fears among Labour insiders that Cameron will have a device fitted so that someone far cleverer can transmit the answers to him. This was a jape he perfected at Eton.

There are to be three TV debates, each with a different category. The first is on domestic affairs, which should favour Brown. Clegg may score in the second category (global affairs), while Cameron has asked for the third category to be on boy-bands of the 70s.

No-one is quite sure why Manchester has been chosen as the venue for tonight’s opener but I can reveal Liverpool was overlooked because Thursday nights in Liverpool are Europa League nights.

Tonight’s seating plans have exercised the minds of the respective spin doctors. It’s believed Cameron and Brown will be sitting next to each other, with Clegg sitting squarely on the fence.

One thing you can be certain of, though, is that the debates will give the British voter the perfect chance to decide THE most important question of the whole General Election campaign - which of these three guys do I hate the least?

Hills offer 25-1 for any of the three party leaders to walk out during any of the debates and 6-1 that for any of them to refuse to shake hands with a rival. It’s 10-1 for any of the three to say ‘I made a mistake’ during the debates. Some would see that as a decent bet; I reckon it’s debatable.

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Tiger Woods has turned his back on Buddhism. He gave a monk $500 and asked for his change. The monk told him “change must come from within.”

Tiger has the sort of life most men dream about. He sleeps with loads of women, quits his day job, plays one golf tournament, pockets $330,000 and then takes another break. It’s a bit like my life, minus the women, the money and the golf.

Tiger has handed in his entry for the US Open at Pebble Beach in June. He has fond memories of Pebble Beach, apart from the small indentations those pebbles make on his back. The last time the US Open was held there in 2000, he won by 15 shots.

Woods is believed to be taking more time off to woo Elin. He said yesterday: “I have the most wonderful wife in the world - I just hope her husband never finds out.”

Hills are offering 11-4 about Woods winning at Pebble Beach in June and 7-1 for him not to play again before then.

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