What are the odds Dalglish and Fergie don't shake hands at the next United v Liverpool game? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

By Derek McGovern in Betting Blog

Published 22:00 13/02/12

It's an interesting code of ethics Alex Ferguson lives by when it comes to ­footballers.

Kung-fu kick a fan? That’s fine.

Sleep with your brother’s wife? No problem.

Bed an OAP prostitute? Splendid.

Admit to ­deliberately trying to break an opponent’s leg? Boys will be boys.

Refuse to shake hands with an opponent? Ban for life.

Everyone will have a view on Luis Suarez’s conduct on Saturday, but also out of order was the fact that Fergie was allowed to poke his purple nose into another club’s business without censure.

Bookies Boylesports are betting on whether the outdated Premier League pre-match handshake tradition will be scrapped by next season and at 12-1 I’d say that’s a very good bet.

More interesting, though, is the betting on whether, next time the two north-west giants meet, Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish will shake hands with his nemesis.

Dalglish will be fuming that he’s been forced into a humiliating climbdown by a PR drive at Anfield while Fergie has escaped scot-free.

BetVictor offer 16-1 for the two Scots not to shake when United next face Liverpool.

Not a good bet? Dalglish will shake with rage.

Suarez’s dignified response to scoring and his equally dignified response to Patrice Evra’s ­dangerously provocative gloating should have spared him the vitriol heaped on him because of a) his decision not to shake the Frenchman’s hand, and b) his decision to be Uruguayan.

Wayne Bridge was a hero when he snubbed John Terry’s handshake; Samir Nasri drew no criticism for a similar snub to William Gallas.

But Suarez has been deemed the villain in a media pantomime so even if he’d sponsored a Mother Teresa fun run around the Old Trafford pitch you suspect he’d have been castigated for cruelty to pensioners.

Wayne Rooney would merely have asked for her number.

Hills go 5-1 for Dalglish and Suarez both to have left Liverpool by the first game of next season.

The Uruguayan is 11-5 with Boylesports to be sent off this season and it’s 3-1 for another player to refuse to shake his hand before a game.

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Even Mick McCarthy couldn’t defend his team’s abject performance against West Brom.

It was so bad even Harry Redknapp’s lawyer couldn’t defend it.

Steve Bruce is favourite with some bookies to succeed sacked McCarthy at Wolves and that tells you all you need to know about club owner Steve Morgan...

He likes managers with oddly-shaped noses.

Big Mick once took a lot of flak for playing a severely-weakened team against Manchester United.

A few months down the line, his legacy at Molineux is a severely-weakened team.

McCarthy has been accused of making too many inept tactical decisions – the worst of which was becoming Wolves boss.

On Sunday’s evidence, Morgan doesn’t need a manager, he needs a miracle-worker or at the very least a successful hypnotist.

What the Wolves players need is an exit clause in their contracts.

Wolves are 4-7 with Hills to go down and 5-4 to stay up.

Hills bet: 7-1 R Benitez, A Curbishley; 8-1 S Bruce; 11-1 B Davies, D Jones; 12-1 N Warnock

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The good news for Manchester City is that Carlos Tevez is coming back.

The bad news is, with FIFA’s financial straitjacket soon to tighten, they won’t be able to rely on his fines to balance the books.

Tevez has spent the last two months playing golf in Argentina while looking for a new club.

When he couldn’t find one, he borrowed his mate’s.

His return will boost City’s title hopes because, at his best, he’s head and shoulders their best striker.

Head and shoulders but, of course, no neck.

Hills, who on Monday morning went 4-7 about Tevez not playing in the Premier League again for City this season, later did a volte-face about the revolting face and now go 4-7 that he will.

I’m not sure whether he’ll start again for City, but I’m pretty certain he’ll kick off.

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BET OF THE DAY

Sex is not a sin. And that takes all the fun out of it.

Get on Sheffield Wednesday at evens to beat Stevenage in League One on Tuesday night.

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