I'm not quite sure how concerned Europeans are with their athletes using insider information for gambling purposes. But I guess they're a little more cool with it than people here in the States are.That's because Bolton Wanderers goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen of the EPL supposedly bet money on who his new head coach would be. Not so surprisingly he got it right and won some money. Also not surprising is that it's somewhat sketchy how he picked the right guy.
A little over a week ago, Bolton coach Sammy Lee left after a horrible start to the season. There were obviously questions about who would replace him - along with betting odds on who it would be. One person that wasn't really a popular choice with fans to replace Lee was Gary Megson. Megson was ultimately given 3-1 odds to become Bolton's new coach but wasn't even close to being the favorite.
Despite those odds, and fan hatred, Jaaskelainen supposedly put down £100 a day for 10 days on Megson to become his new head coach. Jaaskelainen also revealed he and his teammates had discussed the managerial speculation that had surrounded the club since Lee's departure.
Megson was named the head coach yesterday. So when it was all said and done, Jaaskelainen won around £3,000, which I realize isn't much for a pro soccer player. Even better is that there are already odds on whether Megson will make it through this season. Hopefully Jaaskelainen doesn't bet on that.
But I can't be the only one that finds it bizarre that athletes can bet on stuff like this when they're pretty likely to have insider information about it. Looks like Pete Rose should start getting involved in soccer.
-WCK
1 comment:
I can't exactly picture Pete Rose running around on a soccer field these days, but maybe he could be a manager or something. He would probably do it for free, too, as long as he was privvy to the inside info. and could earn his wages by gambling.
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