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Sutton Pie Man Wayne Shaw could be just the start of football's novelty bet industry

Wayne Shaw has lost his job with Sutton United.

The goalkeeper resigned from his position after he ate a pie during the game, on the subs bench, while there was an open bet being offered about whether he would do so.

He claimed, in his defence, that he had only been able to eat a couple of wine gums before the match, and that as all three subs had been made by Sutton at the time, he was simply trying to get some food. On top of all of that, it was a pasty, not a pie anyway, so there.

Clearly, nothing untoward took place and Shaw has been punished for seeming to embarrass the club rather than being corrupt himself. Football is blemish-free in England, with players never failing drug tests for performance enhancing substances, and no major stars ever being involved in gambling rings. We don’t need to worry too much. The problem for Shaw was to play up to the bet, not that the bet was offered.

With that in mind, other betting companies have also decided to get in on the act of special bets in upcoming fixtures, to offer something novel to the punters and to glean a bit of free publicity. Here are some of the offers lined up.

Read More: Wayne Shaw offered new job after his Sutton departure

FA Cup: Jose Mourinho to start sustained mind games over Antonio Conte’s hair

Jose Mourinho likes to act as if he is a reformed character. He knows that his abrasive nature at Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid cost him the chance to replace Alex Ferguson at United. That’s why he was so keen to tell people he was ready to embrace the traditions of Manchester United. He has given young players a chance. He has brought back attacking verve and late goals. He has even warned other, foreign managers of failing to show proper respect to the FA Cup.

But the mongrel is still there. He’s been sent off a few times, and suffered bans for complaining about the referees. That aggro has receded since their unbeaten Premier League run, but it is hard to believe it has completely gone.

That’s what the bookies think, anyway. You can currently get 20/1 on Mourinho making increasingly frequent references to Antonio Conte’s patently ludicrous bonce, his bizarrely feathered ‘do, and there is one long-shot bet offered that Mourinho will instigate a Barcelona vs Real-style brawl, ending with one outreached arm from Mourinho sailing across a crowd, finger extended, not to poke Conte’s eye, but to pull his wig from his scalp. Odds offered: 20/1

Champions League: Pep Guardiola to pick a theorem at full-back


Having watched Gael Clichy, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernandinho, Pablo Zabaleta and finally Claudio Bravo fail to perform at full-back over the course of the season, Guardiola will turn to nontraditional methods yet again, all to revolutionise football in a way us mortals could never understand. There are a number of side bets available to this, with 10/1 being offered on a number of different theorems, and 1/3 offered on tactics bloggers claiming to have invented the concept not just of picking a theorem, but painfully explaining, at length, the importance of knowing the difference between a theory and theorem. Odds offered: you’d actually not understand the formulae, it’s too complicated for you

Premier League: Jurgen Klopp to shill for his side’s own betting sponsor in a press conference

Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool, obviously, do things differently from the rest of the league. They rise above it all. Their fans are the most knowledgeable fans in the whole world, not just in England. They fight against prejudice like nobody else. The whole city is famous for having the best sense of humour and the quickest wit. The club itself holds itself with powerful dignity that is unrivalled. That’s why, despite not winning any trophies for years, they attract so much commercial interest. They remain the biggest club in the world, bar none. And that is why Jurgen Klopp will gratuitously mention BetVictor in a press conference to fulfill a contractual obligation. Odds offered: 13/1

All competitions: Arsene Wenger to lament his side’s lack of mental strength

After their defeat to Watford, at home, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger bemoaned the lack of mental strength that his players had shown. That wasn’t the end of it, though, as he also had cause to offer his worries on the same weakness when Bayern Munich’s mere presence saw them collapse to a 5-1 defeat last week.

Wenger is rumoured to be leaving the club at the end of the season, even if he is determined to continue managing for another four years yet. However, there is a growing scepticism about the teams he can produce these days. The betting companies are offering a punt that this is a continuing theme this year.

This is not offered as a single-match bet, because the chances of it happening in any given match are simply too high to offer meaningful odds. The bet, then, is to bet that he invokes the lack of character, belief, or mental strength, after every remaining match that Arsenal play in the 2016/17 season. Odds offered: 1/10.