Steve Bruce is safe for the time being

Champions League / Top Dog / 29 October 2007 / Leave a Comment

Betfair's top dog sniffs around the truth behind the latest tabloid tales

Top Dog

Betfair's top dog sniffs around the truth behind the latest tabloid tales.

• Cruft's champion - Top stories that can dominate the news agenda
• Pedigree chum - Insights that tell you something you don't know
• Dog's dinner - Speculation, guesswork, or ideas that just don't come off.

Top Dog says:

Not often that football is knocked off the news agenda by cricket, but the Daily Mail's serialisation of Duncan Fletcher's book is sensational stuff. Fletcher lays bare the full extent of Freddie Flintoff's booze problem. "He turned up for training under the influence and couldn't throw the ball straight. We stopped in case he was hurt". Riveting reading.

Cruft's:

Daily Mirror - Yeung: Bruce is safe - The Mirror's Midlands man James Nursey scores a significant scoop with a face to face interview at Carson Yeung's new £10million home near Wimbledon. (Though he doesn't seem to have asked why you buy a house in Wimbledon to become the new Birmingham owner). Yeung says Steve Bruce's job is safe, his £50million takeover will go ahead, and there will be cash for new players in January. You can lay Birmingham for relegation at 2.92.

The Sun and others - Calm down - Interesting admission from Roy Keane that he's planning to change his training routines after Stuart Pearce watched his side at work and told him they're leaving too much running on the practice ground. Is that a sign of doubt creeping in? The Black Cats are only two points above the relegation zone but 4.4 for the drop.

Pedigree Chum:

Daily Star - We'll sue you - David Woods covers news from Spain that Seville's president Jose Maria del Nido will report Tottenham to FIFA for allegedly tapping up Juande Ramos. Del Nido wants £1.1million compensation instead of the £200,000 he's getting now. Ramos is 1.32 to open up his Spurs reign with a White Hart Lane win over Blackpool.

Daily Mirror - Mandaric: I will keep tag on Taggart - Leicester's unpredictable owner Milan Mandaric says he will give caretaker Gerry Taggart a fortnight in charge. But that's probably just to give himself another two weeks loving the limelight while he interviews the world and his wife for a candidate to replace Gary Megson. Chaos club Leicester's promotion odds are out to 9.2

Daily Mirror - Wayne Rooney and the four-goal hammering - Manchester man David McDonnell has spotted a quote from Wayne Rooney about his love for Harry Potter films - and given the Mirror's graphics men a magic opportunity to put a wizard's hat on Rooney's head! Grab 2.24 for Rooney to be the top English goalscorer in the Premier League while you can still get better than evens.

Daily Express - Levy sorry for Jol affair - Spurs fan Frank Wiechula has obviously been combing the Tottenham supporters' websites, and it means he's discovered chairman Daniel Levy's first admission that he made a mess of the Martin Jol sacking.

Daily Mail - Harford quits QPR - veteran writer Ian Gibb is ahead of the game with goings on at Loftus Road and reveals Mick Harford is quitting after turning down a request to work with new Italian manager Luigi Di Canio. Harford's eight points in four games have given Rangers a relegation lifeline. But they stay among the relegation favourites at 3.25.

Dog' s dinner:

Daily Mirror - Stan Collymore column - Stan the man's first few Monday morning entries were lively and fresh, but it looks like he's running out of ideas at the moment. I think we've all worked out by now that Martin Jol's departure was a shambles without Stan telling us too.

Today's other stories:

The Sun - Ab Fab - Ramos: I'll get tough with flops - 28 page Super Goals pull out - Samba beat - Yak's back - Chelsea's six appeal

Daily Express - Watch us go say Arsenal - Yakubu proves his worth - Lampard rides again - New boss, same sorry Tottenham - Only 11 pages of football

Daily Star - Megs a Nic fan - My young Guns are Fab - 20 page Seriously Football pull out - Samba ruins Spurs party - Macca told to go Green

Daily Mirror - Rafa: We blew it - Ramos has Juan hell of a job - Bolton waving not drowning - We're Yak in business - 20 page Football Mania pull out

Daily Mail - Look out, Fergie - Boy Gunners no more - Anelka gives Megson hope - Yes Juande, it's that bad - Classy Frank - Coppell decides to buy