The Joker's Bet Of The Day: Friday May 1

The Joker's bet of the day / The Joker / 01 May 2009 / Leave a Comment

The Joker recommends that you back the one time scourge of Alan Shearer et al...

The latest instalment of the Joker's occasional series on forgotten heroes of European football features Trelleborgs, the Swedish part-timers who ended Blackburn Rovers's first ever European campaign in the first round of the 1994/95 UEFA Cup.

Rovers's smorgasbord of talent cost almost £30 million; Trelleborgs's players were on a 20 krona bonus for scoring. Fredrik Sandell, a supplier of ink to local newspapers in his day job, took his opportunity to write the headlines, scoring the only goal of the first leg.

Alan Shearer was part of the Blackburn team that day. Might he have learnt something about expensively assembled, underperforming Premier League teams?

Not just yet, if Newcastle United's recent results are anything to go by.

Since Swedish football started up again at the beginning of April, Orgryte have lost all six of their league and cup games. Trelleborgs, who finished last season strongly and are unbeaten in nine at Vangavallen, look good at [1.69] to win this evening.