The Premier League will soon be upon us and one of the most popular markets every season involves predicting which top flight club will lose their manager first. William Hill is one of the first bookmakers to open this market every summer and they have once again been to the fore in recent weeks, offering prices on every current Premier League manager.
William Hill is one of the most recognisable names in the world of bookmaking and dates back to 1934. Over the last few decades it has grown and expanded into all areas of gambling and has developed a strong reputation for the quality and variety of its sports betting markets, its excellent live-streaming service, which is particularly popular with in-play punters, and its football special markets, including the Next Manager to Leave Their Post.
Top of that market this summer is the manager of Newcastle, Rafael Benitez. The experienced coach managed to guide the team back to the Premier League after just one season outside the top flight, topping the Championship table, but this summer there have been rumours of discord between Benitez and club owner Mike Ashley.
The falling out appears to be based on the lack of transfer activity at the club. Last year, Benitez was given permission to spend big and built one of the most expensive squads in Championship history, but despite reports suggesting that Benitez had £70 million to spend this summer, there has been little evidence of big spending, with Jacob Murphy the most expensive purchase so far at a little under £10m.
All of this has added up to increasing speculation that all is not well behind the scenes and punters have been betting big on the former Liverpool manager being the first Premier League coach out of the door, to the point where William Hill make him the 2/1 favourite.
Another coach who has proven popular in this market is Mark Hughes, the Premier League’s fourth-longest serving manager. Ominously for Hughes, Stoke fans have become increasingly disgruntled in recent months as the apparently negative style of play has not resulted in any progress, and last season’s thirteenth-placed finish was the worst since 2012-13. Fan favourites Marko Anautovic, Jonathan Walters and Glenn Whelan have all left the club this summer and the arrival of midfielder Darren Fletcher and Chelsea centre back Kurt Zuma may not be enough to keep the fans happy. As a result, just under a fifth of all bets in this market have been on Hughes, with William Hill rating him as a 4/1 chance to leave Stoke.
Other interesting names to have attracted punters in this market include the new Crystal Palace manager Frank de Boer who is available at odds of 14/1 to depart Selhurst Park, along with Swansea boss Paul Clement, who is likely to be fighting another relegation battle, priced up at the same mark, and the Premier League’s longest serving manager Arsene Wenger, who can be backed at 33/1 with William Hill.
Whichever manager you plump for in this market, you should certainly check out the latest offer from William Hill. Although the company is not widely known for its promotions, they are keen to attract punters to their football markets and in order to encourage football fans to dabble in the pre-season markets, including the Next Manager to Leave Their Post market, they are offering a £30 free bet offer for all sports punters.
The offer can be obtained by signing up for an account with William Hill, making a deposit and betting £10 on any sports or horse racing market. The company will then credit your account with three Free Bets worth £10 each. It’s a competitive offer and should encourage punters who keen to bet in the Next Manager to Leave Their Post market to join up.