Rick's Quick Picks for Superbowl/6 Nations Weekend!

by Rick Nash

Going to keep this brief for once. It's been a crazy week. If you read my Royal Rumble preview column last week, you may already know why. Next week, I'll have a special preview of the Premier League Darts and, if I get around to it, a special article on gambling that I've been wanting to get around to for a while.

5-way accumulator; €5 returns €72.59; All odds via Paddy Power.

The man just loves windows of any kind...

QPR vs. NORWICH

Harry Redknapp is finding his groove, it seems, and has now had a transfer window to power him up like Popeye with spinnach. QPR have yet to lose in 2013 and, at home to Norwich, they'll walk in confident of a win.
Pick: QPR (evens)

Managing Expectations

by Rick Nash

That was the week that was...

• In Spain, about two-thirds of Real Madrid's members believe that Jose Mourinho is damaging the club. Rivals Barcelona continue to dominate La Liga, this weekend winning the Basque derby in impressive style (4-0 over Espanyol).
• Closer to home, Paul Lambert's time at Villa sunk to a new low with a humiliating semi-final, 1st leg defeat to Bradford in the Capital One Cup.
• Swansea continued to bring Rafa Benitez back down to earth by humbling Chelsea 2-0 - at Stamford Bridge - in the other semi. 
• Meanwhile, in the FA Cup, Newcastle were the highest profile Premier League side upset (by Brighton) in the weekend's opening tie.

Perhaps the one stellar point raised in last week's column (which was otherwise disastrous, picks-wise, with 5-upset bets yielding a grand total of €0) is that this is the year when the 'super manager' actually wouldn't be able to swoop in and save a struggling club. The expected turnaround that Harry Redknapp would bring at QPR appears to have fallen short. Martin O'Neill, previously hailed as THE 'super manager' for a struggling club, isn't having things all his own way at Sunderland. The managers mentioned in the above bullet points all continue to unceremoniously blunder, despite their considerable reputations.

We think that bringing in a big name boss who has done wonders at another club will turn around fortunes when a club is struggling, but in 2012/13, is that still the case?