Week 5: Head vs Heart

by Rick Nash

I was really, really happy with this week's picks...until I saw the potential winnings. €5 on these tips can earn you a whopping €324. Given my track record of outsmarting the bookies this season, that doesn't seem likely before you even look at the merits of each tip.

But this website lives for the long odds, so let's give it a whirl nonetheless. At worst, there's some well researched, great value, individual tips to behold here. At best, you feel really confident, put €100 on these bets and win €6,480. But please don't do that. If you're going to waste €100, I'd much rather you installed it directly into my bank account so I can turn a profit on this blog one way or another.

This week, a look at Saturday's UFC main event before we go toe-to-toe with the heavyweight clashes to come on this wonderful sporting Sunday ahead.

Week 2: Rooney's Choice

by Rick Nash

Going on outcomes alone, last week I went 4-0. Everton & Norwich drew 2-2, United walked it at Swansea, then Conor McGregor and Daniel Bryan came out on top in their respective clashes (although Bryan was undone moments afterwards by the dreaded Money in the Bank contract, but that's another story for another day). Week one and everything was going to plan.

Except I didn't bet solely on outcomes, did I? I bet for Conor McGregor to win by KO. So, in the fickle world of the accumulator, where you either win and look like a genius or lose (even on a technicality) and look like a bum? I...I don't wanna talk about it.

This week we're going to stick to football alone, and even venture across to Germany and Spain in the hopes of winning some cash. This 5-way accumulator will earn you a cool €119.60 for a €5 stake.

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)

Shades of 1998/99 for United...

by Rick Nash

We thought it would never feel so good again. Maybe it won't. But maybe it might...

Disclaimer: This is a Man Utd-centric column so, if you'd prefer to avoid my gushing, feel free to skip ahead to the picks at the end of the piece.

Sometimes I'll say something while watching sports (or write, in this instance) and think to myself, "Hmm...I wonder if that's true or if the combination of booze and goal-induced enthusiasm has me talking utter shite (again)?"

Last week was one such instance, when I put on paper what I've been saying all season: that this year, as a Man Utd fan, felt to me very much like 1998/99.

Being just 11 at the time, I had gone through brief flings trying to support other teams after the crushing disappointment of Man Utd's league loss to Blackburn in 1994/95 (which ended with the one player who had made me a United fan, Eric Cantona, suspended for attacking a mouthy Wimbledon fan).

Without an active favourite player, I turned to (of all places) Middlesbrough in my quest to find a team that worked for me. This was because, in the summer of 1995, they'd signed a Brazilian wonderkid Juninho. I'd read about the pint-sized sensation in World Soccer magazine, and seen brief clips of him playing for Flamengo on Channel 4's old, all-sports show, 'Trans World Sport', so gave them a shot. That was until Cantona made his glorious return from suspension to see off Liverpool and re-establish himself as 'Le King'. You can't ignore stories like that. Fortunately, we won the double that season so all of the self-inflicted heartbreak of 1995 was forgotten about.