Martinez early favourite to over in Villa hotseat

BOOKMAKERS slashed their odds on Roberto Martinez becoming Aston Villa manager throughout Monday afternoon following the sacking of Alex McLeish.

But exchange traders were playing it cooler – the Wigan boss was odds-on in places yesterday afternoon but still bigger than 2-1 on Betfair – and it appeared that many punters just thought they had seen it all before.

Martinez was a front-runner last summer to take over at Villa Park, cut to a low of 1-2, but he later drifted to 5-4 even though he had been give permission to talk to the Midlands club.

Latics chairman Dave Whelan had said he had a “gut feeling” that Martinez would stay and punters who shared his instincts and swerved the Spaniard were proved right.

When news of McLeish’s departure broke at lunchtime on Monday, Martinez was 15-8 to replace him but by 6pm Boylesports were going 13-8 and bet365 2-5 as the market looked set to settle into the usual erratic early pattern of next manager sagas.

Paul Lambert and Rafa Benitez were two other names to feature