2016 Football Blogging Awards: Meet the finalists – The Sack Race

We’re now less than a month away from finding out which of our finalists will be named the Football Blogging Award’s Best Gambling Blog, as sponsored by Ladbrokes News. So to give you some insight into the day-to-day lives of each of our nominees, we caught up with them to ask them about all things blogging.

Today is the turn of The Sack Race!

Ladbrokes News: Describe a day working for The Sack Race

It’s not a day, thesackrace.com is a lifestyle in itself.

There is no 9-5 on the managerial-merry-go-round, our team is on hand to update the site and its social channels, 24/7.

It’s a constant monitoring of news and social media to ensure that we’re the first to break stories, be that last thing at night, or first thing in the morning.

LN: Proudest blogging moment to date?

The overall recognition that the site gets from all corners of the football media makes us proud.

We’ll never be best friends with managers because of the the news we report on, but we get plenty of coverage and interest as the only dedicated site and social channel reporting on managerial comings and goings.

In the past 12 months, we’ve had coverage from the BBC, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, MSN, Yahoo, Daily Mail and Independent. We’ve also established a regular slot on Radio Yorkshire, which is a great platform to discuss what is such a newsworthy niche within football.

LN: What makes you guys stand out from the competition?

We’re the only people doing what we do.

We have our critics because of the perceived ‘macabre’ nature of the subject, but it’s big news for fans when their manager is under pressure and especially when their team is in the market for a new boss, and we’re happy to satisfy that demand for such news in what we think is a fun, yet serious and trustworthy approach.

LN: Best tip ever?

We’re not a tipping site, but we do report on the odds as market moves and the weight of public money is often a great indicator in the sack race and next manager markets.

Because we’re constantly monitoring the news and have established a few contacts in our eight years doing thesackrace.com, we’re often privy to information ahead of the bookies.

A couple of stand-out bets that we’ve had in the past year include Jaap Stam to be next Reading manager at 20/1 and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to QPR at 33/1. We were also told that Guardiola’s next club would be Man City in September 2013, but the price never got bigger than 5/2 so we couldn’t cash in.

LN: If you had a £100 free bet on any Premier League outright market this season, what would you back?

There has been nothing in the first few months of the season to suggest that Hull, Sunderland and Swansea are anything less than abysmal.

They can be backed at 8/1 with Ladbrokes to occupy the three relegation spots come May, which looks a tasty bet to us.

LN: Which team always lets you down

Peterborough United, always a banker for your both teams to score coupon, until we include them in The Sack Race office’s weekly group bet! We’ve also got beef with Valencia and Charlton.

LN: Biggest near-miss?

Every week, five of us in the office throw in a tenner and we each pick a bet to make up a £50 fivefold.

We’ve had a couple of nice wins down the years, but nothing more than £2k between us.

However, on Boxing Day, 2014, we were one result short for just under £15k!

We had Wigan to beat Leeds, Preston to beat Barnsley, Bury to beat Northampton and AFC Wimbledon to beat Portsmouth. Those four copped but an 88th minute equaliser from Johann Berg Gudmundsson saw 10-man Charlton clinch a draw against Cardiff (who we had backed), scuppering our 300/1 acca in the process.

Now at Burnley, it’s safe to say the Icelandic winger isn’t welcome at the Sack Race Christmas party!

LN: Do you have any luck on other sports?

We love the horses but can’t profess to being very lucky!

LN: What advice would you give to new punters?

Discipline is absolutely crucial. Don’t chase your losses on the next match, there is always a better opportunity on another day.

Equally, betting on football is supposed be fun, adding another dimension to watching the beautiful game.

Never bet more than you can afford to lose. Also, the harder you work, the luckier you become, so spend a couple of hours in the form book before placing those bets.

Don’t forget to cast your vote for the Best Football Gambling Blog in the form below.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing