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The Irish bookmaker have been known to take some unusual steps in the past, usually by paying out on a team winning a league well before it becomes a mathematical possibility. Indeed, there have been several occasions when Paddy Power have got it wrong and ended up paying out on Manchester United and Arsenal or Celtic and Rangers in the same season! Now it appears that they have been courting controversy again with their popular Last Man Standing competition.

In fairness to them, they were caught between a rock and a hard place when the snow started falling last week, leading to seven of the ten Premier League fixtures being postponed. Many contestants in the Last Man Standing competition took advantage of this by selecting a team in a match which had been postponed, but which Paddy Power hadn’t managed to void on time. Therefore, they were left with a situation whereby contestants had either:

1)    Deliberately picked a ‘postponed’ team
2)    Been forced to pick one of the six teams that were actually playing a match between Saturday and Monday
3)    Innocently picked a team and then seen their match postponed nearer to the time

Quite rightly, Paddy Power have decided to allow all participants to progress in the respective competitions, although some will feel a sense of injustice due to:

a)    picking a team that won the match, eg Manchester City, while others went for Manchester United or Arsenal
b)    no longer being able to pick Manchester City in the competition, while others went for Burnley, Wigan and Stoke etc, knowing the games would be postponed

It’s an unusual circumstance, although if you’re like me and one of the 101 left in the ‘Week 15’ competition, then it’s no longer a level playing field. I managed to pick Wigan although my first choice ‘postponed’ team would have been Burnley, especially as they have now lost Owen Coyle as manager and it’s doubtful they will win many more matches this season!

Nevertheless, with Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City left to pick, it promises to be an interesting few weeks, with the draw insurance still available for one particular week. This is the time when it pays to look at the fixture list for the weeks ahead and assess likely home wins (always slightly dangerous to go for away picks). Many of the previous contests have seen more than one winner, with the contestants being left with the dregs to pick from when it gets towards the tenth week of the competition!

One thing that Paddy Power should be applauded for is the moneyback specials that are regularly available at their website. They have commemorated Owen Coyle’s return to Bolton as manager by offering a refund to all losing first / last goalscorer, correct score and scorecast singles if Wanderers give their new gaffer a dream start by winning the match. Click here for more details.