Paddy Power may end up regretting a rash decision made about an early payout on Stoke getting relegated this season from the Premier League. The bookmaker was so surprised by what appeared to be an unambitious appointment by the Potters of Paul Lambert to replace Mark Hughes that they reacted to the bewilderment of Stoke fans and decided to settle on all bets backing the Potters to be relegated.
Lambert was nothing more than a 100/1 shot to be the Next Stoke Manager with Paddy Power in the build-up to him getting the nod, and it was no secret that Lambert wasn’t even the first choice as the club were targeting former Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores. That didn’t pan out so they had to go looking elsewhere.
There was a bit of a backlash on social media by Stoke fans to the appointment of Lambert who was out of employment after a couple of Championship jobs with Blackburn and Wolves. It was even joked that at least his second-teir experience would come in handy next season. Stoke were rated at 15/8 to get the drop after the appointment of Lambert as well as being 10/1 to finish bottom. So any punters who had backed either of those received an early pay out.
But the Potters gave themselves a huge boost on the weekend as they took a 2-0 home win over Huddersfield to instill a little more belief that they can survive what has been a difficult season. The win also snapped a thirteen match streak without a clean sheet for them and they have manageable came coming up as well which could see them improve further as they face Watford, Bournemouth and Brighton in their next three Premier League games.
Paddy Power have done this before. They paid out on the very first day of the 2008/09 season for Stoke to be relegated, but Tony Pulis ended up costing the bookmaker as he guided the Potters up into mid table safety.
Paddy Power paid out on Stoke to be relegated from the Premier League on all singles bets placed up to midnight on 14/01/2018.
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