Although its footballers have long since returned home in disgrace, one English native has become the surprise success story of the World Cup. Paul, an octopus who was born in Dorset, has correctly predicted the result of all six matches involving Germany and now all eyes are on him as he prepares to pick the winner of Sunday’s final. Anyone who backed each of his predictions with a £10 flutter so far would be £84 up, but if they had rolled the bets into an accumulator would have won £1426. Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for the bookmakers, said: “Punters are superstitious creatures at the best of times – and many have favourite tipsters they like to follow, but they tend to be human, so this is the first time we’ve genuinely had punters coming into betting shops and asking staff about the predictions made by an octopus.” On Friday morning, aquarium handlers will ask Paul to decide on the winner of the third-place playoff between Germany and Uruguay by extending one of his eight suckered arms towards one of two boxes bearing their flags. He will then be asked to decide which team will lift the trophy on Sunday. But having already eaten Paul may decline to make another prediction, plunging the worlds of sport and gambling into turmoil. telegraph.co.uk Fans are now placing money on the mystic mollusc himself, rather than the outcome of the big game, while senior politicians have expressed concern about threats to his safety made by supporters of losing teams. Paul has also …
Video Rating: 4 / 5
New Swansea signings Jose Manuel Flores and Jonathan de Guzman said the draw of working with Michael Laudrup was a key factor in their moves to the Liberty Stadium. The Dane completed his first signings since succeeding Brendan Rodgers as centre-half Flores, more commonly known as Chico, joined from Genoa for an initial fee of £2million, while De Guzman arrived from Villarreal on a season-long loan deal. Both players previously worked with Laudrup during his time in charge of Mallorca and he will hope the pair can fill the gap in the Swans’ squad left by the exits of Steven Caulker and Gylfi Sigurdsson.Swansea City signing Jonathan de Guzman believes Michael Laudrup has all the qualities to succeed in the Premier League. He believes all the attributes he witnessed during his 12 months under Laudrup in Spain can help Swansea to another impressive season in the top flight. Swansea defied the bookmakers odds to finish 11th in the top flight under Brendan Rodgers last season, but de Guzman admits it could be even harder for the Swans this season. “Obviously it’s going to be a tough season, last year no-one expected anything from Swansea because they were a team coming from the Championship, but now everyone is going to be watching them harder than before,” said de Guzman.
Video Rating: 4 / 5