Pretty funny story i just read…some guy in England placed a bet that Barack Obama would turn out to be the coach of West Ham by the end of the season. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well here’s what happened…

An unidentified bettor wanted to show his friends back in America a betting slip with Barack Obama’s name on it. Knowing He went to bookmaker William Hill and asked for the bet. Obama is a fan of West Ham after a trip he took to England five years ago and West Ham is having a lot of coaching problems with the resignation of Curbishley last week. So, The guy put 10 bucks (or pounds…whatever) at William Hill and they gave him 10,000 to 1 odds for a 100,000 pound win possibility, 260,000 in dollars.

So where did this idea come from? Well, Obama has family in England(his sister married an Englishman), and when he went to England 5 years ago he soon became a fan of West Ham. All his relatives are fanatics and I guess it rubbed off on him.

Obama hasn’t just been a fan in the past 5 years though as his campaign revealed that he is in fact an avid soccer fan and even played a lot as a student at Harvard Law School.

He never really followed it, though, until he was told all about the passion of West Ham fans by some of his English relatives. He’s always keen to find out how his adopted club are getting on.

Barack Obama Campaign Source on Obama’s Love of West Ham

So, who knows, maybe if Obama decides that this whole leader of the free world thing isn’t for him, he’ll take on the task of managing the Hammers.

And the winner is…Alan Curbishley! Beating Kevin Keegan by what looks to be a week!! We all thought Keegan would be the first casualty of this season’s firings, but it turns out that Curbishley has been the first to step out.

Blaming a “breach of trust and confidence,” Curbishley resigned today as West Ham United’s skipper and taking the prize of first coach leaving in the 2008 EPL season. Curbishley has been under enourmous pressure for the past few months and has been the favorite to be the first fired until last weeks tabacle with Kevin Keegan. But, not to be defeated Curbishley has taken the crown.

It seemed that if Curbishley could get off to a good start this season that this whole thing would just be forgotten. And sure enough he did leading West Ham to their best start in 9 season. Nevertheless Curbishley jumped before he was pushed off the plank landing in the seas of lost coaches.

For now Kevin Keen will take over West Ham as they search for a permanant replacement for Curbishley. Keen will now have to deal with what Curbishley has been complaining about. Curbishley said he was not involved in player moves and transfers and felt, rightfully so, that he should be considered when signing or releasing a player.

However, the club continued to make significant player decisions without involving me. In the end such a breach of trust and confidence meant that I had no option but to leave. Nevertheless, I wish the club and the players every success in the future.

Alan Curbishley on Leaving West Ham United

Now, we wait for Kevin Keegan’s turn, as it seems imminent that he and Curbishley will be swimming in the same waters soon.