A BETTING firm has singled out Coventry City in an advert focused on The Believer – an ‘idiot’ gambler who makes ambitious bets.
The new Ladbrokes advert tells viewers the risky gambler puts bets on ten-team accumulators before adding: “It’s why he backed Coventry to win away this weekend”.
It finishes with him missing an overhead kick in a five-a-side game with the voiceover asking: “Who wants to score a tap-in anyway?”
The jokey advert provoked a backlash with some City fans on social networking site Twitter after stats revealed the Sky Blues didn’t do too badly away from their ‘home’ ground Sixfields in 2013/14 – Steven Pressley’s men were the 11th best away side in League One.
In fact, anyone using Ladbrokes to put a fiver on City to win each of their away games this term would have finished the season £10 better off than when they started.
And had they called it a day in mid-February – before the Sky Blues went on a five-match winless run – that figure would be more than £35.
City’s epic 3-1 victory at Milton Keynes – when loanee Chris Maguire scored two late free-kicks – would have won the biggest wad of cash along with mid-season wins at both Rotherham and Bristol City.
A Ladbrokes spokesman told the Observer: “Coventry City is a famous club with a proud past and great fans who hope for a return to the glory days.
“They carry on believing that the good times will come back. As part of our Ladbrokes Life campaign, we have The Believer who also never gives up and places a premium on hope.
“He also has a sense of humour and, as we had no intention of ever upsetting Coventry City, we hope that the fans carry on believing in a sky blue future.”
You can view the advert here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foUufBzqh_4
