Bnei Sakhnin manager Slobodan Drapic has been backed into second favourite with some bookmakers to be the next manager of Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Serbian is available at 5/1 with Bet365 and 5/2 with Paddy Power. Only Graham Potter sits above Drapic in the market. The odds on Glow Up returning to the Amex have been floating around evens for several days.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, then you should know all about Drapic. Who by this point has not heard of the up-and-coming 59-year-old?
Drapic led Bnei Sakhnin to sixth place in the Israeli Premier League last season, his first in charge of the club located in Lower Galilee.
His CV before that reads like a who’s who of Israel’s biggest and best oufits. Since 2008, Drapic has managed *deep breath* Hapoel Kfar Saba, Maccabi Herzliya, Bnei Sakhnin, Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla, Beitar Jerusalem, Maccabi Netanya, Beitar Jerusalem, Ironi Kiryat Shmona, Hapoel Tel-Aviv and Ironi Kiryat Shmona.
Drapic has also worked as an assistant to Avram Grant at Partizan Belgrade. Commenting on the rumours linking Slobodan Drapic to Brighton, Grant is reported to have said: “His coaching abilities are amazing. I enjoy watching his teams very much. Drapic can be an ideal match for Brighton.”
Before taking up coaching, Drapic enjoyed an esteemed playing career. He started out in Yugoslavia with hometown club RFK Novi Sad, playing for two seasons in what was then the Yugoslav Second League.
In 1988, he moved to play in Israel for Maccabi Netanya and made aliyah. Within a year of arriving in Netanya, Drapic earned his one and only cap for Israel. He spent seven years with Netanya before joining Beitar Nes Tubruk, followed by a return to Netanya as assistant manager.
The reasons why Brighton might want to appoint Drapic are easy to see. But if they aren’t, just have a look through the sane and stable world of Twitter.
Beram Kayal currently plays for Drapic at Sakhnin and was at the Amex for the Seagulls’ most recent game against Manchester United. The only possible explanation can be Kayal negotiating on behalf of Sakhnin and Drapic with the Albion.
Tony Bloom being Jewish naturally means an Israeli head coach is incoming. And who can forget that Oscar Garcia arrived via Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Then there is the impact Drapic had on wingers at Sakhnin. It is scary to think how much better Kaoru Mitoma can become when you consider the progress made by Dor Hugi and Hassan Hilo this season.
In their rundown of the next Brighton manager betting market, Goal.com have written: “One can be forgiven for not being immediately familiar with the name Slobodan Drapic.”
“The Yugoslavain-born, Israeli international has never played nor managed outside of the Middle East. He is now second in the betting for the Brighton job, yet seems to lack any serious credentials, only having been able to take his present side, Bnei Sakhnin, to sixth in the Israeli Premier League.”
“Brighton have been known for their big gambles and strange appointments, Potter himself being one such of these back in the day, yet if they were to bring Drapic overs from Israel, this would take the biscuit.”
There is another possible reason why Drapic is now second-favourite to succeed Roberto De Zerbi – it is one person or a group of people on a wind up.
Believe it or not, but there aren’t many people actually interested in betting on the next Brighton manager. This means it only needs a minimal amount of money to seriously impact the market.
You could quite easily select a random manager from, say, Israel. Request a price from a bookmaker. Put £100 on it. And suddenly, that random manager is one of the favourites.
The tale of Drapic is why it is often a pointless exercise paying attention to next manager betting. Unless of course Bloom really is planning to take the biscuit.
Whatever the reason, I am off to put £100 on Gus Poyet. Forget Potter. Gus is the ex-Brighton head coach we all want and need at the head of the betting.
