Mon Sep 18, 2017 1:43 pm
Paddy Power offers 66/1 on Ugo Ehiogu replacing Redknapp
A bookmaker has given odds on a dead footballer replacing sacked Birmingham City manager Harry Redknapp.
Paddy Power offered 66/1 on ex-Aston Villa and England defender Ugo Ehiogu taking over - a move punters have blasted as "sick".
The player died in April at the age of 44 following a cardiac arrest.
Paddy Power - which also offered odds of 2,500/1 on Brummie rocker Ozzy Osbourne replacing Redknapp - has apologised for a "genuine error".
Ehiogu made more than 200 appearances for Aston Villa between 1991 and 2000 and then spent seven years at Middlesbrough.
The centre-back also played for West Brom, Leeds, Rangers and Sheffield United, before retiring in 2009.
He began coaching at Tottenham in 2014 and collapsed at the club's training centre on 20 April. He died in hospital the next day.
In a statement, Paddy Power apologised to Ehiogu's family if they saw the tweet offering the odds, saying that no offence was meant.
"This was a genuine error, a trader re-used an old market as a template for this one, and didn't notice that Mr Ehiogu was included," it said.
"Obviously, that was a mistake, one which was rectified as soon as it was spotted, within minutes."
Customers were able to put money on Ehiogu for "less than five minutes" before the error was discovered. No-one actually took that particular bet, the company added.