Sniffer dogs are being used to search for any others who may be trapped in the wreckage, Moniek Eberhard in the mayor’s office for the town of Enschede told CNN.

Those injured are thought to be construction workers. It is not known how many people were working in the area when the collapse occurred, at midday local time.

Two people were seriously injured and have been taken to hospital, while three were treated at the scene, Eberhard said.

The club has grown over recent seasons, and was working to expand the seating at its stadium.

Building work was being carried out on the roof above the stands at the FC Twente soccer club’s De Grolsch Veste stadium.

Speaking at a televised news conference, the club’s general affairs manager, Jan van Halst, urged fans not to come to the stadium to see the damage as it might hinder the work of emergency responders.

The club, founded in 1965, finished second in the top Dutch league, the Eredivisie, last season, having won it the year before. FC Twente also made its first appearance in the Champions League, a major European tournament, last season.

Enschede is to the east of the Netherlands, near the border with Germany.

But for now Grant is taking things as they come, with Jamie O’Hara, Steve Finnan, Kevin Prince Boateng, Kanu, Tal Ben Haim and Nadir Belhadj all in the treatment room. Grant told The News: “If I had all the squad or didn’t need to rest players and players were not injured, I could think about the tactics for the final.

“The squad is so short that we need to think only about the next game and then the next game after that. “We cannot afford to think about the FA Cup final yet.” Pompey play Wolves and Everton in their final two Premier League games this term. (Source: TopLeague.co.uk)

Sports Betting School – Tutorial One of Six

The world of football betting is big and growing ever bigger. There are now more opportunities to have a bet than ever before. Backing your judgement and enjoying the thrill of a bet – especially a winning one – offers great excitement, but it can be confusing for the first-time punter.

This tutorial is designed to explain some of the most basic and popular football betting opportunities and to help identify what prices are being offered and how to place a bet. So to start at the beginning, you have registered on the site and deposited funds and two teams are playing in a match that has caught your interest – in this example it is a Premier League game between Portsmouth and West Ham.

You have assessed the team strengths, perhaps looked at recent results, league positions and even head-to-head records (Topleague provides all this information plus a great preview podcast), you have formed an opinion and are ready to back your judgement.

The most straightforward option is to select the game from the Premier League coupon and to have a ‘match bet’, that is to choose the outcome of a game for which there are three alternatives: home win (also noted as 1 on the coupon), a draw (noted as X) and an away win (noted as 2). This system is known Europe-wide as 1X2 and is different to an Asian Handicap which will be explained in a later tutorial The prices on offer for this game, derived by Betsson’s own experts (odds compilers) are:

Portsmouth 2.50 (stake 1 unit, return 2.50 units including stake)
Draw 3.10 (stake 1 unit, return 3.10 units including stake)
West Ham 2.80 (stake 1 unit, return 2.80 units including stake)

These prices are expressed as decimal odds, but they can also be displayed as fractional odds (particularly in the UK) which provide the same returns and for this match would read thus:

Portsmouth 6/4
Draw 21/10
West Ham 9/5

It is now a simple matter of choosing the outcome you predict will happen and the level of stake you wish to invest – then sit back and enjoy the game. If there are a number of games of interest you can link them together in ‘a multiple’ and potentially win big from a small stake – at Betsson you can bet as low as 1 tenth of the unit currency – that is if you are betting in Euros, the minimum stake unit is just 0.10 Euros.

With a multiple, the winnings from one bet are carried on to another. The simplest such bet is a double where both selections must win for you to win. Adding one more selection makes a treble, and then there is a four-timer accumulator and so on. The only limit is your imagination. Obviously the bigger the combination bet, the bigger the potential winnings and the higher the risk but these kinds of bets are hugely popular.

Away from the actual result, there are many other bets available on each match, some of which we’ll look at in the next tutorial, but among the most popular are the final scoreline and half-time/full-time combinations. For example in the above game, if you fancied Portsmouth to win 2-0, you could back them in the correct score market and receive odds of 10.00 (stake 1 unit, return 10.00 units including stake).

Similarly, bookmakers like Betsson split the game into two (first half and second half) and call a winner for each of the halves (often called double result) meaning if you fancied Portsmouth to be leading at both half-time and full-time, you could back them at 3.50. Alternatively if you believed Portsmouth were often slow to get going but finished as match strongly, you may opt for West Ham/Portsmouth and big odds of 35.00 would be your reward.

But when you learn that Betsson had 28 markets available on that game alone and, at the time of writing, over 4,000 individual football markets available you will see just the depth of selection available to you. And that is without even mentioning the Exchange option, where other people act as the bookmaker and offer a price which may be different to the fixed odds available.

But all that is for another article.
Why not start off by deciding the outcome of a game and have a simple match bet – you will love it. Put your new betting skills to the test at Betsson.com – the bookie with the most markets and the best odds. (Source: TopLeague.co.uk)

Robin van Persie has denied making the peace with former Arsenal team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor and insists “I don’t care about him”. The two came together for the first time on Saturday at the Emirates Stadium since a challenge across the face of van Persie by Manchester City striker Adebayor at Eastlands earlier this season. There remains animosity between the pair from that incident and van Persie was booked on Saturday for a challenge on Adebayor many deemed was some attempt at retribution.

However, Holland international van Persie said he was not the slightest bit concerned by Adebayor. “I’ve not spoken to him,” said Van Persie. “I don’t care about him because I’m just busy with my own team.” Of his challenge on Adebayor, the fit-again striker told The Sun: “There was nothing in it. In football you make tackles. That was one of them.” (Source: TopLeague.co.uk)

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has told Liverpool he has no intention of allowing star striker Darren Bent to leave the Stadium of Light. The Reds have been linked with a swoop for the England international amid speculation they might have to sacrifice Fernando Torres if a big-money bid is lodged for the Spain star, with Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini a confirmed admirer.

But Bruce insists he wants more players like Bent and so would resist any interest in the 23-goal forward. “He has been huge for us and the one thing we don’t want to do is sell our best players,” said Bruce. “There is no authority above me saying I have to sell. We need more Darren Bents. We need to look at his sort of ilk and find players of his calibre and quality.” (Source: TopLeague.co.uk)

Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill has hinted that he expects hostile bids for star players like James Milner and Ashley Young. The Villa Park chief insists it is no surprise to him that the England internationals have already been linked with so-called bigger clubs. And O’Neill claims interest could also be registered from further afield.

He said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if James and Ashley have attracted the attention of the best football clubs in the land, and possibly one or two in Europe.” Whether or nor the canny Northern Irishman is trying to drive the duo’s prices up in order to reinvest the profits remains to be seen. (Source: Topleague.co.uk)