Paddy Power has issued an apology after mistakenly offering betting odds for Ugo Ehiogu, a former footballer who died earlier this year, to become the next manager of English Championship team Birmingham City.
Birmingham sacked boss Harry Redknapp at the weekend after a poor run of results and bookmakers immediately began offering odds on his replacement.
Paddy Power initially included Ehiogu in its list of possible candidates for the job, before removing his name after the mistake was pointed out by a number of Twitter users.
Ehiogu, a former England international who played for the likes of Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, passed away in April after suffering a cardiac arrest at the training ground of English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
In a statement issued to the Press Association news agency, Paddy Power said that it was a “genuine error” that was identified quickly, with punters only able to wager on Ehiogu for “less than five minutes”.
The bookmaker added that no customers placed a bet on Ehiogu.
“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,” Paddy Power said.
“Obviously, that was a mistake, one which was rectified as soon as it was spotted, within minutes.
“We would like to apologise to Mr Ehiogu’s family if they did see the tweet.
“It was obviously a mistake and no offence was meant.”
