Tottenham's search for a boss led to £6m in bets

Punters staked more than £6million on who would become the next Tottenham manager on betting exchange Betfair.

The nine-month saga was finally brought to an end when Jacques Santini was appointed at 5.30pm yesterday, but not before the most frenetic gambling in the history of new betting markets.

An incredible £2m was waged over the last three weeks after Giovanni Trapattoni pulled out of the running and the club continued their search for a successor to Glenn Hoddle.

By the time the market was suspended yesterday, £815,847 had been matched on Santini alone and an enormous £6,186,276 on the market as a whole.

While whoever started the gamble on the France coach was clearly in the know, other users speculated that the rumours would merely prove to be just another red herring by 'laying' large bets.

Santini was heavily backed at 5-2 early yesterday and nearly £30,000 was matched when his odds shortened to 1-3 by late afternoon.

But during the nine months that Spurs scoured the globe for a new manager, the former Lyon coach was not the most popular choice on Betfair.

That position was held by Trapattoni (£1.6m worth of matched bets), ahead of Martin O'Neill (£549,000), Claudio Ranieri (£410,000), Carlos Queiroz (£394,000), Raddy Antic (£326,000), Alan Curbishley (£250,000) and Graeme Souness (£233,000).