At the Morningstar OBSR 2012 Honours Dinner last night, key speaker and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management O’Neill said although he is flattered to be linked to the role, it did not “excite him” and suggested members of the audience put their money on former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp instead.
“For reasons I do not understand, I have been linked to the possible leadership of the Bank of England in the future. Despite the nice things it does to my ego, I am not sure it does a lot to excite me.
“Paddy Power is currently giving me the odds of getting the job at 10/3 while Harry Redknapp is 1000/1. However, I suggest Redknapp is a better bet than O’Neill.”
The Manchester United fan also joked: “The Treasury opposition leader Ed Balls was quoted as saying a few weeks ago that given the particular responsibilities involved in the job then super-humans only need to apply. In that regard I think Sir Alex Ferguson is the only person alive who is capable of fulfilling that role.”
O’Neill was first linked to the job in April and has recently hinted he may be interested by speaking to various media about what he would do in the role to turnaround the economy. His plans would include ditching inflation targeting and employing other financial indicators to gauge the state of the economy.
King is stepping down in June 2013 after serving two terms.
The full odds given by Paddy Power are below:
Adair Turner 7/4
Gus O’Donnell 9/4
Paul Tucker 5/2
Jim O’Neill 10/3
Stephen Green 6/1
Mark Carney 6/1
John Varley 16/1
John Vickers 20/1
Kate Barker 25/1
Douglas Flint 25/1
Warwick Jones 25/1
John Footman 25/1
Peter Sands 25/1
Hector Sants 33/1
Gordon Brown 200/1
Fred Goodwin 300/1
Harry Redknapp 1000/1
