A lone figure stood on the platform at Denham Golf Club, an isolated station almost engulfed in trees and bushes on the Chiltern Railways line into London's Marylebone station. Another Saturday, he perhaps mused, another quiet and stress-free journey from leafy Buckinghamshire into England's capital.
Not today. This was FA Cup final day, when travellers from round the globe would descend on Wembley Stadium by air, road and rail and by any other route imaginable. And the day also when the world looks on from afar, a spellbound televisual audience of hundreds of millions.
As the train slowed to a stop, its carriages packed with Manchester City and Stoke City fans like huge cans of blue-and-red sardines, the look on the face of the lone figure turned from expectation to bemusement to horror. An expletive or two later, he had squeezed in to become a sardine. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
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But, hey, it's a once-a-year experience and the banter was good on the way to Wembley: the City supporters salivating over the prospect of winning a first trophy in 35 years, the Stoke followers almost frantic as they awaited a first cup final appearance in the club's 148-year history.
Mr Golf Club might have seemed unimpressed, especially with the inflatable bananas brandished by some of the City faithful, but if you and your mates can't wave a bit of plastic fruit about on your team's big day out, what's the point of it all? Fun in the sun, despite a few specks of pre-match rain, was top of the agenda.
Perhaps not for the ticket touts plying their dubious trade outside the Hotel Ibis. "Buy or sell, buy or sell," they intoned gruffly as a police helicopter hovered overhead. For them, the event was strictly business.
As, too, for the convoy of coach operators - Happy Al's, Lamb's and Gee-Vee Travel, from Barnsley, among them. Barnsley, a good 40 miles from City's home ground? Maybe the Greater Manchester area had sold out its entire fleet of buses.
Of course, there is always someone to ruin the best-laid plans, to poop the party. And at 2.37pm, as the blue-and-red hordes gradually filled the stadium, it was the moment that City had dreaded.
In faraway Lancashire, it was the moment when Manchester United reclaimed the Premier League crown with a 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers.
It did not go down well with the banana-wavers - many more of whom had arrived to form a smattering of yellow bunches inside Wembley. And the vast and vocal City contingent, the "Noisy Neighbours", fell silent.
Only when roused by the gloating and flag-waving Stoke sections did they break out into a chorus of anti-United jeering and booing. Still, City's moment would come. But not before a defiant Stoke had taken them to the most extreme limits, putting their bodies on the line at every opportunity, repelling every blue surge and mounting as fierce a challenge as City can expect regularly during their debut campaign in the Champions League next season.
It was City's 57th match of the season, their 21st in cup competitions. At times, it showed, their thought laboured, their movement too rigid.
But when Yaya Toure lashed the ball into the net in the 74th minute, the explosion of emotion - the sheer release and relief - was almost seismic.
"Let's all do the Poznan," the City fans chanted, jumping up and down as they performed the adopted Polish ritual of turning their backs on the pitch and linking arms. Roberto Mancini, the City manager, did allow himself a minor congratulatory embrace with Brian Kidd, his assistant, and then popped a piece of chewing gum in his mouth. That Mancini … he's so Italian, he's so cool.
Cool at the end, too. When the long wait for a trophy was over, when the players had actually got their hands on the cup, when a rock 'n' roll version of Blue Moon, the club's signature song, blared out over the PA system; and when, after the disconsolate Stoke fans had trudged away, the City slickers took over the stadium amid a perfect storm of streamers and pyrotechnics.
Mancini soaked it all up. Calmly, with dignity; in control, with not a hint of triumphalism. But he knows that his work has only just started, that serious questions remain to be asked - and answered - during the close season.
Is he prepared to liberate his staunchly pragmatic team? Will Carlos Tevez, his agitated and agitating captain, want to stay at Eastlands?
That is for the summer. City have won the cup for a fifth time, have qualified to mix it with the creme de la creme of Europe, have proved that they are a coming force in the Premier League and maybe beyond.
Yesterday, finally, was their day to rejoice. Even the disgruntled Mr Golf Club of Denham, Bucks, would surely not begrudge them that.
sports@thenational.ae
City's scout policy set to reap reward, s6
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Sui Dhaaga: Made in India
Director: Sharat Katariya
Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav
3.5/5
Places to go for free coffee
- Cherish Cafe Dubai, Dubai Investment Park, are giving away free coffees all day.
- La Terrace, Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai, are serving their first 50 guests one coffee and four bite-sized cakes
- Wild & The Moon will be giving away a free espresso with every purchase on International Coffee Day
- Orange Wheels welcome parents are to sit, relax and enjoy goodies at ‘Café O’ along with a free coffee
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Book%20Details
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua Based: Dubai, UAE Number of employees: 28 Sector: Financial services Investment: $9.5m Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. UAE squad to face Ireland
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri (vice-captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, CP Rizwaan, Aryan Lakra, Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu, Basil Hameed, Kashif Daud, Adithya Shetty, Vriitya Aravind
'Cheb%20Khaled'
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
