In these recessionary times, a lesson in how to make a little money go a long way comes from the unlikeliest of sources - football.
Perhaps only those who got lost on northwest England's M55 or who fancied a dip in the Irish Sea had good reason to visit Blackpool before Ian Holloway took the seaside resort's cut-price team to the Premier League this season.
Holloway is a rare breed, not merely because he builds his own chicken coops, but because he is a manager with a social conscience. He acknowledges that while football has not felt the full force of the economic crisis, some of its fans have. He has railed against "politicians robbing you left, right and centre", and he has no time for football's brats who earn big wages before they have earned their spurs.For these reasons, Holloway stands out among Premier League managers.
"These lads who are given far too much too early, they're monsters in my opinion," he said. "They get far too much too soon and they waste it." Little danger of that happening at Blackpool. Ideology aside, one reason that Holloway can afford to be suspicious of the corrosive effects of wealth in football is that he does not have much of it to work with. Valeri Belokon, the Blackpool president, is a Latvian tycoon who reportedly served as a sniper in the Soviet army in Afghanistan, and is not as free-spending as some of the other sugar daddies in the Premier League.
Blackpool say they pay their players on average just £10,000 (Dh58,283) per week, still princely in the real world but pauperish compared to the fatter wage packets that players with top clubs rake in each day: Manchester City's summer recruit, Yaya Toure, reportedly earns £185,000 a week. Blackpool's most expensive signing this August in preparation for the rigours of top-flight football was DJ Campbell, a striker acquired from Championship club Leicester City for a bargain basement initial fee of £1 million - hardly worth getting out of bed for at Real Madrid.
Blackpool's players wash their own training kit and the club politely declined when Chelsea said they would charge £15 per head to feed the visitors lasagne after they played the mega-rich London side on September 19. "We feel like a tramp who has won the lottery," Holloway said of his little club's rise to the big league. But cheap does not have to be nasty. As their latest victim, once-mighty Liverpool, can attest, Blackpool, in the top half of the table with 10 points after seven games, are staking a claim as the Premier League's best side on a pound-for-pound basis.
And Holloway is looking good to be crowned Manager of the Year. Kudos to him for not playing cut-price football. Holloway likes to field four strikers at times. The long season will deliver the verdict on whether his tactics are admirably or merely recklessly adventurous. When it works, as it did in the historic 2-1 win at Anfield last week, Holloway's attacking philosophy is entertaining and as vibrant as the team's tangerine jerseys. Blackpool also beat Wigan Athletic 4-0 in their opening match, their first in the top flight since 1971, downed Newcastle United 2-0 and held Fulham to a 2-2 draw.
But Arsenal, masters of the type of football Holloway would like to play, spanked Blackpool 6-0 and Chelsea put four past Matt Gilks, the goalkeeper who has made spectacular saves at vital times for Blackpool, in a humbling first half at Stamford Bridge. "The rich are getting richer, the best are getting better and the rest of us are trying to hang on to their coat-tails," Holloway said after the Chelsea defeat.
Holloway has told interviewers that it was during a year out from football before taking the Blackpool job - when he also built his chicken coops - that he learned from watching games as a commentator that he wanted his sides to be free-flowing. "I'm fed up of teams getting behind the ball and trying to defend things and boring 1-0 wins," he said. But there will be times this season when Holloway is going to have to ask Blackpool to win ugly, grind out slim victories and avoid late goals like the one conceded in a 2-1 loss at home to Blackburn Rovers on September 25.
Resilience will be vital toward the end of the season when the pressure for teams battling to stay up becomes more intense. But so far, so good. In 18 seasons of Premier League football, 33 clubs have suffered the agony of the drop down to the second tier, some repeatedly. But just two - Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion - did so after earning at least 10 points in their first seven matches. So history is on Holloway's side. He has boundless optimism, too. And that costs nothing.
* Associated Press
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Rashford 36')
Liverpool 1 (Lallana 84')
Man of the match: Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
VERSTAPPEN'S FIRSTS
Youngest F1 driver (17 years 3 days Japan 2014)
Youngest driver to start an F1 race (17 years 166 days – Australia 2015)
Youngest F1 driver to score points (17 years 180 days - Malaysia 2015)
Youngest driver to lead an F1 race (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest driver to set an F1 fastest lap (19 years 44 days – Brazil 2016)
Youngest on F1 podium finish (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest F1 winner (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest multiple F1 race winner (Mexico 2017/18)
Youngest F1 driver to win the same race (Mexico 2017/18)
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
