They say moving homes is one of the most stressful experiences to go through in life. There are few mentions of how many sleepless nights are lost in renovating an existing abode, but as Tottenham Hotspur are finding out - at considerable cost - it takes more than a lick of paint and a new graveled driveway to keep up with the Joneses.
When the decision was made to upgrade White Hart Lane from 36,284 to a 62,062-seat stadium the estimated total cost was £400 million (Dh2 billion). The latest estimate is almost double that. Discussions for naming rights of the new stadium are said to be ongoing, with the club holding out for a 20-year deal worth £20m annually.
Whatever criticisms are leveled at chairman Daniel Levy - frugality is usually top of the list - Spurs operate at a profit under his stewardship. The North London club posted record revenue of over £306.3m for the year ending June 30, 2017, a significant rise on the the previous year of £209.8m.
This was achieved despite reduced gate receipts to allow for the demolition of the north-east corner of White Hart Lane midway through the 2016/17 season. The club's coffers for 2017 were in the pink to the tune of £41.2m, an increase of over £11m on the previous financial year.
As with any media-savvy club, Spurs have used the full force of their PR machine to keep fans updated on the re-developments of the stadium. The site of Levy in club-branded steel-toe boots and hard hat have become a nauseating fixture. The executive hod-carrier look is in no danger of catching on.
The temporary move to Wembley Stadium for the 2017/18 season was always the equivalent of crashing at your parents' house while the painters and decorators fixed up your own place. With works running behind schedule, Spurs could now be the kind of guests who overstay their welcome, with reports that the club are set to approach the Premier League to ask that their first games of the 2018/19 season be played away from home while the finishing touches are applied to their own home.
The current campaign was always going to be one of consolidation. A season unbeaten at home in 2016/17 as Spurs finished runners-up to champions Chelsea was always going to be difficult to repeat just 20 kilometres away at Wembley. A top-four finish and thus securing Uefa Champions League football upon return to their spiritual home was always the club's priority. With three games remaining and a five-point cushion over fifth-placed Chelsea, Spurs are on course to achieve it.
But Spurs would do well to look at the pitfalls that befell their closest neighbours in moving house. A move to the Emirates Stadium in 2006 was supposed to catapult Arsenal into a new stratosphere of football, on the pitch as well as spending off it. But the milestone soon became a millstone around Arsene Wenger's neck. Forced to balance the books while Arsenal repaid their debts, Wenger's hands, financially speaking, were tied. A team that had only two years previously gone an entire season undefeated were now settling for top-four finishes and inferior players. Wenger's career at Arsenal can be defined BE and AE - Before Emirates and After.
Season ticket prices at White Hart Lane in 2016/17 cost fans between £795 and £1,895. The price range for 2018/19 season tickets sees the cheapest ticket remain at £795 while the most expensive is £2,200, an increase of just over 16 per cent.
And while some may agree that the rise in cost is a price worth paying to help the team achieve success, the penny seems to have finally dropped (pun intended) on many, not least Tottenham's highly-regarded manager Mauricio Pochettino, that the move to a better stadium does not necessarily mean a loosening of Levy's notoriously tight purse strings to fund a better team.
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Pochettino acknowledged as much before Tottenham's 2-0 win over Watford on Monday, saying: "The move to the new stadium is not suddenly going to change everything and millions of pounds will rain from the sky. You have to manage and know exactly the expectations. It will be important to review and set the principles again. How it will be with the team once we move."
Just like Wenger, Pochettino may well find himself hamstrung by the club's bean counters when he wants to strengthen his squad in the summer. But rather than bringing players in the club's focus should be on keeping what they have and address a problem that has seen them lose too many world-class operators to compete with the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea for the Premier League title.
Levy is notoriously stingy when it comes to paying top dollar for top players. The ceiling on players' wages is set at a basic £100,000 a week even for the likes of 38-goal top scorer Harry Kane. That cap does not apply to Levy himself, however, with the club's most recent accounts showing the chairman earned £6m, including bonuses, last year, or £115,000 a week.
Spurs fans have been promised a shiny new stadium, replete with state-of-the art facilities and all the bells and whistles that go with it. What Levy and his fellow chairmen fail to grasp is that most supporters pay their hard-earned money to watch players play football, not use the toilets and eat an over-priced burger.
The likes of Kane, Dele Alli, Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen, Mousa Dembele, Jan Vertonghen and the out-of-favour Toby Alderweireld are all expected to play at this summer's World Cup in Russia and will, if they aren't already, figure prominently on a number of top club's lists of those to watch.
When you factor in that most of those have been at the club long enough to see others move on and enjoy considerable success - Gareth Bale and Luka Modric at Real Madrid, Kyle Walker to Manchester City immediately spring to mind - no one would blame Kane et al from wondering whether their careers and their bank balances are better served away from North London.
If it has not already, the penny needs to finally drop on Levy: he can no longer get away with not paying top players their market value.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
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BELGIUM%20SQUAD
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
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Premier Futsal 2017 Finals
Al Wasl Football Club; six teams, five-a-side
Delhi Dragons: Ronaldinho
Bengaluru Royals: Paul Scholes
Mumbai Warriors: Ryan Giggs
Chennai Ginghams: Hernan Crespo
Telugu Tigers: Deco
Kerala Cobras: Michel Salgado
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
MATCH INFO
First Test at Barbados
West Indies won by 381 runs
Second Test at Antigua
West Indies won by 10 wickets
Third Test at St Lucia
February 9-13
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Dr Graham's three goals
Short term
Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines
Intermediate term
Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations
Long term
A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Points to remember
- Debate the issue, don't attack the person
- Build the relationship and dialogue by seeking to find common ground
- Express passion for the issue but be aware of when you're losing control or when there's anger. If there is, pause and take some time out.
- Listen actively without interrupting
- Avoid assumptions, seek understanding, ask questions
More coverage from the Future Forum
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
