"They shoot horses, don't they? I think that a lot of players would prefer to have been shot once their career was over, because they have found it very difficult to battle through life."
- Jimmy Greaves, the former England striker
Sportsmen, it is said, die twice. Ultimately, when their natural lives end, but first when the life they lead as a hero to the masses is brought to a close.
When the whistle blows for the final time, coping with vastly altered circumstances becomes the biggest challenge the majority of footballers ever face.
For the rest of their lives, they will never be as fulfilled as they were during their playing days. How do they replace the thrill? When the realisation dawns that their youth has gone, and the adulation with it, the future must seem long and empty.
"I miss the one-on-one confrontation," says Danny Mills, 33, the former rambunctious right-back who played 19 times for England.
"The testosterone, the adrenaline rush of me against an opponent. Me, physically, mentally having to beat somebody else.
"That's what I looked forward to. Eye-balling each other in the tunnel before the game. Coming off after the game and thinking actually I was better than you, and I beat you.
"I think that's something all top sportspeople have, and that's something that's difficult to let go of."
This week marked 50 years since the abolition of the maximum wage in English football. Never before have players been so well paid. Never before have they been so distanced from their fans and ordinary life.
Carlos Tevez's weekly wage at Manchester City, for example, is approximately 380 times that of the average working male in the UK.
It is not just the common man who struggles to associate with the children of the Premier League revolution.
"Football has changed so much," says Andrew Cole, 39, another former City striker, but one who is more readily associated with their cross- city rivals, United.
"Perhaps the young generation coming to the game see the game in a total different way to the way old pros see the game.
"The young generation see the game more about earning good money, having a nice car and a big house.
"It just got into a stage that I couldn't see the game the way they see it. So I felt it was time I retired because I wasn't enjoying it anymore."
Unless they are spectacularly reckless, today's Premier League footballers should never have to work again once they hang up their boots, given the rewards on offer for even the most average.
Mills had to give up playing at 31 because of a chronic knee injury. He is comfortably off having invested wisely, he says, during his younger days. Now he has opted to throw himself into charity work.
Last year, he completed a marathon in a wheelchair to raise funds and awareness for a spina bifida charity, the disease which claimed the life of his son, Archie, in 2002.
"I'm determined not to be one of these players who puts on a bit of weight," he says. "That's one of the things I do miss, the fact I can't run.
"I used to enjoy running. I used to say pre-season I was the best player by far, until the balls came out then I'd drop down the pecking order a bit.
"My knees aren't great. They still creak when I walk down the stairs. Occasionally they give way and I fall over.
"My whole game, my whole life was dedicated to being one of the fittest players. I was never technically superb, so I always had to be fitter and stronger than my opponents."
Neil Webb, the former England midfielder who became a postman after retiring, once said match days were the hardest for him to bear now that he was no longer involved. The only remedy for him was to sleep through entire Saturdays.
It is no surprise many players cling on for as long as their limbs will allow. "Just look at David Beckham," says Les Ferdinand, 44, the former England striker who is still involved as a coach at the club he supports and played for, Tottenham Hotspur.
"He could easily sit back and enjoy his life because he has the money and has done everything in the game. Yet he keeps going because he just loves football and I can totally relate to that.
"I miss it every single day. I work with the youth players at Spurs and when I drive to that training ground, and this is every day, I want to be going there as a player, not as a coach.
"I wish I could still do it. I retired at 39 so I had a great innings and would never complain, but it still wasn't enough.
"I still wake up every day and wish I could still go out there and do it, even at my age. The mind is willing. The legs and the rest of my body are not so sure."
Remaining so close to the game, in a managerial role or coaching capacity, is seen as the natural progression for footballers. That or becoming landlord of a pub. But it is not the life for everyone.
"What I miss most is Saturdays," says Darren Anderton, 38, the former Spurs and England midfielder.
"Before the game you go out in the tunnel and as you go out you see the crowd and you see everything and you are about to go and live your dream for the next two hours.
"It is an amazing feeling. But also when you are playing with your teammates, you are all young guys having fun in the dressing room."
Anderton finally let go of that dream when he retired from playing two years ago, as he finished up at Bournemouth on his native south coast.
He says he is happy to get the chance to let his brain take the strain rather than his legs.
"My fiancee and I always want to travel around the world after I finished my career, but my dad unfortunately passed away soon after," he said.
"But we are doing it now. I have a business with property which I always enjoyed doing. You can do that when you are a footballer but now you can be more hands on.
"I have taken a couple of other things as well where people have come to me and I have invested in different projects like a solar power project and things like that.
"It is totally nice for the brain to do something different after many years of kicking the ball."
pradley@thenational.ae
* Quotes courtesy of Abu Dhabi Sports
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Bharat
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Price: upon application
On sale: now
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 3.9 seconds
Price: Dh230,000
On sale: now
'HIJRAH%3A%20IN%20THE%20FOOTSTEPS%20OF%20THE%20PROPHET'
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEdited%20by%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Idries%20Trevathan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20240%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hirmer%20Publishers%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
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.”
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Qosty Byogaani
Starring: Hani Razmzi, Maya Nasir and Hassan Hosny
Four stars
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Clinicy%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Prince%20Mohammed%20Bin%20Abdulrahman%2C%20Abdullah%20bin%20Sulaiman%20Alobaid%20and%20Saud%20bin%20Sulaiman%20Alobaid%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Riyadh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2025%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20More%20than%20%2410%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Middle%20East%20Venture%20Partners%2C%20Gate%20Capital%2C%20Kafou%20Group%20and%20Fadeed%20Investment%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
JAPANESE GRAND PRIX INFO
Schedule (All times UAE)
First practice: Friday, 5-6.30am
Second practice: Friday, 9-10.30am
Third practice: Saturday, 7-8am
Qualifying: Saturday, 10-11am
Race: Sunday, 9am-midday
Race venue: Suzuka International Racing Course
Circuit Length: 5.807km
Number of Laps: 53
Watch live: beIN Sports HD
The permutations for UAE going to the 2018 World Cup finals
To qualify automatically
UAE must beat Iraq.
Australia must lose in Japan and at home to Thailand, with their losing margins and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
To finish third and go into a play-off with the other third-placed AFC side for a chance to reach the inter-confederation play-off match
UAE must beat Iraq.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures:
Monday, 1st 50-over match
Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match
Thursday, 3rd 50-over match
Match info
Athletic Bilbao 0
Real Madrid 1 (Ramos 73' pen)
