It is usually the player who calls time on his Manchester United career rather than the manager.
At many other clubs and at Old Trafford before Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager makes the decision, often leaving embitterment and resentment. Many an old professional feels that they could have done another year or two.
Under Ferguson, a player's time usually ends when he asks for a meeting with the manager to discuss his future.
Ferguson will almost always state that he wants him to stay, but he will be honest about the number of future opportunities.
If a player is not promised first-team football then he usually makes the decision to leave.
John O'Shea was in such a position in the close season. The Irish international defender, 30, had been at Old Trafford since he was 17 and played nearly 400 games for United.
He had scored 15 goals, some of them crucial efforts that will be remembered forever by United fans: a last-minute winner against Liverpool in front of the Kop in 2007, the winning goal in the 2009 Champions League semi-final first leg against Arsenal.
Calm and versatile, O'Shea had played across the defence, midfield and occasionally up front as an emergency striker.
He even played a game in the goal against Tottenham Hotspur. Little wonder that Ferguson described O'Shea as a "great professional who never complains".
O'Shea's problem was that he started less than half United's Premier League games in four of his last five seasons.
The Waterford-born defender had enjoyed 12 seasons playing in United's first team and stayed longer at Old Trafford than all the other 10 players in the team in which he made his debut in 1999.
"Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?" said O'Shea, who grew up as a Liverpool fan.
"It's great to have played so many times for United and it's something to be really proud of. To be able to say you've made a contribution to some of the success of the club is a great feeling."
Having just turned 30, O'Shea felt he was at his peak and wanted to play more. An intelligent individual who planned to study economics at University College Dublin before football took over, he made a considered decision.
"The last couple of years were a bit more frustrating for me personally because I hadn't been playing as much as I was for the years before," he said.
O'Shea wanted to play more but Ferguson had other ideas about bringing younger defenders such as Chris Smalling and Phil Jones through. He made the decision to leave and there was no shortage of suitors for the player who has played more than 70 times for the Republic of Ireland.
Sunderland seemed a perfect fit. Managed by a former United defender, Steve Bruce, they were a mid-table Premier League club with a big support and top-class facilities. O'Shea could also speak to several of his former United teammates who had made the Stadium of Light their home.
Kieran Richardson and Phil Bardsley had also played with O'Shea in Manchester and three of Sunderland's four defenders in the 2-0 win at Bolton Wanderers on Sunday were former United players.
It helped too that Sunderland did not just want O'Shea from Old Trafford, but his long-time teammate and fellow defender Wes Brown, and Darron Gibson, the midfielder.
Brown, who was in a similar position to O'Shea, decided to leave a few months earlier while Gibson would reject Sunderland, much to the chagrin of Ferguson and Bruce.
Bruce claimed that Brown and O'Shea would bring a "winning mentality" to the club, but it has not quite worked like that: the weekend victory at Bolton was only their second of a season in which they have triumphed just once at home.
O'Shea, who cost £5 million (Dh29.25m), settled well though, after overcoming pre-season injuries. So well that he has been made captain when Lee Cattermole, the regular club captain, has not started.
He is hoping for an upturn in the side's form.
"We have some great players here and a top manager," he said. "We just need a little luck and to start winning and climb up the table."
It won't get any easier. O'Shea returns to Old Trafford on November 5.
sports@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
If you go:
Getting there:
Flying to Guyana requires first reaching New York with either Emirates or Etihad, then connecting with JetBlue or Caribbean Air at JFK airport. Prices start from around Dh7,000.
Getting around:
Wildlife Worldwide offers a range of Guyana itineraries, such as its small group tour, the 15-day ‘Ultimate Guyana Nature Experience’ which features Georgetown, the Iwokrama Rainforest (one of the world’s four remaining pristine tropical rainforests left in the world), the Amerindian village of Surama and the Rupununi Savannah, known for its giant anteaters and river otters; wildlifeworldwide.com
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
'Midnights'
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Getting%20there%20and%20where%20to%20stay
%3Cp%3EEtihad%20Airways%20operates%20seasonal%20flights%20from%20Abu%20Dhabi%20to%20Nice%20C%C3%B4te%20d'Azur%20Airport.%20Services%20depart%20the%20UAE%20on%20Wednesdays%20and%20Sundays%20with%20outbound%20flights%20stopping%20briefly%20in%20Rome%2C%20return%20flights%20are%20non-stop.%20Fares%20start%20from%20Dh3%2C315%2C%20flights%20operate%20until%20September%2018%2C%202022.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20Radisson%20Blu%20Hotel%20Nice%20offers%20a%20western%20location%20right%20on%20Promenade%20des%20Anglais%20with%20rooms%20overlooking%20the%20Bay%20of%20Angels.%20Stays%20are%20priced%20from%20%E2%82%AC101%20(%24114)%2C%20including%20taxes.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
