Worst decision - John Flynn
Sir Alex Ferguson needs little opportunity to use a decision by an official to mask the failings of his team but, for once, the fiery Scot had a point on Saturday.
In penalising Rio Ferdinand for a wonderfully-timed tackle on Hatem Ben Arfa - a tackle that was reminiscent of Ferdinand's impeccable reading of the game at the 2002 World Cup - Flynn, the assistant referee, ignored the golden rule of an flag-bearer when officiating at Old Trafford; if in doubt, keep your flag down.
It prevents you from incurring the wrath of Ferguson, the partisan crowd and being intimidated by the haranguing of the Manchester United players.
Flynn got it wrong, so wrong and, for a minute, the Flight Sergeant could have been forgiven for thinking serving as a Weapon Systems Operator in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been less fraught.
Best officiating - Lee Probert
The official made the call of the weekend and possibly the season by showing a yellow card to Youssuf Mulumbu.
Nobody likes to see anyone shown a card - except when it is branded to a player who waves an imaginary card to a referee in a desperate attempt to get another player cautioned.
Mulumbu was aware Sandro, the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, who was showing signs of rustiness in a rare start, had already been cautioned when he fouled him towards the end of the first half.
Sensing his team gaining a numerical advantage if the Brazilian was sent off, Mulumbu leapt to his feet and started gesticulating for Sandro to be sent off in a manner normally reserved for the pitches of Spain and Italy. But Probert was having none of it and in cautioning Mulumbu, sent out the most welcome of messages.
Worst anticipation - Jerome Thomas
Some West Bromwich Albion fans felt it necessary to abuse Paul Robinson, their former left-back, when he returned to The Hawthorns last week in the colours of Bolton Wanderers.
Robinson played more than 200 games in six years at West Brom and made the club a profit of £625,000 (Dh3.5million) when he left for Bolton.
Robinson is one of the most committed and honest professionals in the league, certainly more committed than Thomas, who stood motionless and watched Emmanuel Adebayor run up and take a penalty against Ben Foster, his teammate, with his hands on hips.
He did not move, not even an inch as the spot-kick was saved and rebounded into the path of Adebayor. Thomas may not have prevented Adebayor tucking in the rebound but he could at least have strained a sinew in attempting to.
Best selection - Andre Villas-Boas
Well, perhaps picking Oriel Romeu was not the "best selection" but certainly the most long overdue.
Amid the significant summer spending by Liverpool and the Manchester clubs, the arrival of Romeu from Barcelona slipped under the radar.
The latest midfield technician to emerge from the Barcelona youth system, Romeu has had to be patient while Andre Villas-Boas persisted with John Obi Mikel as Chelsea's deep-lying midfielder.
But Mikel's mistake against Liverpool last week prompted a much-needed change at the base of Chelsea's midfield and Romeu took his chance, producing the kind of efficient and polished display against Wolverhampton Wanderers that showed why Barcelona have a buy-back option for the first two seasons.
Worst tackle - Alan Hutton
The Scottish defender is emerging as a weekly contender for this award.
Just over a month after a tackle on Shane Long that was, according to Roy Hodgson, the West Brom head coach, lucky not to leave the striker with "two broken legs", Hutton was reckless again yesterday.
Neil Taylor, the Swansea City left-back, was the recipient of a bone-crunching, reckless tackle this time, just 19 minutes after the crowd and players united in a round of applause to mark the tragic death of Gary Speed.
Hutton's timing was therefore wrong on two counts and having spent eight months on the sidelines in 2005 with a broken leg while playing for Glasgow Rangers, you would thought he would think twice before making potentially career-threatening tackles.
kaffleck@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
LIVERPOOL%20TOP%20SCORERS
%3Cp%3E(Premier%20League%20only)%3Cbr%3EMohamed%20Salah%20129%3Cbr%3ERobbie%20Fowler%20128%3Cbr%3ESteven%20Gerrard%20120%3Cbr%3EMichael%20Owen%20118%3Cbr%3ESadio%20Mane%2090%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Enterprise-grade%20security%20and%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Unlimited%20higher-speed%20GPT-4%20access%20with%20no%20caps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Longer%20context%20windows%20for%20processing%20longer%20inputs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Advanced%20data%20analysis%20capabilities%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customisation%20options%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shareable%20chat%20templates%20that%20companies%20can%20use%20to%20collaborate%20and%20build%20common%20workflows%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Analytics%20dashboard%20for%20usage%20insights%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Free%20credits%20to%20use%20OpenAI%20APIs%20to%20extend%20OpenAI%20into%20a%20fully-custom%20solution%20for%20enterprises%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Pari
Produced by: Clean Slate Films (Anushka Sharma, Karnesh Sharma) & KriArj Entertainment
Director: Prosit Roy
Starring: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor, Mansi Multani
Three stars
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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
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.”
