Pundits often describe Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, as a “traditionalist” with old-school values.
Naively, I always assumed this meant the old-school values of his tough upbringing around the shipyards of Glasgow: hard work, cold baths, nae greetin’ (no crying) and the resolution of personal grievances by the application of swift and explosive violence.
The latest chapter of his ongoing saga with Wayne Rooney, his star striker, however, sees Sir Alex acting more like a 19th century British aristocrat whose headstrong son has disgraced the family name. Namely, he has banished him to the New World.
Rooney has been packed off to Beaverton, a distant outpost in the Americas, after placing a scoundrel’s tick in all three Gs of caddish behaviour: greed, gambling and gadding about with ladies of the night.
According to the rules of literature, in Beaverton he must languish for at least a decade until either making his own fortune in trade or being gored by a buffalo and dying of gangrene.
However, this being boring old reality, Rooney’s banishment will last only until this Saturday. At a speculated wage of more than £200,000-per-week (Dh1.19 million), one can only afford to freeze him out for so long.
The official reason for sending him away is, as always, “injury”. Rooney has a poorly ankle, you see, which would apparently benefit from yet another lengthy plane journey to distant shores (he has just returned to the UK after a week-long break in Dubai).
This time, the destination is the Beaverton-based headquarters of the sportswear giant Nike, which sponsors Manchester United.
According to Mike Phelan, United’s assistant manager, the decision to send Rooney away was based on these factors: a change of scenery, the chance to use the Nikeworld facilities, and also “to take him out of the spotlight a little bit and get him concentrated”.
This reasoning seems bizarre.
Firstly, the change of scenery concept is dubious. Rooney will simply swap one training centre for another, and his luxury home for a luxury hotel room. Big deal.
This is the same Wayne Rooney, remember, who felt hopelessly bored while staying in the stunning wilds of South Africa during the World Cup.
Somehow, I doubt Oregon has much more to offer, scenery-wise.
Secondly, why does he need to use Nike’s facilities, which Phelan himself describes as “definitely on a par to what we’ve got here”? Why travel to the Pacific coast for something you already have down the road?
As for taking him out of the spotlight, singling him out for a transatlantic voyage of shame does precisely the opposite.
The perfect tonic to concentrate Rooney’s mind on to football would surely have been this Wednesday’s match at Manchester City. What a cathartic opportunity for the young scoundrel to reverse the damage he had inflicted on the family name by notching up another of the Gs for which he is famous: a goal.
But instead of menacing Eastlands in his red shirt – a mouth-watering prospect for partisans and neutrals alike, considering recent events – he will be on an exercise bike in Oregon.
It is so disappointing, so baffling, that the cynic in me is starting to believe that Rooney was actually sent State-side to placate the suits at Nike, who perhaps wanted a PR boost after weeks of negative publicity.
But surely Sir Alex, who released a statement praising Nike’s “fantastic facilities”, would not take such a craven decision. He is, after all, a traditionalist.
Would rivals handle an armed hold-up as cooly as Button?
Formula One racing driver Jenson Button was “unruffled” by an attempted car-jacking in Brazil, according to reports.
Of course he was unruffled. Button could not be ruffled if he tried. He is so unruffleable, he should be sponsored by Corby Trouser Press.
With his trademark modesty, the McLaren-Mercedes man shrugged off concerns for his mental state following the incident, which took place after a lousy day at the office (he had just claimed 11th place on the grid for yesterday’s Brazilian Grand Prix).
Instead he praised the police driver who managed to ram through a Sao Paulo traffic jam to get them to safety, and pointed out that he was not the first person in the F1 family to experience such an incident. Just the most famous.
The reaction was as elegant and classy as his driving.
So how, I wonder, would other drivers have handled the same experience? Red Bull-Renault’s’s Mark Webber would have probably complained that his security arrangements were not as good as those of his teammate Sebastian Vettel. “Hey, how come Seb gets a limo with bulletproof glass and inch-thick armour, when all you’ve given me is a subway ticket and a Sao Paulo map?”
Button’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton, would have pushed the police driver out of his seat and taken the wheel himself. We all know how he likes to show off his wheel-spinning skills in rush-hour traffic.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso would have simply sat in the stricken car looking cool as a cucumber, knowing that Felipe Massa is always ready to take a bullet for him.
As for Michael Schumacher, it is hard to know how he would deal with armed bandits. Just that whatever he did, he would somehow come out of it looking like the bad guy.
sports@thenational.ae
SERIES INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Nepal, Oman, United States tri-series
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Fixtures
Wednesday February 5, Oman v Nepal
Thursday, February 6, Oman v United States
Saturday, February 8, United States v Nepal
Sunday, February 9, Oman v Nepal
Tuesday, February 11, Oman v United States
Wednesday, February 12, United States v Nepal
Table
The top three sides advance to the 2022 World Cup Qualifier.
The bottom four sides are relegated to the 2022 World Cup playoff
1 United States 8 6 2 0 0 12 0.412
2 Scotland 8 4 3 0 1 9 0.139
3 Namibia 7 4 3 0 0 8 0.008
4 Oman 6 4 2 0 0 8 -0.139
5 UAE 7 3 3 0 1 7 -0.004
6 Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 PNG 8 0 8 0 0 0 -0.458
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.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
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
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
