As sloganeering goes, it was not very impressive.
"Had Enough, Houllier Out" painted in childish block capitals on to an old bed sheet hung from the Holte End at Villa Park is hardly the stuff of Madison Avenue. The copyright symbol added by its proud creator was probably superfluous.
Certainly, the Aston Villa manager will have seen better banners during his time at Liverpool, where no lofty slogan was considered too pretentious for rendering in Kopite embroidery.
The grand proclamations draped over Anfield generally spoke of brotherhood, honour and destiny - proving that Liverpudlians have poetry in their hearts, or at least a copy of Gladiator in their DVD players.
Still, in its own dour, Birmingham fashion, the Holte End banner did its job.
Its creator, whose association with Aston Villa no doubt precedes (and will exceed) Houllier and the owner Randy Lerner's, was unhappy with his team's performance under Houllier. He chose to express that unhappiness in written form, without using foul language or abuse.
In most free societies, that is his right. But a modern Premier League football club is not a free society. The banner was removed within minutes by stewards.
For the record, although I understand the banner writer's frustration, I abhor his moronic, knee-jerk and short-sighted call to sack Houllier after just six months and at such a crucial stage of the season. But, like Voltaire, another well-known Frenchman once said, I will defend to the death his right to say it. OK, not to the death, exactly, but I will write this article.
Why should a fan be stopped from expressing negative views of his team via a homemade banner?
Do they fear it will damage team morale? If so, they should eject any fan caught booing their own team. Such jeering must be more disheartening than a banner to players who may struggle to read English (and that includes the English ones).
Is it because Houllier is so thin-skinned that he cannot bear to read criticism? Although this theory holds water - as a journalist in Liverpool during the Houllier years, I heard tales of sports reporters being hauled into his office to "discuss" their articles, which were already laid out on his desk, with offending passages highlighted - I do not believe it was the case here.
Perhaps it was simply an overzealous steward or police officer, ready to justify their stifling of free speech with the usual hokum about crowd safety: the sheet might have flapped in the breeze and obscured someone's view/knocked over their coffee/startled a pigeon, etc.
My primary suspicion, however, is that the banner was removed by some Villa suit because grumpy fans do not fit the sanitised, sponsor-pleasing, Fifa-approved image of modern football.
We know, from watching adverts, the football fans we are supposed to be. We are young, happy and good-looking. We smile, wear replica shirts and wave only positive banners, or preferably giant foam hands, bought from the club shop. Sorry, I mean Megastore. Ideally, we arrive at the match with our wives and children, or perhaps an ethnically diverse friendship group.
What we are not supposed to be is dour, angry little men who spent the last 24 hour daubing paint on to our mother's second best bed sheets. Well, sorry but real life is not a commercial. Let the angry fan have his say. It is his club - you are just passing through.
Hey, I quite like that last sentence. I might go and scrawl it on a sheet. Copyright me, of course.
Trying times can cause confusion
Do you remember where you were on Saturday March 19, at 3.21pm (GMT) when the news broke? Of course you do. We all do, and always will.
I was helping my father in the garden when mother rushed outside, flour still on her hands and a worried look etched across her face.
“Come quickly,” she said, beckoning us inside. Father and I stood in the kitchen in muddied boots, such was our haste to gather around the wireless.
As it crackled into life, emotionless BBC tones conveyed the news that the international community had both feared and yearned for. The Scotland rugby union team had finally scored a try at Murrayfield. It was their first in two years, followed nine minutes later by a second.
“Well, that’s that, then,” said my father, and returned to his vegetable patch.
“I am sure it is for the best,” said my mother anxiously. “It is what the people want, after all.”
Meanwhile, at Murrayfield itself, there were reports of some children crying with confusion when the scores were made.
“Daddy, why did our man run away with the ball then put it down on the ground like that?” asked Jimmy McTavish, six, from West Lothian. “Does he not want to play any more?”
“No, son, that’s a try,” said his father. “It means he’s scored five points.”
“Five points? But I can only add up in threes! And even then, not very high.”
“Aye son,” came the reply. “Me too.”
“Daddy, do you think when I grow up, that maybe I can score a try for Scotland?”
“Only if we’re playing Italy, son. Only if we’re playing Italy.”
sports@thenational.ae
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THE SPECS
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed dual clutch
Power: 710bhp
Torque: 770Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 2.9 seconds
Top Speed: 340km/h
Price: Dh1,000,885
On sale: now
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
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.”
Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site
The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
UAE squad to face Ireland
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri (vice-captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, CP Rizwaan, Aryan Lakra, Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu, Basil Hameed, Kashif Daud, Adithya Shetty, Vriitya Aravind
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if you go
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
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Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
