LONDON // Ken Bates, the Leeds United chairman, will relish taking his place in the directors' box at the Emirates Stadium today as his side take on Arsenal in the FA Cup third round. Bates hopes it will be a taste of things to come.
Leeds are banging on the Premier League door, having moved on from last season's promotion from League One, the third tier, to assume a position in the Championship play-off places.
"Obviously, the aim since I took over in 2005 was to get this great club back where it should be. It was a five-year plan so it has taken a bit longer but we are heading in the right direction" Bates said.
"A game at Arsenal will give us a real taster. We will have 8,500 fans travelling down and the level of play and the surrounds will show us where this club can be heading again. I have a lot of admiration for Arsenal.
"They are an institution. It is well-run, well-managed, conservatively operated and they deserve a great deal of applause. They don't go and buy success; they build it."
The last statement was an obvious jibe at how Chelsea have gone about their business since Bates sold the club - which he bought for £1 (Dh5.70) in 1982 - to Roman Abramovich in 2003.
Even at the age of 79, Bates - known for ruffling feathers during his long association with the game - could not resist using the media interest around this game to fire off a few verbal bullets at some former rivals.
"I have to say I admire Arsene Wenger for what he has done as a manager of the club, but I have never really been a great fan of the man," Bates said. "Wenger moans a lot and never sees anything", referring to incidents on the pitch.
"Yes, he's a great manager. But the fact of the matter is you have to look at his behaviour at a great club."
Of Chelsea, Bates added with a bit of restraint: "It's a different club now.
"I was very careful not to criticise the Abramovich regime. I simply said their values are not my values, their methods aren't my methods, their attitudes aren't my attitudes"
So how would he greet Abramovich if Leeds do gain promotion to the Premier League this season?
With a glint in his eye Bates said: "Mr Abramovich will be very welcome in the chairman's suites, providing he's wearing a tie."
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
Omar Yabroudi's factfile
Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah
Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University
2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship
2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy
2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment
2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment
2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager
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The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre, V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: seven-speed PDK dual clutch automatic
Power: 375bhp
Torque: 520Nm
Price: Dh332,800
On sale: now
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RESULT
Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1
(Esperance won 6-5 on penalties)
Esperance: Belaili 38’
Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’
Match info:
Portugal 1
Ronaldo (4')
Morocco 0
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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