Spare a thought for Joey Barton ... and his victims



Spare a thought for Joey Barton, the Newcastle midfielder, jailbird and, in the vernacular of the terraces, a bit of a nutter. He has just been released from prison after being sentenced to six months for inflicting grievous bodily harm on then-teammate Ousmane Dabo in a training ground punch-up last year. No, that's wrong. He only got a suspended sentence for beating up Dabo so badly that he almost lost the use of one eye. Barton, 25, has, in fact, just been released from prison for beating up a teenager outside a McDonalds in Liverpool - not, incidentally, the same teenager whom Barton assaulted in 2005 in Thailand. Nor, indeed, the other teenager in whose eye he stubbed out a lit cigar at a party in 2004.

Anyway, poor Joey has not only been severely punished by the courts for beating up someone or other (though certainly not the Liverpool taxi driver whom he was accused of assaulting last year - he was cleared of that charge) but he also now faces an unprecedented playing ban and massive fine from the Football Association. Despite protests from Newcastle, football's governing body in England has decided to get tough with Barton and charge him with violent conduct...something they manifestly failed to do after Barton savagely kicked Dickson Etuhu in the derby game against Sunderland last November.

Barton has until August 13 to request a personal hearing and Newcastle say he will do just that. Quite why remains a mystery as he has already admitted in court assaulting Dabo when the two were teammates at Manchester City. Newcastle are trying to maintain that Barton has suffered enough. They have fined him, they say, for the McDonalds incident and did not pay him his £65,000-a-week (Dh 467,000-odd) wages during the six weeks or so that he was in prison.

And The Times has revealed that they have also banned him from using the corporate boxes at St James's Park and from getting the occasional use of one of the club's chauffeurs - something that might have come in handy for the self-confessed alcoholic. Newcastle feel that, by the FA charging Barton after he has already been punished by the courts, they are being unfairly penalised because his misdemeanours on the Dabo front were committed when he played for somebody else.

The club said in a statement over the weekend: "Newcastle United can confirm that it has received documentation from the Football Association stating that it is charging Joey Barton with misconduct in relation to the incident that occurred with Ousmane Dabo in May, 2007, at a time when he was a registered player of Manchester City. The FA, though, is determined to show that it can keep its own house in order even if, at times, it clearly can't.

Meanwhile, Dabo himself, who now plays for Lazio, believes that the 'punishment' meted out by Newcastle, in addition to the unflagging support Barton has had from Kevin Keegan, the manager, amounts to a complete disregard for basic standards of decency. "English clubs teach you lots of lessons," the Frenchman told The Sun newspaper. "But in this case, they truly lack morals. As for Barton, he is back in training and Keegan reckons that, despite his enforced absence away from the football field, it will not take him long to regain full fitness.

Just how much good that will do him with the FA possibly about to impose a playing ban that could stretch of 15 matches, remains to be seen. So spare a thought for Joey Barton. And, in passing, for his victims, too. @Email:sports@thenational.ae

City's slump

L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1

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Number of staff: 210 
 
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
  • 2018: Formal work begins
  • November 2021: First 17 volumes launched 
  • November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
  • October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
  • November 2024: All 127 volumes completed

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.”

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Isle of Dogs

Director: Wes Anderson

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Ed Norton, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson

Three stars