A Saudi-backed consortium pulled out of talks with the Premier League football club Newcastle United as the deal had been going nowhere for months. AP Photo
A Saudi-backed consortium pulled out of talks with the Premier League football club Newcastle United as the deal had been going nowhere for months. AP Photo
A Saudi-backed consortium pulled out of talks with the Premier League football club Newcastle United as the deal had been going nowhere for months. AP Photo
One of the prime justifications for Britain’s exit from the European Union was that London could be a more nimble policymaker. Adoption of better strategic frameworks, not so dominated by the process of the EU, would make for a more attractive international player.
The withdrawal of Saudi Arabia's interest in buying the Premier League football club Newcastle United last week sends a worrying signal in the opposite direction. The Saudi-backed consortium pulled out because the deal had been going nowhere for months.
There can be no excuse in the preoccupation with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Premier League is one of Britain’s biggest earners. For this generation it represents what coal and steel did for their grandfathers' generation. What happens on the pitch is the lifeblood of sport. But the wider considerations flowing from the Saudi Arabian interest in owning Newcastle should have been within the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s hawk-like vision.
NEWCASTLE UNITED 2019/20 RATINGS: MANAGER: Steve Bruce - 6 out of 10: A really tough one to mark. Took on the thankless task of replacing the immensely popular Rafa Benitez in the hotseat with the hugely unpopular owner Mike Ashley still in charge. Ultimately, he did exactly what Ashley wants from his managers - he kept the club safely in the top-flight. He also steered Newcastle to their first FA Cup quarter-final since 2006. EPA
GOALKEEPERS: Martin Dubravka - 8: To say it's been a busy season for the Slovakian would be an understatement. Made the most saves out of any Premier League keeper - 140 - and without many of these stops, Newcastle would be heading back down to the Championship. A few blunders along the way, but to be expected when left exposed so regularly. Named as club's player of the year. AP
Karl Darlow - 6: Back-up restricted to cup competitions with Dubravka firmly established as No 1. AFP
DEFENDERS: Fabian Schar - 6: The versatile Swiss endured a miserable restart and struggled badly for any sort of consistency. Shifted into midfield by Bruce which failed to pay off, then saw his season ended by a dislocated shoulder. Getty
Florian Lejeune - 5: Another injury-ravaged, soul-destroying season for the French centre-half, managing just eight appearances in all competitions. AFP
Paul Dummett 5: Local lad and another defender whose season has been decimated by injury. Not played since January. AFP
Jamaal Lascelles - 6: Club captain will never give less than 100 per cent and Newcastle certainly felt more organised when he plays but can look slow and cumbersome at times - see lack of footwork for opening West Ham goal in home draw after restart. Could miss the start of next season after undergoing an ankle operation. AFP
Emil Krafth - 5: Swedish right-back looked completely unsuited for the rough and tumble world of England's top-flight after arriving in a £5 million (Dh23.6m) deal from French side Amiens last summer. Barely played for middle part of season but did OK when brought back into team after restart. Was completely out of his depth when forced to play in a central defensive role due to injuries. AFP
DeAndre Yedlin - 5: American full-back has started just 12 games in all competitions this season and looks set for the exit after four seasons at the club. AFP
Ciaran Clark - 6: Another injury-blighted season and another big miss at the back for Newcastle. Just 14 league appearances for the experienced Irish centre-half. AFP
Jetro Willems - 6: Wing-back on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt saw his time cruelly ended by a serious knee injury in January. Form had been erratic at times but had shown flashes of quality. AFP
Federico Fernandez - 7: The last fit senior centre-half still standing by the end of the season as his defensive colleagues fell to injuries one after the other. A solid season overall form the Argentine, particularly after restart. EPA
Javi Manquillo - 6: Spanish full-back has made himself an invaluable player for Newcastle this season - probably his best since joining the club in 2017 - covering ably down both flanks. Another shifted uncomfortably into a central defensive role due to the late season injury avalanche. Getty
Danny Rose - 6: Signed on loan from Spurs in January and has been solid if unspectacular. Newcastle desperately need a left-back and Jose Mourinho certainly doesn't want him at Tottenham, but at 30-years-old, he would appear to be too old for the Mike Ashley signing criteria. PA
Jonjo Shelvey - 8: A good season from the midfielder who, embarrassingly for Newcastle, finished as second-top scorer with six goals. A wonderful passer who also puts in a shift for the team. Getty
Allan Saint-Maximin - 8: A very exciting talent, signed for around £16m last summer, who stepped up a level after the restart. Can be virtually unplayable for opponents when in full flow but needs more consistency, more composure in front of goal and better final product if he wants to reach the very top. Immense potential, though. Getty
Matt Ritchie - 7: A frustrating season for the winger/wingback due to injury but a whole-hearted player who will always give 100 per cent. Ended his scoring drought with fine goal against Spurs after the restart. Getty
Isaac Hayden - 7: Newcastle always feel a stronger outfit with Hayden sitting in front of the defence winning tackles and keeping things simple with the ball. Getty
Christian Atsu - 5: Winger has barely featured under Bruce, barring sporadic substitute appearances, and is set to leave the club this summer. AFP
Valentino Lazaro - 5: A frustrating time for the January loan signing from Inter Milan who was never given a run in the team by Bruce. Flashes of potential - excellent goal after coming on as substitute in the 4-1 win at Bournemouth, when also cracked the crossbar with a fierce strike - but not clear what is the midfielder's best position. Getty
Sean Longstaff - 6: Another facing a crucial season in his career. Local boy who has struggled for form and fitness this season but has the potential to become a first-team regular. Getty
Nabil Bentaleb - 5: The former Spurs midfielder was a huge disappointment after joining on loan from German side Schalke in January. The odd flash of quality but did not do enough to justify a permanent move. Getty
Matty Longstaff - 6: The 20-year-old brother of Sean looks set for a move to Italy after refusing to sign a new deal at the club, much to the frustration of manager Bruce. Scored fairy-tale winner against Manchester United on his Premier League debut in October but failed to kick-on from that early high. PA
Miguel Almiron - 7: Pacey midfielder who finally ended his goal drought this season and finished as Newcastle's top scorer with eight. A big season coming up for the Paraguayan - his third in England - where, like Saint-Maximin, needs to show more composure with his final ball. Still unclear what his best position is. Reuters
ATTACKERS: Andy Carroll - 5: A frustrating return to Tyneside for the big striker. Like the story of his career as a whole, has been hindered by a series of niggling injuries and is still awaiting his first goal since rejoining last summer. Can feel rightly aggrieved, though, that he wasn't given more of a run as Bruce stuck by the misfiring Joelinton. Getty
Joelinton - 4: An absolute disaster of a first season in England for the club-record signing from Hoffenheim. Given the famous No 9 shirt but is clearly unsuited to lead the line. Four goals all season - and just two in the league in 32 starts - and needs a miraculous change in form and fortune if he join the list of Newcastle attacking greats. Getty
Dwight Gayle - 6: A prolific striker in the Championship who struggles to repeat the feat at the top level. Still looked a more natural finisher than Joelinton and contributed three goals after the restart. Getty
Yoshinori Muto - 4: A reminder that poor signings were made under Benitez's reign as well. The £9.5m signing in the summer of 2018 has made two league starts all season and scored one goal - against Leicester in the League Cup. AFP
The reasons it did not are worrying signs that the direction of travel for Britain is moving in contraflow to its stated vision of fleet-footed international competitor.
It was not that some officials did not recognise the importance of the moment. The British ambassador in Riyadh moved strongly to embrace the deal. Neil Crompton was a weighty warrior. He had some backing from the behind-the-scenes heavyweight Edward Lister, Mr Johnson's chief of staff, for his efforts.
Beyond Whitehall there was an unusual groundswell from the fans. The pandemic lockdown has left the wolf knocking at the door of many football clubs. For all its formidable calls to loyalty, Newcastle fans recognise as fragile their claims to a place in the top spot if growth does not come from strong ownership backing. In mid-July Alan Shearer, the club's former manager, eyed the impending transfer season and implored the Premier League to get the deal done.
The Premier League’s iron bureaucracy acted as if it hadn’t heard. Having inherited the very rich prize of the most marketable assets in the world, there are genuine questions about how its custodianship is exercised.
However, this is not the place for those questions. The issue at hand raised by the failure of the Newcastle takeover is the reliability of Britain as an international partner.
For all its formidable calls to loyalty, Newcastle United fans recognise as fragile their claims to a place in the top spot if growth does not come from strong ownership backing. Reuters
Newcastle is something of a place apart in the north-eastern part of Britain. The patchwork of tribal allegiances to football clubs makes for tricky landscape that politicians in London prefer to avoid. Yet the region is to Mr Johnson what the American state of West Virginia is to US President Donald Trump: it is the source of a deep seam of support that crossed the ideological rubicon to support the Conservative leader.
There is a general expectation that Mr Johnson must show London is now on the side of the northern "Red Wall" areas – the once Labour party-supported constituencies in the Midlands, Yorkshire and northern England, which suffered from deindustrialisation.
The flip side of that coin is that the accusation of betrayal is never far from the lips of doubters. Far worse is the idea that Mr Johnson, just like the generation of Conservative leaders that were reviled there, couldn’t care less about the fate of these regions.
That is where the lack of nimble footwork over the Newcastle bid matters.
One of the Boris Johnson government's justifications for Brexit was that London could be a more nimble policymaker. AFP
There was no political mobilisation to generate real and effective groundswell for the bid into the political arena. A comment from a cabinet minister or the sports minister did not make for strategy. It is hard to imagine that this negligence would be case if there was massive investment on offer for a struggling bus manufacturer.
The newbie Red Wall members of Parliament were missing in action. Few were tapped as advocates. Nor was the group mobilised to use their political mass and fresh political clout for the proposal.
Instead, by default, it withered away in a fit of inadvertent political neglect.
It is early days but the international interest in how Mr Johnson runs Britain is facing a series of tests like this, and his government appears to be ducking the challenges. The Conservative leadership made commitments to free trade and open investment accords that should see international money flows towards Britain, not its rivals.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has put some planned measures to ease the lockdown on hold. AP Photo
For reasons that are not wholly related to the black hole in public finances caused by the pandemic, there are concerns policies will instead be hostile.
It is considering wealth taxes that would essentially target property and business investment gains. The borrowing needed to keep the economy stable in recent months is of a vast scale. Trusting that Mr Johnson will not go for "easy pickings" from investors should be a fairly safe bet. There is no evidence for this.
For the moment Mr Johnson's government is overwhelmed with the politics of first easing and then retightening the lockdown. The future could shape up as a motley trail of decisions made with such beleaguered insouciance.
Damien McElroy is the London bureau chief of The National
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes. The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species
Camelpox
Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.
Falconpox
Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.
Houbarapox
Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
The flights Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow. Where to stay
It is advisable to stay in Lucknow and make a day trip to Kannauj. A stay at the Lebua Lucknow hotel, a traditional Lucknowi mansion, is recommended. Prices start from Dh300 per night (excluding taxes).
