Rainer Hollman, Galatasaray's German coach, had just seen his team come from 2-0 down to draw 3-3 with Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Champions League in 1993.
The Turkish side's comeback stunned United and Alex Ferguson later admitted that he was "in shock". His Galatasaray equivalent was delighted and, with the second leg in Istanbul, fancied his side's chances of progressing to the group stages.
As United had never played in Turkey, one journalist asked Hollman if there would be a hot welcome for the English in Istanbul. "They'll be waiting for you," smirked the German as he left the press conference. "At the airport."
Two weeks later, the United team were met by hundreds of fans screaming the "Cim Bom Bom" chant derived from Galatasaray's nickname and waving "Welcome to Hell" banners.
The atmosphere at the following night's game justified the hype and Gary Neville, the United defender, still maintains that it was the "most hostile atmosphere I've ever known".
"When we walked out into the stadium it was the most incredible noise I'd experienced in my life," Neville added. "I was only a young lad, but I probably learned more in 10 minutes that night than I had in two years playing for the reserves."
At least Neville and his teammates got to experience the febrile atmosphere in the notorious Ali Sami Yen Stadium. I was among the 164 innocent United fans locked up in prisons around Istanbul for 24 hours and then deported.
We missed a 0-0 game (a result sufficient to send the home side through) and Eric Cantona fighting with Turkish police.
"After the game, the police were supposed to be protecting us, but one of them whacked me as I went down the tunnel," Paul Parker, the former defender, said. "When we got on the coach, jubilant Galatasaray fans banged on the side, attempted to rock it and threw anything they could get their hands on while the police made no attempt to intervene.
"At the airport there was no security and we had to wait the best part of three hours before they allowed our plane to leave. I am never going back to Turkey. Never."
United and Galatasaray were drawn together a year later and I travelled again.
The atmosphere was unlike anything I had experienced, the riot of flares, flags and passion unmatched in western Europe.
Every Galatasaray player appeared to have a connection with the crowd which saw them run towards them when they chanted their name, an ongoing, sabre-rattling ritual known as the buraya.
It wasn't only a lunatic fringe - the female Turkish Prime Minister joined in with the hero worship. Turkish supporters see themselves not as passive spectators, but as an active component in the event.
United have long since got used to the Turkish welcome and will be expecting a cauldron of noise when they play Bursaspor tonight - a team known for the passion of their fans in their 25,000 capacity stadium.
Ferguson's side have ventured back to Turkey several times since 1993, each time to a louder reception.
At Fenerbahce in 1996, the hosts turned their floodlights off 20 minutes before kick off to improve the spectacle of their fans setting fire to rolled up newspapers so that the stadium looked like it was ablaze.
And the referee's whistle did not stop the public address announcer from bellowing out constant support for his players.
It took the intervention of Sir Bobby Charlton, the United legend and now a club figurehead, to a Uefa official 15 minutes into the game before it stopped.
Derbies between the three Istanbul giants (Besiktas are the third) are intense and volatile and the actions of Galatasaray's former coach Graeme Souness only stoked them up.
In an act of adrenaline-fuelled bravado in 1996 - the Scot, who played for Liverpool and Glasgow Rangers, planted a massive Galatasaray flag in the centre of the turf at Fenerbahce's Sukru Saracoglu stadium after a derby win, which ensured him hero status with the Cim Bom faithful.
The tribal triumphs and madcap antics of Turkish football may shock the senses, but there has been a more sinister side when English and Turkish clubs have met in the past.
The English were regarded as the instigators of hooliganism (labelled "the English disease") in the 1970s and 80s and Turkish hooligans wanted to fight those visitors whose reputation had preceded them.
Arsenal and Galatasaray fans clashed during prolonged battles in Copenhagen when the sides met in the 2000 Uefa Cup final.
That was the year two Leeds United supporters were stabbed to death after violent clashes with Galatasaray supporters in central Istanbul ahead of a Uefa Cup clash.
The perpetrators were brought to justice and Turkish clubs were told to clean up their acts.
Both Galatasaray and Fenerbahce left their crumbling homes and play in state of the art stadiums, but their fans remain fervent for big games.
New foreign signings are given a rapturous welcome at the airport, while supporters arrive hours before kick off and fan leaders stand with their backs to the game on specially constructed platforms as they start chants with loud hailers.
Given that most stadia in western Europe are becoming more sanitised and subdued, the Turkish passion should be celebrated. It is not unsafe to watch games in Turkey, but as Manchester United and the 400 travelling fans will find out tonight, nor is it for the faint-hearted.
sports@thenational.ae
11.45pm, Aljazeera Sport +5
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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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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
