Celtic sauntered to their sixth consecutive Scottish Premiership title in record time on Sunday with a 5-0 win over Hearts at Tynecastle.
A Scott Sinclair hat-trick plus a goal apiece for Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts meant the party could start in Edinburgh.
There was such an air of eventuality over the affair that it felt somewhat flat for what is an excellent achievement.
There are still eight games to go for each team in the elite league in Scotland and the Glasgow giants already have their order confirmed with the flag makers.
Aberdeen, in second place, are 25 points behind, with a gulf emerging between the North-East team and the best of the rest.
The resurrected club Rangers are lagging a further 10 points behind, with Celtic’s victims yesterday — Hearts, regarded as a “big” force in Scottish football — languishing in fifth place.
There are only 12 teams in the Scottish top flight, which means the opposition for the Celtic Juggernaut can get monotonous as 4-0 or 5-0 wins become the norm.
When said flag is unfurled over the Celtic Park stadium in late July or early August, there will be the same air of inevitability as a new season kicks off.
Celtic win.
As Sinclair said after the win over Hearts: “We keep winning and that’s the mentality here — to keep going.”
For many years, a move to the English leagues and a pop at the “big boys” has been touted and normally falls on deaf ears.
However, maybe now is the time to make it a reality.
With the new-look Rangers, after years in the wilderness, struggling, there are no big rivals left for Celtic in their home country.
This is a club whose fans are used to winning and they regularly welcome 60,000 supporters through there gates for domestic and European fixtures.
They would be no poor neighbours joining the top table in England.
Their average attendance is greater than, at last count, all but English Premier League clubs — Manchester United and Arsenal — and the move itself would garner so much interest, the eyes on the television sets alone would be a massive financial boost for all concerned.
Never mind the added interest from travelling fans wanting a day out in Scotland’s biggest city.
Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham, Colwyn Bay and Merthyr Town are all Welsh teams that play in England, so to uproot Celtic and give them a spot in the English league would not be regarded as a precedent.
Where they are parachuted in is a different matter.
Surely a few noses would be out of joint if they demand a place in the Premier League or the Championship.
However, given the power, momentum, fan base and marketing potential, they would surely be up there soon regardless of their initial entry point.
This is a team that drew twice with Manchester City on Uefa Champions League duty this season.
They already have a ready-made man in charge in the shape of manager Brendan Rodgers, the former Liverpool manager.
Also, they have players such as Sinclair, Moussa Dembele, Armstrong and Leigh Griffiths who would not look out of place among the English top teams.
Maybe it’s time to give them their shot.
msmith@thenational.ae
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
