The Manchester City manager Mark Hughes' multi-million pound team suffered an embarrassing League Cup second round exit to Brighton.
The Manchester City manager Mark Hughes' multi-million pound team suffered an embarrassing League Cup second round exit to Brighton.

City embarrassed by lowly Brighton



LONDON // Manchester City were unceremoniously dumped out of the League Cup by third-tier outfit Brighton & Hove Albion last night, a day after the newly enriched English Premier League outfit was bought by a group from Abu Dhabi. Chelsea cruised into the fourth round with an emphatic 4-0 win at Portsmouth, while Tottenham began the defence of their title with a 2-1 victory away at Newcastle in a meeting of the Premier League's crisis clubs. Championship side QPR pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the night when they beat five-time champions Aston Villa 1-0 after Damion Stewart planted a 58th-minute header past the USA international goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Everton, semi-finalists last season, went down 1-0 at Blackburn and Wigan won 4-1 at Ipswich.

Man City rested Brazilian forward Robinho in one of five changes after Sunday's 6-0 trouncing of Portsmouth, but it backfired as the team squandered an opportunity to win their first major trophy in 32 years. The Brighton goalkeeper Michel Kuipers saved City's fourth penalty taken by Michael Ball as his League One team took the shoot-out 5-3 after it was 2-2 following extra time in the only second-round match. "We can't dwell on this too long," the City manager Mark Hughes said. "The game should have been ours and of course there is a lot of focus on us now but there will be ups and downs for the foreseeable future." The City midfielder Gelson Fernandes looked to have got the Eastlands club's winner when he turned Jo's pass home in the 64th minute, but Glenn Murray equalised a minute from time after second-choice goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel spilt Steve Thomson's shot. Brighton went ahead five minutes into extra time through Joe Anyinsah, only for Stephen Ireland to give City a lifeline in the 108th minute by forcing a shoot-out. Brighton will prepare to play Derby, while the team 52 places above it in the English standings will rue a chance to repeat its 1976 glory. It was a miserable night for the Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, whose FA Cup-winning side have now conceded 10 goals in two matches. The England midfielder Frank Lampard put Chelsea ahead at Fratton Park from the penalty spot in the 36th minute after Michael Ballack was brought down by Nadir Belhadj. Salomon Kalou fed Florent Malouda to double the tally on the stroke of half-time, and then provided Lampard's second four minutes after the restart before getting a goal of his own to complete the 4-0 victory.

The Chelsea striker Didier Drogba started a game for the first time since May's Champions League final defeat to Manchester United and nearly opened the scoring as early as the third minute when he shot just wide of goalkeeper David James in the Pompey goal. St James' Park was less than half full as Newcastle lost their third straight match since manager Kevin Keegan quit last month to plunge the club into further turmoil.

A torrid first half between the sides occupying the bottom two league spots saw the Tottenham defender Jonathan Woodgate come close to scoring against his former club twice. He then rescued Spurs after the break by hooking wide one shot from Damien Duff and blocking another from Michael Owen. Roman Pavlyuchenko scored his first goal since moving to Spurs last month, soaring to head Aaron Lennon's cross past goalkeeper Shay Given in the 62nd minute.

Woodgate blocked Geremi's free-kick before Jamie O'Hara put Spurs 2-0 up in the 66th minute. O'Hara intercepted Fabricio Coloccini's pass across the defence before Steven Taylor could clear and scored on the eve of his 22nd birthday. Michael Owen pulled one backed for the beleaguered Magpies just before the full-time whistle was blown. Jeers from the beleaguered Magpies fans rang out around the ground at the final whistle, which is unlikely to impress possible investors with owner Mike Ashley having responded to fan protests by putting the club up for sale. The former England striker Robbie Fowler made an immediate impact on his Blackburn debut, playing a one-two with Martin Olsson, who fired past goalkeeper Tim Howard with just 10 minutes played.

The 33-year-old Fowler is on a three-month, performance-related deal after leaving Cardiff. Wigan breezed past Ipswich, regaining control after Lee Cattermole's 52nd-minute goal was cancelled out by Jonathan Walters' volley nine minutes later. Olivier Kapo took just three minutes to restore Wigan's advantage, with Paul Scharner (70) and substitute Henri Camara (90) completing a 4-1 victory.

Second round Brighton 2 Manchester City 2 (Brighton win 5-3 on penalties) Third round Aston Villa 0 Queens Park Rangers 1 Ipswich Town 1 Wigan Athletic 4 Newcastle United 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2 Portsmouth 0 Chelsea 4 Blackburn Rovers 1 Everton 0

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

The Word for Woman is Wilderness
Abi Andrews, Serpent’s Tail

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

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.”

FA Cup fifth round draw

Sheffield Wednesday v Manchester City
Reading/Cardiff City v Sheffield United
Chelsea v Shrewsbury Town/Liverpool
West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United/Oxford United
Leicester City v Coventry City/Birmingham City
Northampton Town/Derby County v Manchester United
Southampton/Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich City
Portsmouth v Arsenal 

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE

The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.

"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."

Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.

"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.

As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general. 

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Saturday

Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm kick-off UAE)

Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke (5.30pm)

Wolfsburg v Cologne (5.30pm)

Mainz v Arminia Bielefeld (5.30pm)

Augsburg v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)

RB Leipzig v Bayern Munich (8.30pm)

Borussia Monchengladbach v Freiburg (10.30pm)

Sunday

VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen  (5.30pm)

Union Berlin v Hertha Berlin (8pm)

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

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Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press