Following Manchester United’s bright start to the season, when Jose Mourinho’s team won a third successive league game and kept a third successive clean sheet, the United manager chose to criticise the Old Trafford atmosphere for being quiet during Saturday’s 2-0 win against Leicester City.
He did so unprompted and his motivation was to improve the noise level and make it like the “hell” he first experienced when he first visited as a manager with Porto in 2004.
This writer asked him about it and he said: “My first memory of a strong Old Trafford was when Porto scored in the 88th minute.
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"The next five minutes was hell. In our culture when you score in minute 88, the opponent is dead, the stadium is dead.
“Instead, we had five minutes where the goalkeeper made an amazing save, where the rebound comes, where my left-back was on the post.
"We thought it was over. Old Trafford did not think it was over. They thought it could be possible, another goal. They thought it could be possible for Man United to still win. I remember that noise.
“I also remember that, with 10 or 15 minutes to go, it was 1-0. I looked to my left (along the main stand) and people had their heads in their hands. They were so worried that it was only 1-0.
"It really mattered and maybe they were right because we scored to make it 1-1 and I thought: “Game over”, but Old Trafford didn’t allow for game over. It was hell for us. Hell.”
On one level, Mourinho is right to criticise the lack of noise. United are one of the biggest clubs in world football, but for a run of the mill game at home, the noise level and singing is arguably not even in the top 100 stadiums in European football.
A second division game in Argentina has a better atmosphere than Old Trafford – or any English ground. That country produces better footballers than England and, seemingly, far more vocal fans.
They are louder, more colourful and better organised. In Europe, the noise when United visited St Etienne in February had the travelling fans watching in envy.
United fans are impressive away from home where every ticket allocation is oversubscribed by an average of four requests for each ticket.
Those fans who get tickets win respect even from those with no time for United. But it is more complicated in Britain’s biggest club stadium – just as it is at Camp Nou for Barcelona, though there have been improvements and vocal fans now stand together behind the goal, as they do at the Bernabeu at Real Madrid.
Mourinho enjoyed a strong connection with the hardcore Madrid fans.
Fans arrive too late at Old Trafford, with tens of thousands of the 75,000 seats only being filled in the 15 minutes before kick-off. Vocal fans are spread around, while younger, more vocally inclined fans are far fewer than when there was terracing at Old Trafford.
Attempts have been made to improve the atmosphere and they continue. Loyal fans put time, energy and money into making flags and an atmosphere, but it is a small drop in a very large stadium.
There are no shortage of cynics either, even among United fans, especially those that no longer go to games and almost want the atmosphere to be poor so they can feel vindication for their absence.
Mourinho does have a point and he is right in wanting his home stadium to be louder. Making Old Trafford the proverbial bear pit it was for much of the 70s and 80 (when United won no league titles) should help.
It would be a more enjoyable experience too for those fans at matches and a loud noise does not have to go hand in hand with the violence which accompanies the fan displays in Belgrade or Buenos Aires.
However, the club he works for hardly helped the atmosphere by ramping ticket prices up in the nineties and noughties.
United lost a chunk of the Stretford End to an executive area and a cohort of vocal fans to FC United in 2005, but let’s not pretend that all was well before then.
While this writer read a piece in a Norwegian magazine in 1991 that Old Trafford has the best atmosphere of any football stadium in the world, even the Stretford End terrace was derided for being as loud as a library in its final years.
Safe standing would help at Old Trafford, just as it has at Celtic Park.
Mourinho’s comments have irked some match going fans, who feel they are making an effort and that the club and the players could do more, though the club are beginning to offer small initiatives to encourage fans to arrive earlier at Old Trafford.
Sadly, there is no panacea for the flat atmosphere around the majority of Old Trafford for the majority of games. Too many fans just like to watch the game in peace.
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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.
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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.”
Results
2-15pm: Commercial Bank Of Dubai – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (Dirt) 1,400m; Winner: Al Habash, Patrick Cosgrave (jockey), Bhupat Seemar (trainer)
2.45pm: Al Shafar Investment – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Day Approach, Ray Dawson, Ahmad bin Harmash
3.15pm: Dubai Real estate Centre – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Celtic Prince, Richard Mullen, Rashed Bouresly
3.45pm: Jebel Ali Sprint by ARM Holding – Listed (TB) Dh500,000 (D) 1,000m; Winner: Khuzaam, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
4.15pm: Shadwell – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Tenbury Wells, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.45pm: Jebel Ali Stakes by ARM Holding – Listed (TB) Dh500,000 (D) 1,950m; Winner: Lost Eden, Andrea Atzeni, Doug Watson
5.15pm: Jebel Ali Racecourse – Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,950m; Winner: Rougher, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
