There are plenty of similarities to the careers of Vincent Kopmany and John Stones, but coaching won’t be one of them.
As Manchester City prepare for a Friday night trip to Burnley, where they start the defence of a Premier League crown that has been on their heads since May 2021, England defender Stones has been quick to praise his former teammate, who is now the Clarets’ manager.
The City man made it clear, however, that despite the fact that they have both played in midfield and as defenders at the highest level, he will not be joining his Belgian friend on the training ground.
“Of those I have played with recently, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne would make good managers and probably Ruben Dias too,” said Stones. “Definitely not me though. I might eat my words but right now coaching doesn’t interest me.”
Despite his lack of enthusiasm for the top job in the future, Stones has credited Pep Guardiola for completely reinventing how he sees football and believes Kompany has all the qualities it takes to succeed.
“I messaged him when they got promoted, I was just so pleased for him,” said Stones, who was in City's starting XI for their season opening Community Shield defeat against Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday.
“I didn’t expect anything less to be honest given Vinnie’s character and desire. He will have gone in there with a target to be promoted and not expected anything less.”
The two men met last season when City handed Burnley a 6-0 drubbing on their way to winning the FA Cup – the middle leg of the historic treble that concluded with a Champions League final victory over Inter Milan in Istanbul.
“When we played Burnley at the Etihad in the FA Cup quarter-final I was so impressed by the way Vinnie had them playing,” recalled Stones. “It was a really difficult game, I know in the end the scoreline didn’t reflect that but I can assure you it was hard.
“Playing alongside him and sharing a dressing room with him I saw first-hand what a passion Vinnie has for the game, he is a winner and he won’t settle for second best.
“He will make a top-class manager. He has that empathy that you need. There are only a few people who know instinctively when to deliver a rocket and when to console you. He can read a dressing room.”
Ironically, when Kompany arrived at City from Hamburg he was a central midfielder and only later became a full-time defender. Stones has gone the opposite route with a hybrid role at City that sees him augment the engine room from the back line.
“I absolutely love it, I’m learning. Every year there’s something new,” he declared on the eve of a new season that could see him land a sixth Premier League title.
‘I always say when you’re happy, in anything, you enjoy it more. At the minute I’m happy and that’s when you can express yourself more. Pep saw with my attributes that he could simplify the game and help me improve and get better in that system. He’s unbelievable the way he sees the game.
Man City 2022/23 season ratings
“I have shown myself that I’m able to do it, maybe showing some attributes I didn’t know I had but the manager has seen in me.”
After their exploits last season in becoming only the second English team to land the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League treble, there are those who might question the desire – if not the ability – to go and do it all again but as the Burnley game draws close, Stones teammate, Nathan Ake, who signed a contract extension this summer, has poured cold water on that theory.
“Last season, after you have been fighting everything, maybe it takes a little while to get back to that level but from the very first day back in training this summer Pep went into that and made sure we were doing the same things we’ve always done that have brought so much success,” he said.
‘If you don’t start doing it straight away then it’s going to be too late; that’s why he’s hammered us straight away, so that we have the same work rate. He’s been on top of us.”
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg
Real Madrid (2) v Bayern Munich (1)
Where: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
When: 10.45pm, Tuesday
Watch Live: beIN Sports HD
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
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Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Zayed Sustainability Prize
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
England 241-3 (20 ovs)
Malan 130 no, Morgan 91
New Zealand 165 all out (16.5ovs)
Southee 39, Parkinson 4-47
England win by 76 runs
Series level at 2-2
Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Aahid Al Khalediah II, Pat Cosgrave (jockey), Helal Al Alawi (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Whistle, Harry Bentley, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm: Wathba Stallions Cup - Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Alsaied, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6.30pm: Emirates Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Mumayaza, Antonio Fresu, Eric Lemartinel
7pm: Emirates Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Hameem, Adrie de Vries, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7.30pm: President’s Cup – Group 1 (PA) Dh2,500,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle
8pm: President’s Cup – Listed (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Medahim, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
