John Terry’s face said it all — not once but twice.
There was no chance of the Chelsea captain playing it cool when he opened the scoring in his side’s 4-3 victory over Watford on Monday.
After hooking the ball home, Terry ran towards the home fans wearing a huge grin and the look of a man who believed he would never get the opportunity to experience this feeling again.
The joy proved short-lived, though. Soon after, a miscued header from the Englishman back to goalkeeper Asmir Begovic allowed Etienne Capoue to steal in and get Watford back on level terms. Within 35 seconds, Terry’s joy had turned to anguish.
In a way, it was the perfect snapshot of a career which has featured more than its fair share of highs and lows.
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Read more
■ Predictions: Expect goals as Chelsea and Spurs finish in style
■ Chelsea: Season turned when Antonio Conte turned to Marcos Alonso
■ Antonio Conte: 'Great man' John Terry to keep playing after Chelsea
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Terry has led Chelsea through the most trophy-laden period in their history, winning five Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, one Europa League and one Uefa Champions League — as well as another FA Cup prior to Roman Abramovich’s takeover in 2003.
But it has not all been positive. There was the decisive missed penalty in the 2008 Champions League final against Manchester United, while he did not feature in the conclusion of Chelsea’s successful continental campaign four years later due to suspension.
There have been issues off the pitch, too, namely the racial abuse allegations brought by then-Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand in 2011, which led to him being stripped of the armband at international level.
It is fair to say that Terry has never been too far away from controversy, but there can be no doubting his achievements as a player.
While his fine reading of the game and strength in both the air and the tackle are widely appreciated, the Chelsea man’s range of passing has always been underrated.
He has also been a major influence in the dressing room at Stamford Bridge, which has been particularly vital given Abramovich’s revolving door policy when it comes to managers.
Antonio Conte is the 11th manager Terry has worked under since making his debut in 1998, and his leadership has helped the club stay on the right path throughout.
“It’s going to be tough,” Terry said to Sky Sports when asked about his emotions ahead of his Stamford Bridge swansong against Sunderland on Sunday.
“It’s a tough day when you’ve been at a club for so long, with so many great memories, relationships, friends, managers and everything else. Tonight [Monday] was tough, but next week I’m going to be in bits, I know. I never wanted to be that player who was just hanging about and people couldn’t wait to get rid of. I never wanted to hang about and stop the progress of a younger player, so that’s what I based my decision on.”
With the Premier League title already in the bag and a sixth FA Cup a distinct possibility, Terry will be able to sign off in style this weekend.
He may be past his best, but Chelsea fans will still be sad to see the departure of their most successful ever captain.
Rooney’s future remains unresolved
Wayne Rooney with Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho. Paul Ellis / AFP
In contrast to Terry, Wayne Rooney’s Manchester United career looks set to end with a whimper rather than a bang.
The England captain may have become the club’s all-time record goalscorer earlier this season, but his importance to the team has diminished rapidly in a rather short space of time.
It has not yet been confirmed that Rooney will be seeking pastures new this summer, but this certainly feels like the right moment for a parting of the ways.
Where exactly he pitches up next is a different question entirely.
Boyhood club Everton have been linked with a move, but such a deal would surely not make sense for Ronald Koeman’s side.
Even if Rooney is willing to take a pay cut, it is not clear that Everton would be able to afford him — or that they would be willing to spend such a large portion of their total wage bill on a 31-year-old on the way down.
MLS has provided a home to Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard in recent years, but the league is beginning to move away from expensive overseas imports approaching the end of their careers.
Perhaps the most likely option, then, is the Chinese Super League.
Tianjin Quanjian reportedly held talks with Rooney in January and, according to sources, would even be willing to increase his salary. Other Chinese clubs are bound to be attracted by his name and profile, too.
Yet it remains to be seen whether Rooney and his family would be willing to take such a life-changing step, particularly as the player has never lived outside the north-west of England.
As far as Rooney’s future is concerned, there are far more questions than answers right now.
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War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
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.”
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
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