"Dilly ding, dilly dong." The unlikely wording Claudio Ranieri used to describe the impending likelihood of Leicester City qualifying for European football earlier in the season.
It has become the mantra of Leicester’s unlikely title tilt and the jingle that best exemplifies the affable and excitable nature of the manager behind the extraordinary story.
If Ranieri's side beat Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, they will be crowned Premier League champions.
It would be an astonishing accomplishment for all involved, with Leicester on course to end a 132-year wait for a top-flight title and Ranieri set to finally earn a winner's medal after finishing as a runner-up with Chelsea in England, AS Roma in Italy and AS Monaco in France.
The appointment of the veteran Italian, who had most recently been fired by Greece after a disastrous four-month stint in international football, was widely mocked in the summer. Nobody is laughing now.
Beneath the jolly and gentlemanly exterior, there is a steelier edge to Ranieri. He has charmed players, supporters and journalists alike this term, namely through episodes such as employing an imaginary ‘dilly ding’ bell to improve concentration in training, taking his team on a pizza-making exercise after their first clean sheet and turning up to left-back Christian Fuchs’ birthday party a day early.
But the cuddly, even slightly bumbling, public persona should not detract from the intelligence Ranieri has shown throughout a wonderful campaign, in which the relegation favourites have won 22 of 35 games and lost only three times.
• Read more: Stars have aligned for Leicester City, with Kante, Mahrez and Vardy shining brightest
• Also see: Manchester United stall Leicester celebration, but Chelsea stop Spurs – PL predictions
The 64-year-old has been credited with not changing too much at the King Power Stadium upon his arrival last summer, with the best facets of Nigel Pearson’s team built on rather than broken down.
While Ranieri has indeed managed to retain the team spirit and high-energy approach that characterised Leicester in the second half of 2014/15, he has clearly taken the side to another level.
Leicester have kept 12 clean sheets in their last 17 league outings, a remarkable record that demonstrates how well drilled and well coached they are. Defending is a collective art, and Ranieri deserves a great deal of praise for creating a unit that is so difficult to penetrate.
Each player within Leicester’s 4-4-2 knows exactly what is expected of him, with many roles having changed since Pearson’s time in charge.
Last season’s escape act – Leicester won seven of their last nine encounters to avoid relegation – was largely achieved with a three-man backline, Riyad Mahrez in a central role, Marc Albrighton on the right of midfield and, on occasion, Jamie Vardy on the left.
Ranieri has changed all of those things, reverting to four in defence and using Vardy up top and Mahrez and Albrighton as inverted wingers on the right and left respectively.
He has not made unrealistic demands of a group of players clearly suited to the counter-attack, but his subtle adjustments have had a significant effect.
There have been astute in-game alterations too, even if Ranieri has benefited from the luxury of being able to name the same starting XI for the vast majority of 2016.
Leonardo Ulloa was introduced to great effect against Norwich City and Sunderland, while Jeff Schlupp, Demarai Gray and Andy King have also produced impressive cameo performances in recent weeks.
“I do not think it’s a perfect formula,” Ranieri said of his approach in February. “Football is not chemistry, there are no universal rules, you have to take the best from the group you have.”
While that much is true and the Italian has evidently favoured evolution over revolution, his modest personality and courteous conduct should not preclude recognition that he has done far more than simply stand back and allow an already upwardly-mobile outfit to get on with things.
Leicester are on the brink of history and Ranieri on the verge of going down as the manager responsible for the most unlikely title triumph in the history of English football.
His success proves nice guys can win after all, but Ranieri’s laid-back character should not mean his influence is downplayed.
Better too early than too late
The eve of his side’s FA Cup semi-final is not the ideal time for speculation about a manager’s future to intensify, but that was the reality for Quique Sanchez Flores last week.
Watford's 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace at Wembley has only accelerated talk of the Spaniard being moved on this summer, just a year after taking charge with the remit of keeping the newly-promoted outfit in the Premier League.
Having taken 41 points from 34 matches, Sanchez Flores looks to have fulfilled that objective rather comfortably.
Throw in a first appearance in the last four of the FA Cup since 2007 and the former Al Ahli and Al Ain coach would appear to have exceeded all expectations at Vicarage Road.
From that perspective, then, his firing would be harsh, but the logic behind the Watford board’s thinking seems to relate to Watford’s drop-off in the second half of the campaign.
A 2-2 draw at Chelsea in their 18th match of the season kept Watford in seventh place on 29 points – the same total as Manchester United and three fewer than Tottenham Hotspur.
Since then, though, there have been only three Premier League victories, three draws and 10 defeats. Watford have slipped down to 12th ahead of Saturday's clash with Aston Villa and are now just two points above Crystal Palace in 16th.
The concern is that this slump may be replicated in the first few months of 2016/17, potentially leaving Watford in a precarious position towards the bottom of the table. Replacing Sanchez Flores now, the theory goes, would prevent the rot from truly setting in.
Dismissing a manager who has done what was asked of him and more would certainly seem unfair, but the Pozzo family who own the club are popular with supporters and will likely be given the benefit of the doubt.
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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
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1hr 32mins 03.897sec
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda) at 0.745s
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 37.383s
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 46.466s
5.Sergio Perez (Red Bull-Honda) 52.047s
6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 59.090s
7. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) 1:06.004
8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) 1:07.100
9. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri-Honda) 1:25.692
10. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:26.713,
The UN General Assembly President in quotes:
YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”
PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”
OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”
REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Company%20profile
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Miguel Cotto world titles:
WBO Light Welterweight champion - 2004-06
WBA Welterweight champion – 2006-08
WBO Welterweight champion – Feb 2009-Nov 2009
WBA Light Middleweight champion – 2010-12
WBC Middleweight champion – 2014-15
WBO Light Middleweight champion – Aug 2017-Dec 2017
