Sam Allardyce will be appointed the new England manager within 24 hours, British media has reported.
The 61-year-old Sunderland manager arrived at Victoria Park for his club's first pre-season friendly against Hartlepool shortly after 6pm on Wednesday evening as the news emerged that he is likely to be announced as Roy Hodgson's successor following an English Football Association Board meeting on Thursday.
It is a dream appointment for the former Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United and West Ham United manager, who was beaten to the post by Steve McClaren 10 years ago.
Allardyce’s imminent departure from Wearside came just hours after FA chief executive Martin Glenn revealed the governing body was close to making a decision, but insisted it would not be rushed.
The Sunderland manager has been the avourite ever since it emerged that he had held talks with the three-man panel of Glenn, vice-chairman David Gill and technical director Dan Ashworth, the men charged with the task of finding the new man after leaving the club’s pre-season training camp in Austria last week.
See also:
• Best and worst: IOC procrastination, race to be England manager, Olympic golf
• Steve Bruce: Hull City manager joins Sam Allardyce in running for England job
• Trevor Brooking: Former FA director of football development backs Sam Allardyce to be next England manager
Discussions have also been held with Hull City manager Steve Bruce, while Bournemouth's Eddie Howe and United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann are also understood to have figured prominently on the FA's shortlist.
Allardyce will face the task of picking up the pieces after a disastrous Euro 2016 finals campaign which saw England dumped out of the competition by Iceland in ignominious fashion.
However, his remit will be wider than just the senior international squad as the powers that be attempt to address the serial failure of recent decades with the 50th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup final success just days away.
Earlier in the day, Glenn had told Sky Sports News: “We’re not after a short-term mercenary, someone just to do the job for a couple of years.
“I want someone to come in to the England role to really work with not just the senior team, but to make sure all the great work with the under-16s, 17s, 18s – look at how well the under-19s are doing now – and to knit all that together.
“We want someone to do a great job for the England national team, but as well make sure all the development teams are laddering up to something more effective.”
Part of the process will also involve ensuring players at the highest level reproduce their club form when they pull on the England shirt, something which has not always been the case at recent tournaments.
Glenn said in a separate interview with BBC Sport: “The new manager has got to be someone who can inspire people to get the best out of themselves, build resilience and unashamedly adopt the kind of psychological techniques that other sports and other football teams have done, to really inspire people that when they put their England jersey on they play as well for England as they do for their club.”
If the FA’s search for a manager is at an end, Sunderland now face the task of finding a ninth permanent manager in less than eight years, although wheels have been in motion for some time.
Sunderland were unhappy with the way news of Allardyce’s discussions leaked out, and the uncertainty surrounding his position at the Stadium of Light as a result has proved disruptive to preparations for the new season.
However, they have also drawn up a list of potential candidates and it is understood the names of former Everton and Real Sociedad manager David Moyes and Burnley’s Sean Dyche are at the very top of it.
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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.”
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Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'
Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.
"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
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