Manchester United’s fans can lay claim to being the loudest in the Premier League, although Jose Mourinho’s criticism spurred the Chelsea faithful on to give them a real run for their money this weekend.
Ever since Mourinho lamented the lack of atmosphere at Stamford Bridge after a 2-1 win over QPR three weeks ago, Press Association Sport has been recording the decibel levels at all the top-flight games.
They armed their reporters with the smartphone ‘Sound Meter’ app for all games in the last two rounds of Premier League action, which they used to measure the decibel level from the kick-off to the one-minute mark.
While the experiment can in no way be considered scientific and should be viewed as nothing more than a guide, the conditions it was used in at least gives equality to all 20 clubs in the division.
When it was first used a fortnight ago, United’s fans rid themselves of the prawn-sandwich-eating tag they have in some quarters to record a level of 84 decibels against Crystal Palace - a comfortable high for that weekend.
Chelsea’s fans went close to matching it against West Brom on Saturday, with those at Stamford Bridge returning a score of 83 decibels and answering Mourinho’s call.
The Portuguese was apologetic for his comments afterwards, but they undoubtedly did the trick, with the club’s on-field announcer asking for noise and getting it.
“It improved a lot, a lot. You know the answer - there is no comparison,” Mourinho said.
“I don’t want to speak again about it, for good and for bad, because they pay me to coach.
“They pay me to win matches, they don’t pay me to be critical of the crowd so I feel sorry for my comments a couple of weeks ago. But the reality is there today, the difference was amazing.”
The reading failed to match United’s, but was as close as could be and there were three other readings of 83 this weekend.
One came at Arsenal v Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium, with the others recorded at Stoke v Burnley and Hull v Tottenham.
Consequently, Stoke, Tottenham and West Brom fans were second to United in the list of combined scores, with the Red Devils ending up with a total of 167 decibels and that trio some way back on 161, although for balance United’s clash with Palace was played in front of at least an additional 30,000 fans.
Chelsea - whose first reading was 77 decibels, away to Liverpool - were joint third on 160, tied with Palace. Manchester City, United’s so-called “noisy neighbours”, could only manage a combined score of 157.
At the bottom of the sound table, West Ham achieved the lowest overall score of 152, just behind Liverpool on 153.
Below are the full readings for this weekend, with accompanying comments from the reporters. Aston Villa and Southampton play on Monday to complete the test.
Hull v Tottenham (Attendance 23,561)
Decibel level 83: “The meter peaked at 83 moments after kick-of before a delayed throw-in saw it dip to 78. Things levelled out at 80 after that” - Rory Dollard.
Crystal Palace v Liverpool (Attendance 24,862)
Decibel level 76: “Palace fans were quick to get behind their team but it was the Liverpool fans celebrating the opening goal just after the end of the opening-minute test” - Mark Bryans.
Chelsea v West Brom (Attendance 41,600)
Decibel level 83: “There was a good atmosphere as players made their way out to the pitch before kick-off and despite nothing of note occurring in the opening minute of the match, the meter reached a high of 83dB on several occasions. It did not dip below 75dB” - Simon Peach.
Stoke v Burnley (27,018)
Decibel level 83: “No chances in first minute, but both sets of fans in decent voice” - Phil Medlicott.
Arsenal v Manchester United (60,074)
Decibel level 83: “No action on the pitch but both sets of fans were loud, knowing how much the result of this game could turn their respective seasons around” - Jim van Wijk.
Man City v Swansea (45,448)
Decibel level 81: “It was an uneventful opening minute with both sides having spells of possession in the Swansea half; visiting goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski had a couple of touches under no pressure” - Andy Hampson.
Newcastle v QPR (51,915)
Decibel level 80: “It was a low-key start to the game with the only excitement a Daryl Janmaat long ball towards Ayoze Perez” - Damian Spellman.
Everton v West Ham (39,182)
Decibel level 78: “The peak came when Kevin Mirallas looked like he had broken through only to be flagged offside. Most of the singing came from the full section of away fans on opposite side of ground” - Carl Markham.
Leicester v Sunderland (31,825)
Decibel level 78: “Backed by two vocal sets of supporters the volume was good at the King Power - despite nothing for the fans to get excited about on the pitch in the first minute” - Nick Mashiter
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
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Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
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Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
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TICKETS
For tickets for the two-day Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) event, entitled Dubai Invasion 2019, on September 27 and 28 go to www.meraticket.com.
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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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Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
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The specs
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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
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