Scott Allan embraces banter of being Rangers-Celtic lightning rod: ‘Just good to be at a big club’



Boyhood Glasgow Rangers fan Scott Allan claims he has been subject to as much banter as belligerence since signing for Celtic.

Hibernian rejected several bids from the Ibrox club for the midfielder during the transfer window – not wanting to see him move to a rival Championship club – and the transfer saga ended with a controversial twist when he signed a four-year deal with the Scottish Premiership champions, with the fee reported to be around £275,000 (Dh1.5m).

Speaking at Celtic Park where he was publicising the upcoming Europa League games against Ajax, Molde and Fenerbahce, the 23-year-old spoke about his first few weeks at the Parkhead club.

“It has not been too bad,” said Allan. “I thought it might have been a bit worse, but it has been fine.

“I have kept my head down and got on with my football.

“There have been a couple of things said but nothing too bad, there hasn’t been any malice.

“There has been a lot of humour to be fair, with friends of friends and all that but I knew it was coming so it has not affected me at all to be honest.

“It is just good to be at a big club.”

Ronny Deila’s side dropped out of the Champions League after a 4-3 aggregate defeat in their play-off to Malmo.

However, former Dundee United and West Bromwich Albion player Allan believes there is more than enough in the Europa League to keep the players and fans engaged.

He said: “The Champions League was a bit of a disappointment as we didn’t go through but obviously Fenerbahce and Ajax are big European clubs so there are some big fixtures there and there are still teams to drop out the Champions League so potentially there are some really good games there for the fans.

“We just have to get through the group. Fenerbahce has a really strong team, Ajax have been doing well so hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves and pick up some points.”

Allan has only had a couple of substitute appearances since joining Celtic and is waiting patiently to take his chance.

He said: “There a lot of games coming up so I think everybody will get a chance and it is up to me to take my chance when given it.

“When I signed I said I needed to be patient and I will wait for my chance to come.”

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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.”