MIDDLESBROUGH // Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United players were accused of sparking an ugly clash in the tunnel in a stormy aftermath to their 3-1 win at Middlesbrough.
United remain in contention for Uefa Champions League qualification after a hard-fought victory on Sunday, which ended with rival players separated by security staff in the tunnel when punches were reportedly thrown.
Middlesbrough captain Ben Gibson and United’s former England midfielder Ashley Young were restrained by teammates as tempers flared.
Mourinho refused to comment, but Middlesbrough caretaker manager Steve Agnew insisted his players were reacting to provocation after a stoppage-time bust-up between United defender Eric Bailly and Rudy Gestede, which initially appeared to include the duo biting each other before replays showed it was only a heated clinch.
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“I’m picking up there’s something gone on in the tunnel,” Agnew said. “That many bodies were there, it was hard to tell with all the pushing and shoving.
“What triggered it off I don’t know. I’ve got a group of very well behaved players so I can assure you it wouldn’t be one of ours.
“What I would say it would have been a reaction because of the spirit they have.”
Mourinho had inflamed matters before the game by suggesting he "knew the names" of the players he claimed had been responsible for the departure of Aitor Karanka, his former Real Madrid assistant who was sacked as Middlesbrough manager last week.
The Portuguese headed down the tunnel at the final whistle without acknowledging his opposite number, though Agnew confirmed the pair had shaken hands in the tunnel afterwards.
“Was this justice for Karanka?” Mourinho said after seeing his side extend their 18-game unbeaten league run to end a 19-week stay in sixth by climbing to fifth, two points ahead of Arsenal and Everton.
“I think justice for Karanka is the work he did here, people can never delete that. He took the club form the brink of League One to the Premier League.
“I know what I’m saying, he could have left for a bigger club and yet he stayed, then in the end he loses his job.
“Despite all that’s happened, I still think he’ll be unhappy we have won, because he wants this club to stay in the Premier League.”
Middlesbrough’s hopes of achieving that aim look increasingly slim after an 11-game three-month run without a league win.
They at least ended their lengthy goal drought as Gestede pounced on a mistake by Chris Smalling to halve the arrears.
Hopes of salvaging an unlikely draw to chip away at the five-point gap to safety faced by a side currently second from bottom were extinguished by Victor Valdes’s stoppage-time slip which allowed Antonio Valencia to walk the ball into an unguarded net.
Goals either side of half time from Marouane Fellaini and Jesse Lingard had put the visitors in control.
“It’s a big win that keeps us alive in the competition for fourth place,” Mourinho said.
Given their presence in the Europa League, United retain two potential avenues to next season’s Champions League, and Mourinho added: “Do I prefer to qualify for the Champions League by finishing fourth or winning Europa League? I prefer Europa League. There’s a prestige to winning a trophy.”
“To push Manchester United all the way is something I was really pleased with,” added Agnew, who has had no assurances as to the length of his temporary tenure beyond Middlesbrough’s next game at Swansea City at the start of next month.
“It’s a display that gives us hope for the future and I’ve seen enough of these players to know we’re more than capable of winning games.”
* Agence France-Presse
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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.”
