Hodgson knows the score

Among the supporters of Fulham, a hot debate is under way as to whether tonight's visit to Turin's Stadio Olimpico represent the most glamorous day in well over 100 years of the London club's history. Juventus, twice the champions of Europe, 27 times the holders of Italy's scudetto, is certainly a name to resonate for fans who barely 15 years ago were watching their team trying to avoid slipping from 91st place in the professional ladder of English football to 92nd.

In the Europa League, much more than in the Champions League, you can still find these unlikely, romantic match-ups. On the face of it, Juventus and Fulham have nothing more in common than they wear black and white. This will be Juve's 341st match in a Uefa club competition. It will be Fulham's 27th. Juventus are begrudgingly taking part in Europe's secondary tournament because they parachuted down into it after elimination from the Champions League.

Fulham, meanwhile, grasped the final place accorded to the Premier League in the rebranded Uefa Cup, and have enjoyed the marathon journey it has taken them on. But the idea that this is the summit, their glitziest tie in history, would be disputed first of all by Roy Hodgson, their urbane manager. Fulham, he would point out, beat the English Premier League leaders Manchester United 3-0 a couple of months ago. That is a glamorous result, too.

Fulham have just knocked out Shaktar Donetsk, Uefa Cup holders, to secure their date with Juve. That is quite a feather in their caps. Under Hodgson, Fulham have ceased to be timid in the company of more decorated opponents, although the manager would prefer it if some of Fulham's European chutzpah did not tend to express itself with late red cards. They collected one in each of their two group phase meetings with Roma, with whom they drew at home and lost in Italy.

Danny Murphy, their captain, will miss tonight's adventure, after he was suspended following a loss of temper and a dismissal during the 1-1 draw in Ukraine that guided Fulham into the last 16. Juventus will know that, under Hodgson, Fulham have become hard to score against. Only four other Premier League teams have conceded fewer goals - Fulham stand 10th in the English top-flight - this season. They play a pleasing game too, but the tidiness at the back is the characteristic identified most readily with the Italian influence on their manager.

Hodgson, uniquely among senior English coaches, worked in Serie A when it was considered the most sophisticated league in the world, during the 1990s and early part of the last decade, with two spells in charge of Inter Milan and a brief interlude at Udinese. His career has also taken him across Scandanavia and included a spell in the UAE when he was appointed manager of the national side in 2002. He led Switzerland to a World Cup and once led Inter to a final of the Uefa Cup, in 1997, when, he admits, the tournament had muted appeal to Inter fans.

"For a long time, the league had become the big target because it had been so long in coming," recalls Hodgson of that era, "and even when we reached a Uefa Cup final, they weren't doing cartwheels about it." Not that he expects Juventus, well out of contention for a league title this season, to be snooty about the Europa League. He identifies the experienced men in the Juve team as retaining a hunger for the trophies that were once almost routine but have been absent since 2007, the Alessandro Del Pieros, David Trezeguets and Fabio Cannavaros, players who were operating in Serie A even when Hodgson was last coaching there.

The longevity of these players, Hodgson, believes, is part of the culture of Italian football. "Serie A is nowhere near as intense as the Premier League. In Italy, it is slower-paced and can be more technical, which is maybe why older players can still perform at a high level there. "It gets intense only around the penalty area, defences drop much deeper, and in midfield there's not so much flying back and forth. In the Premier League you get very little time on the ball anywhere."

Up against Hodgson today is an old adversary, Alberto Zaccheroni. While in charge at Inter, Hodgson inflicted three defeats on Zaccheroni's Udinese in the late 1990s. But the last time they sat in opposing dugouts, with Hodgson by then in charge of Udinese, Zaccheroni's Lazio went to Udine and won 4-1. It was not long after that Hodgson terminated the Serie A chapter of his career. "I still look back on it with great affection," he says. @Email:sports@thenational.ae

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.”

Essentials

The flights

Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Geneva from Dh2,845 return, including taxes. The flight takes 6 hours.

The package

Clinique La Prairie offers a variety of programmes. A six-night Master Detox costs from 14,900 Swiss francs (Dh57,655), including all food, accommodation and a set schedule of medical consultations and spa treatments.

Other workplace saving schemes

The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.