Well done boss

[SWP's back]

Whether self made or earned, staying wealthy is quite easy if you do nothing and take no risks and just live off the interest. To increase that wealth by using it wisely takes financial skill and dexterity because as the saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted. HRH loaned Barclay's Bank £3bn and secured it against Barclay's assets and made double his money back in 12 months.

He is part of a team who is using his nations wealth to secure their long term future, you can't do this sunning yourself on a beach in Monte Carlo. You have to have a calculated plan and execute it well whilst at all times limiting your liabilities which takes hard work. Again its true that it's easier to make money if you already have it, but it's also easy to lose vast amounts if you're not careful.

Dubai had money and still had to be bailed out by Abu Dhabi when they hit the skids which goes to show having money and keeping that money isn't a straight forward as some may think. When you look at how HRH has financially conducted himself whilst he's been our owner, I'm more than comfortable to call his increasing fortune hard earned.

Dubai didn't have money by then by the way. Their natural resources are spent so to speak. Hence the bail out by their neighbours.

 

[SWP's back]

There's an element of fortune attached to any amassed fortune, but in my experience most of it is down to sheer hard graft. If memory serves me right, Abu Dhabi didn't start building its first roads until 1967 and only had 30 registered cars! The first pavements only started to appear 5 years later which is in stark contrast to the country we see now not even 50 years later.

Abu Dhabi in particular have done everything to keep away from the Playboy Sheikh images that were often attributed to wealthy Arabs. Abu Dhabi's wealth must therefore be looked at from this perspective. If you want to contrast and compare what Abu Dhabi have achieved, you only have to look at Nigeria and Venezuela to see how not to misuse your oil wealth.

Like I said, I'm quite comfortable in classing our owner's wealth as hard earned.

It also helps that Abu Dhabi has 0.3% of Nigeria's population (expats excluded as they can't own businesses anyway).

 

[Dribble]

It worked in the first season shackles were of but arse licking player will not work all the time there needs to be a balance between being hard on players and being soft or you get these inconsistency in performances.

There is a 3rd way though which is players respecting their manager and the club who employ them. It was obvious Mancini didn't have the support of the club when he most needed it because they wanted him out in favour of Pep and this would have become increasingly harder to do the more successful and popular he became.

In terms of Pellegrini, the players like and respect him but at the highest level this is not enough. When we were playing the 2nd leg against Real, I kept on praying that Manuel would get up and berate Yaya to step up his efforts or drag him off as it felt like we were playing with 10 men and a training cone. Contrast and compare that to Mancini who substituted the substitute Robinho in order to get the job done.

How many fans would have howled with derision if Yaya was taken off early against Real? Players need to know who's boss and that boss needs the support of his bosses, when players know this is the case they quickly get to accept it's the club's way or the highway. This was the strength of ManUre under Piss Can and Barca under Pep and will hopefully become the case for us under Pep.

 

[Dribble]

Dubai didn't have money by then by the way. Their natural resources are spent so to speak. Hence the bail out by their neighbours.

Exactly. A lesson observed and learned by Abu Dhabi hence why they are skilfully building a new economy and using the current economic wealth to do so.

 

[Pam]

There is a 3rd way though which is players respecting their manager and the club who employ them. It was obvious Mancini didn't have the support of the club when he most needed it because they wanted him out in favour of Pep and this would have become increasingly harder to do the more successful and popular he became.

In terms of Pellegrini, the players like and respect him but at the highest level this is not enough. When we were playing the 2nd leg against Real, I kept on praying that Manuel would get up and berate Yaya to step up his efforts or drag him off as it felt like we were playing with 10 men and a training cone. Contrast and compare that to Mancini who substituted the substitute Robinho in order to get the job done.

How many fans would have howled with derision if Yaya was taken off early against Real? Players need to know who's boss and that boss needs the support of his bosses, when players know this is the case they quickly get to accept it's the club's way or the highway. This was the strength of ManUre under Piss Can and Barca under Pep and will hopefully become the case for us under Pep.

We never did get to the bottom of what City said when they announced Pep. There was a strange remark in there about how contract negotiations with Pep had been curtailed in 2012. We were reigning champions in 2012 and Bobby had signed on for another four years or something.
Your post is spot on, BTW.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Don't be too harsh on @Keeper!, I'm sure he meant no harm or offence.

He incorrectly stated I'd questioned the ethics of our owners, which I am entirely to take mild offence to, seeing as I never suggested anything of the sort.

Anyway, as you say, let's get back to the game :-)

 

[Dribble]

It also helps that Abu Dhabi has 0.3% of Nigeria's population (expats excluded as they can't own businesses anyway).

It all helps I suppose. :-)

Our company had an ex client whose family were involved in the Nigeria oil industry and some of the things he casually revealed to us was quite astonishing. The country is basically at civil war because iirc the oil fields are in the mostly Muslim south of the country, but most of the wealth from the oil is held in the north.

If you cross religion with money, it will never end well.........

 

[SWP's back]

Exactly. A lesson observed and learned by Abu Dhabi hence why they are skilfully building a new economy and using the current economic wealth to do so.

Well that and the fact they are sat on 10x as much as Dubai was. Dubai has transformed itself from a natural resources economy to be fair to them.

It's unfair to compare the two. Dubai is currently two decades ahead in terms of economic diversification.

 

[Dribble]

We never did get to the bottom of what City said when they announced Pep. There was a strange remark in there about how contract negotiations with Pep had been curtailed in 2012. We were reigning champions in 2012 and Bobby had signed on for another four years or something.
Your post is spot on, BTW.

I think it's now accepted that City wanted Pep and our pursuit of him was derailed with our dramatic title win in 2012. Mancini may have been given a new contract, but I think this was just to keep him onside whilst another plan for Pep was formulated in the form of Pellegrini as an interim alternative who would move over when the time came whilst just being grateful for the gig. The undermining of Mancini started immediately with the infamous 2012 transfer window and less than 12 months later he was sacked for achieving more than Pellegrini did last season.

Pep came out this week and admitted that HE turned us down in 2012 as he didn't think we were quite ready for him so he went to Bayern instead. In the intervening period things have continued to improve structurally and I think the world is in no doubt we're no flash in the pan and are here to stay. The fact Pep has signed for us is a sign that we have a seat at the top table of European football even if it is at the opposite end to the elite mainstays who still dislike our presence.

 

[Pam]

I think it's now accepted that City wanted Pep and our pursuit of him was derailed with our dramatic title win in 2012. Mancini may have been given a new contract, but I think this was just to keep him onside whilst another plan for Pep was formulated in the form of Pellegrini as an interim alternative who would move over when the time came whilst just being grateful for the gig. The undermining of Mancini started immediately with the infamous 2012 transfer window and less than 12 months later he was sacked for achieving more than Pellegrini did last season.

Pep came out this week and admitted that HE turned us down in 2012 as he didn't think we were quite ready for him so he went to Bayern instead. In the intervening period things have continued to improve structurally and I think the world is in no doubt we're no flash in the pan and are here to stay. The fact Pep has signed for us is a sign that we have a seat at the top table of European football even if it is at the opposite end to the elite mainstays who still dislike our presence.

I think you're right. The evidence is in.