I’ve rarely had good things to say about Qatar – not too keen on any state which treats the widows of dead immigrant World Cup construction workers with barely concealed contempt.
But when I argued that its relative freedom of speech was one of its better points, quite a few years ago, I received a text message from Manchester City, who seemed perturbed. Was someone briefing for Qatar? they asked me. Why was I writing this?
It was a sign of how Abu Dhabi didn’t want any of their Gulf rivals – least of all the noisy upstart Qataris – muscling in on their positive publicity, at a time when they were enjoying a clear run at using the Premier League to burnish their image and wield global influence.