Latest news with #OmarBerrada
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Manchester United's debacle in Asia boosts case against postseason tours
As the dust settles on Manchester United 's postseason tour of Malaysia and Hong Kong, the question must be asked: was it worth it? United may have pocketed around £10m from their six-day, two-match visit to Asia but what they lost was arguably worse. And no, we're not just talking about their 1-0 defeat against the 'Asean All Stars' in Kuala Lumpur, a scratch, invitational side that had never previously played together. Omar Berrada, United's chief executive, had excitedly hailed the tour as an 'opportunity for us to collaborate with our valued commercial partners, and to deepen relationships with our fans'. That vision probably didn't include Amad Diallo sticking his middle finger up at supporters, a gesture for which he refused to apologise, the winger insisting he did it in response to insults about his mother. Nor did it allow for Alejandro Garnacho sulking and yawning through his various off-pitch duties. It remains to be seen how many key performance indicators were met by the Argentinian, who finished the tour by posting a one-word caption on the runway as United departed home to Europe: 'finally'. At least Matthijs De Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee, Ayden Heaven and Patrick Dorgu put on a brave face, smiling and waving through the sparsely-attended open-top bus tour of Kuala Lumpur, as an accompanying PA system blared out 'Glory, Glory, Man United'. Hours later, United lost their first match of the tour, against the All Stars. Ruben Amorim did little to spin the defeat into anything positive. 'The boos from the fans, maybe it is something we need because every game that we lost in the Premier League they were always there,' the Portuguese manager said. 'We don't have it in us not to choke in every exercise, in every game – that is what happened. We should win these kind of games, no matter what.' READ MORE United went 1-0 behind against Hong Kong on Friday but rallied to win the second match of the tour 3-1. After a disastrous season in which United finished just above the relegation zone, this was meant to be a moneymaking charm offensive – the club promising 'a summer like no other' – but the tour seems to have done more harm than good. It ended up as another opportunity for defeat and derision, enforcing the idea that United are a spent force, and widening the gap between the team and their supporters. There were thousands of unsold tickets, while fans hoping to watch the first game in Kuala Lumpur on the club's YouTube channel were treated to extensive build-up and the first 35 seconds of the match before being redirected to a pay-per-view MUTV broadcast. Amid all the selfies and handshakes and suggestions of 'glory', there is a sordid and calculated underbelly here. Yes, money was made, but is £10m worth it to a team that is about to spent £62.5m on a new forward? The disastrous nature of United's jaunt to Asia brings into question the viability of postseason tours in general. In a world where elite clubs are all too vocal in complaining about fixture congestion and injuries, these tours add mental and physical fatigue to already exhausted bodies, not to mention needless air miles with adverse environmental impact. United's players left for Malaysia on May 25th, just hours after their final Premier League game of the season, against Aston Villa. Having landed on Saturday, most of the senior squad will now report for international duty before World Cup qualifiers this weekend. United's senior players will not have any meaningful break until mid-June and are expected back for preseason in early July, before the club's preseason tour to Sweden and the US. Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho during the exhibition game against Hong Kong. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images United are not alone in these missteps. Tottenham and Newcastle embarked on postseason tours to Australia this time last year and played each other in Melbourne on May 22nd, 2024, three days after the final day of the 2023/24 season. Kieran Trippier, who captained Newcastle in that Melbourne fixture, admitted the trip was 'not ideal' before his commitments with England at Euro 2024, a tournament in which the right-back struggled for fitness. Injuries and fatigue plagued Tottenham's start to the season, too. And if Spurs' postseason tour wasn't directly responsible for that it certainly didn't help, while Daniel Levy's comments at a Tottenham fans' forum in September that he 'would like to see less games, but higher-quality games' were subsequently difficult to stomach. It is difficult to determine exactly how big the environmental impact is for these tours. The preseason before Jim Ratcliffe bought a stake in Manchester United, the club offset 450 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions to cover the necessary air travel by players and staff to the US. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a club that is now part-owned by a company with interests in everything from petrochemicals to mass plastic production, there has been no mention of offsetting emissions for the trip to Malaysia and Hong Kong, which included 14,000 air miles for the team alone. The Professional Footballers' Association's sustainability champion, David Wheeler, has spoken of the harm caused by such tours. 'It's not only irresponsible from a climate point of view, but from a player care point of view, physically and mentally,' Wheeler said. 'They are human beings. They get paid very well, as we know, but they have a limit to what their bodies can take and how they cope with it from a mental health point of view'. The organisation's chief executive, Maheta Molango, has also 'expressed concern about these postseason tours'. Despite the arguments to the contrary, postseason tours look here to stay, part of a new footballing landscape almost nobody asked for. And there will be plenty of other clubs that plead poverty and set sail for distant lands in the future. For now, we have to find something else to watch before the start of the Club World Cup in a couple of weeks' time – a month-long tournament absurdly relaunched by Fifa, with a $1bn (£775m) prize pot. Manchester United must wish they had an invite. – Guardian
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Manchester United's debacle in Asia boosts case against post-season tours
As the dust settles on Manchester United's post-season tour of Malaysia and Hong Kong, the question must be asked: was it worth it? United may have pocketed around £10m from their six-day, two-match visit to Asia but what they lost was arguably worse. And no, we're not just talking about their 1-0 defeat against the 'Asean All Stars' in Kuala Lumpur, a scratch, invitational side that had never previously played together. Omar Berrada, United's chief executive, had excitedly hailed the tour as an 'opportunity for us to collaborate with our valued commercial partners, and to deepen relationships with our fans'. That vision probably didn't include Amad Diallo sticking his middle finger up at supporters, a gesture for which he refused to apologise, the winger insisting he did it in response to insults about his mother. Nor did it allow for Alejandro Garnacho sulking and yawning through his various off-pitch duties. It remains to be seen how many key performance indicators were met by the Argentinian, who finished the tour by posting a one-word caption on the runway as United departed home to Europe: 'finally'. Advertisement Related: PFA chief Molango voices concern over effects of post-season tours on players At least Matthijs De Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee, Ayden Heaven and Patrick Dorgu put on a brave face, smiling and waving through the sparsely-attended open-top bus tour of Kuala Lumpur, as an accompanying PA system blared out 'Glory, Glory, Man United'. Hours later, United lost their first match of the tour, against the All Stars. Ruben Amorim did little to spin the defeat into anything positive. 'The boos from the fans, maybe it is something we need because every game that we lost in the Premier League they were always there,' the Portuguese manager said. 'We don't have it in us not to choke in every exercise, in every game – that is what happened. We should win these kind of games, no matter what.' United went 1-0 behind against Hong Kong on Friday but rallied to win the second match of the tour 3-1. Advertisement After a disastrous season in which United finished just above the relegation zone, this was meant to be a money-making charm offensive – the club promising 'a summer like no other' – but the tour seems to have done more harm than good. It ended up as another opportunity for defeat and derision, enforcing the idea that United are a spent force, and widening the gap between the team and their supporters. There were thousands of unsold tickets, while fans hoping to watch the first game in Kuala Lumpur on the club's YouTube channel were treated to extensive buildup and the first 35 seconds of the match before being redirected to a pay-per-view MUTV broadcast. Amid all the selfies and handshakes and suggestions of 'glory', there is a sordid and calculated underbelly here. Yes, money was made, but is £10m worth it to a team that is about to spent £62.5m on a new forward? The disastrous nature of United's jaunt to Asia brings into question the viability of post-season tours in general. In a world where elite clubs are all too vocal in complaining about fixture congestion and injuries, these tours add mental and physical fatigue to already exhausted bodies, not to mention needless air miles with adverse environmental impact. United's players left for Malaysia on 25 May, just hours after their final Premier League of the season, against Aston Villa. Having landed on Saturday, most of the senior squad will now report for international duty before World Cup qualifiers this weekend. United's senior players will not have any meaningful break until mid-June and are expected back for pre-season in early July, before the club's pre-season tour to Sweden and the US. United are not alone in these missteps. Tottenham and Newcastle embarked on post-season tours to Australia this time last year and played each other in Melbourne on 22 May 2024, three days after the final day of the 2023-24 season. Kieran Trippier, who captained Newcastle in that Melbourne fixture, admitted the trip was 'not ideal' before his commitments with England at Euro 2024, a tournament in which the right-back struggled for fitness. Advertisement Injuries and fatigue plagued Tottenham's start to the season, too. And if Spurs' post-season tour wasn't directly responsible for that it certainly didn't help, while Daniel Levy's comments at a Tottenham fans' forum in September that he 'would like to see less games, but higher-quality games' were subsequently difficult to stomach. It is difficult to determine exactly how big the environmental impact is for these tours. The pre-season before Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a stake in Manchester United, the club offset 450 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions to cover the necessary air travel by players and staff to the US. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a club that is now part-owned by a company with interests in everything from petrochemicals to mass plastic production, there has been no mention of offsetting emissions for the trip to Malaysia and Hong Kong, which included 14,000 air miles for the team alone. The Professional Footballers' Association's sustainability champion, David Wheeler, has spoken of the harm caused by such tours. 'It's not only irresponsible from a climate point of view, but from a player care point of view, physically and mentally,' Wheeler said. 'They are human beings. They get paid very well, as we know, but they have a limit to what their bodies can take and how they cope with it from a mental health point of view'. The organisation's chief executive, Maheta Molango, has also 'expressed concern about these post-season tours'. Despite the arguments to the contrary, post-season tours look here to stay, part of a new footballing landscape almost nobody asked for. And there will be plenty of other clubs that plead poverty and set sail for distant lands in the future. For now, we have to find something else to watch before the start of the Club World Cup in a couple of weeks' time – a month-long tournament absurdly relaunched by Fifa, with a $1bn (£775m) prize pot. Manchester United must wish they had an invite.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Manchester United's debacle in Asia boosts case against post-season tours
As the dust settles on Manchester United's post-season tour of Malaysia and Hong Kong, the question must be asked: was it worth it? United may have pocketed around £10m from their six-day, two-match visit to Asia but what they lost was arguably worse. And no, we're not just talking about their 1-0 defeat against the 'Asean All Stars' in Kuala Lumpur, a scratch, invitational side that had never previously played together. Omar Berrada, United's chief executive, had excitedly hailed the tour as an 'opportunity for us to collaborate with our valued commercial partners, and to deepen relationships with our fans'. That vision probably didn't include Amad Diallo sticking his middle finger up at supporters, a gesture for which he refused to apologise, the winger insisting he did it in response to insults about his mother. Nor did it allow for Alejandro Garnacho sulking and yawning through his various off-pitch duties. It remains to be seen how many key performance indicators were met by the Argentinian, who finished the tour by posting a one-word caption on the runway as United departed home to Europe: 'finally'. At least Matthijs De Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee, Ayden Heaven and Patrick Dorgu put on a brave face, smiling and waving through the sparsely-attended open-top bus tour of Kuala Lumpur, as an accompanying PA system blared out 'Glory, Glory, Man United'. Hours later, United lost their first match of the tour, against the All Stars. Ruben Amorim did little to spin the defeat into anything positive. 'The boos from the fans, maybe it is something we need because every game that we lost in the Premier League they were always there,' the Portuguese manager said. 'We don't have it in us not to choke in every exercise, in every game – that is what happened. We should win these kind of games, no matter what.' United went 1-0 behind against Hong Kong on Friday but rallied to win the second match of the tour 3-1. After a disastrous season in which United finished just above the relegation zone, this was meant to be a money-making charm offensive – the club promising 'a summer like no other' – but the tour seems to have done more harm than good. It ended up as another opportunity for defeat and derision, enforcing the idea that United are a spent force, and widening the gap between the team and their supporters. There were thousands of unsold tickets, while fans hoping to watch the first game in Kuala Lumpur on the club's YouTube channel were treated to extensive buildup and the first 35 seconds of the match before being redirected to a pay-per-view MUTV broadcast. Amid all the selfies and handshakes and suggestions of 'glory', there is a sordid and calculated underbelly here. Yes, money was made, but is £10m worth it to a team that is about to spent £62.5m on a new forward? The disastrous nature of United's jaunt to Asia brings into question the viability of post-season tours in general. In a world where elite clubs are all too vocal in complaining about fixture congestion and injuries, these tours add mental and physical fatigue to already exhausted bodies, not to mention needless air miles with adverse environmental impact. United's players left for Malaysia on 25 May, just hours after their final Premier League of the season, against Aston Villa. Having landed on Saturday, most of the senior squad will now report for international duty before World Cup qualifiers this weekend. United's senior players will not have any meaningful break until mid-June and are expected back for pre-season in early July, before the club's pre-season tour to Sweden and the US. United are not alone in these missteps. Tottenham and Newcastle embarked on post-season tours to Australia this time last year and played each other in Melbourne on 22 May 2024, three days after the final day of the 2023-24 season. Kieran Trippier, who captained Newcastle in that Melbourne fixture, admitted the trip was 'not ideal' before his commitments with England at Euro 2024, a tournament in which the right-back struggled for fitness. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Injuries and fatigue plagued Tottenham's start to the season, too. And if Spurs' post-season tour wasn't directly responsible for that it certainly didn't help, while Daniel Levy's comments at a Tottenham fans' forum in September that he 'would like to see less games, but higher-quality games' were subsequently difficult to stomach. It is difficult to determine exactly how big the environmental impact is for these tours. The pre-season before Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a stake in Manchester United, the club offset 450 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions to cover the necessary air travel by players and staff to the US. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a club that is now part-owned by a company with interests in everything from petrochemicals to mass plastic production, there has been no mention of offsetting emissions for the trip to Malaysia and Hong Kong, which included 14,000 air miles for the team alone. The Professional Footballers' Association's sustainability champion, David Wheeler, has spoken of the harm caused by such tours. 'It's not only irresponsible from a climate point of view, but from a player care point of view, physically and mentally,' Wheeler said. 'They are human beings. They get paid very well, as we know, but they have a limit to what their bodies can take and how they cope with it from a mental health point of view'. The organisation's chief executive, Maheta Molango, has also 'expressed concern about these post-season tours'. Despite the arguments to the contrary, post-season tours look here to stay, part of a new footballing landscape almost nobody asked for. And there will be plenty of other clubs that plead poverty and set sail for distant lands in the future. For now, we have to find something else to watch before the start of the Club World Cup in a couple of weeks' time – a month-long tournament absurdly relaunched by Fifa, with a $1bn (£775m) prize pot. Manchester United must wish they had an invite.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Man United's kids salvage a turnaround win in Hong Kong on miserable post-season tour after players pushed and swore at fans, No 1 striker target said no... and Bruno Fernandes could leave for Saudi
Ruben Amorim tried to brush away suggestion that Bruno Fernandes had played his last game for Manchester United after they stumbled to an unconvincing win over Hong Kong to finish a nightmare post-season tour. It provided a tiny bit of respite for United fans after what has been a torrid week for the club. When the Red Devils embarked on their post-season tour, just hours after succumbing to a 15th place Premier League finish - their lowest since relegation in 1974, it was thought there was little to lose. Despite controversy surrounding post-season tours in an increasingly hectic schedule, the lucrative trip was set to earn the club around £8million - a welcome bonus given they had missed out on the Champions League and a £100m windfall after their defeat to Tottenham in the Europa League final last week. Amorim had defended the tour, calling it a 'small sacrifice' which lets the club 'make contact with our fans around the world', And the club's chief executive, Omar Berrada, had even appeared optimistic about the summer ahead. 'I can't talk about specifics, but I can say that we've been planning for many months now,' Berrarda told MUTV. 'We were ready for all the different scenarios, so now we know what we need to do. But fast forward one week and United were left relying on 17-year-old Obi, who just last season was turning out for Arsenal's under-18 sides, to spare their blushes and prevent a second consecutive loss in three days to significantly weaker opposition. Hong Kong striker Juninho had given the hosts the lead in heavy rain at the Hong Kong Stadium after calamatous goalkeeping from 39-year-old goalkeeper Tom Heaton. It took until the 82nd minute for United to go ahead, with Obi scoring his first goals at senior level, despite fielding a strong starting line-up including Bruno Fernandes, Alejanro Garnacho, Casemiro and Rasmus Hojlund. Fernandes, who has been linked with a move to Al-Hilal, was left red faced after attempting a rabona while through one-on-one with the goalkeeper with United behind. Another former Arsenal star, Ayden Heaven, eventually grabbed his first goal to seal the win in stoppage time. Just two days earlier, United had suffered a humiliating defeat 1-0 at the hands of an exhibition side. Amorim's side limply lost in Malaysia against ASEAN All-Stars, with fans who had paid up to £260 jeering at the 84,00 seater Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. ASEAN All-Stars lifted the Maybank Challenge Cup meaning United watched their opposition get their hands on a trophy for the second time in a week. Despite wretched performances on the pitch, it only seemed to be getting worse for United off it. While a £65m deal for Matheus Cunha appears to be nearing completion, on Thursday they were snubbed by another key target Liam Delap. Just a fortnight ago the Red Devils seemed to be in pole position to sign the Ipswich forward, but on Thursday Chelsea, who will compete in next season's Champions League, triggered his £30m release clause. Amorim has also been forced to answer questions about the future of Fernandes. The Portuguese midfielder, one of the few players to have escaped a miserable season with any credit, is said to be 'seriously' contemplating leaving the club in the upcoming transfer window, as interest from Al-Hilal intensifies. Mail Sport reported on Thursday that Fernandes' agent had held face-to-face talks with the Saudi Arabian club at a hotel in Riyadh over a mega-money deal for the Portuguese midfielder's services. Talks at the Four Seasons hotel are believed to have continued late into the night and sources describe the discussions as positive. Al-Hilal are prepared to effectively quadruple Fernandes' salary of £280,000-a-week by increasing it to £700,000 tax-free as part of a package worth up to £200million over three years including bonuses. BBC Sport reported that Fernandes has not completely committed his future to the team and is considering leaving Old Trafford. Asked if it was Fernandes' final United appearance after they scraped past Hong Kong, Amorim admitted 'you never know'. 'I don't think so. I don't know for sure. I think he wants to stay,' he said. 'He is saying no to a lot of things. The club can find other ways to make money. The feeling I get is that he wants to continue for sure with Man United, you never know.' One player who almost certainly won't be staying in Manchester is academy graduate Garnacho. Tension between the Garnacho and Amorim skyrocketed after the Argentine hit out at his boss for benching him in their Europa League final defeat to Spurs. Garnacho only played for 20 minutes after coming on from the bench and the 20-year-old failed to hide his frustration with Amorim as he admitted it had been a 's***' season for the club. His agent brother then added fuel to the fire by posting on Instagram that the winger had been 'thrown under the bus' by the Portuguese boss. Mail Sport exclusively revealed that Garnacho was then brutally warned by Amorim that he needs to 'pray' he can find a new club in front of team-mates. Despite their feud, Garnacho was included in the squad which jetted to Asia, but the club now may be regretting that decision. On Friday, a video emerged of the youngster involved in an altercation with a fan in Kuala Lumpur. A moody Garnacho, sporting sunglasses and a golden chain, appeared to 'push' a fan as he was asked if he prefered Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Bro, you pushed me,' the shocked supporter then exclaims. with the forward walking off. It is unclear from the footage whether or not the fan is in fact pushed by Garnacho. It came just one day after Amad Diallo went viral for swearing at fans. The Ivorian was seen raising his middle fingers as the team left their hotel. The 22-year-old rushed to social media to admit he did not regret making the gesture and that it was in response to someone who shouted personal abuse relating to his mother. 'I have respect for people but not for the one who insults my mom…' he said on X. 'I shouldn't have reacted like that but I don't regret what I did. 'We had a great time in Malaysia with good people.' A number of other bizarre events also took place on the ill-fated tour. Andre Onana, Harry Maguire and Diogo Dalot popped up in India for a meet and greet on Thursday while United stars were ruthlessly mocked by fans online after being seen on open-top bus parade - before suffering defeat to ASEAN All-Stars. A clip of four first-team stars - Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt, Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven - atop the bus in Kuala Lumpur went viral with the caption: 'Manchester United parading in Malaysia. What a joke of a club'. It was a far cry from the victory parade taking place throughout England this week as Tottenham, Crystal Palace, and Liverpool all showed off their domestic trophies to their fans. There is little break for United's stars, with Fernandes and Dalot likely involved for Portugal in their Nations League semi-final against Germany on 4 June. Just over a month later United's pre-season tour begins in Sweden, and it surely can't go any worse than the past week.
Daily Mirror
29-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Man Utd torpedoing transfer plans through Sir Jim Ratcliffe's £7.8m greediness
It never looked like a good idea, but it is turning out to be much worse than expected. After concluding their miserable 2024-25 season, Manchester United flew over 6,600 miles to Kuala Lumpur for marketing reasons. Having deemed 60 largely disappointing matches inadequate, United's brains trust signed their demoralised squad up for two more. 'Importantly, tour fixtures drive significant additional revenue which help make the club stronger, allowing us to keep investing in success on the pitch,' chief executive Omar Berrada said plainly when the club announced the genius plan in early April. Back then, there must have already been nagging worries that United's decision-makers were signing their club up for another dose of embarrassment. All for the estimated revenue of $10million (£7.8m) the trip will make for United. This is the reality of the Sir Jim Ratcliffe era : a penny-pinching petrochemicals billionaire. A man worth $16.7bn (£12.4bn), according to Forbes, making hundreds of staff redundant and sending his exhausted players halfway across the world to appease sponsors and spread the good word of United. That £7.8m is suddenly looking like a bad deal. The malaise that engulfed the club this season became even darker and thicker with the 1-0 defeat by Tottenham in the Europa League final and has now become a pervasive presence; an unwanted 12th man on the pitch. Videos of Alejandro Garnacho half-heartedly signing autographs and other players trudging heads down past screaming fans were bad enough before the actual football – ostensibly the reason for their visit – was taken into account. United somehow managed to lose 1-0 to the ASEAN All Stars in Bukit Jalil National Stadium on Wednesday. Ruben Amorim used 25 outfield players, but was powerless to stop Maung Maung Lwin – a Burmese player who plies his trade in the Thai League – from providing the game's only goal. Many of the 84,000 people who turned up in the Malaysian capital, some of whom had paid £260 for a ticket, booed them off the pitch. In a season of crushing lows, United had somehow managed to plumb new depths. This was embarrassing – and it is obvious who was to blame. United have set their players up for failure with this ridiculous money-grabbing PR disaster. Even if they had enjoyed a good domestic campaign, or if they had beaten Spurs in Bilbao, the players would not have been up for this trip. There is a reason this is the first time United have embarked on a post-season tour. This one is only a few days old and it is already backfiring in potentially spectacular fashion. While Matheus Cunha is too far down the line to change his mind over a £62.5m transfer from Wolves to United, other targets are not. United better hope they are enjoying their holiday so much that they haven't bothered opening social media or reading the newspapers. Because does anyone really want to join this mess? They are a rubbish football team right now, but more than that, they are a miserable and disunited bunch. They will become a revolving door this summer, shipping out scores of players while scrabbling around for anyone who will join them. They won't play any European football next season and Carrington is reportedly a vibe vacuum, having had the life sucked out of it by Ratcliffe's staff purge. This is the context which players like Liam Delap must currently be assessing. Delap is poised to leave Ipswich for £30m this summer. He is understood to be choosing between United and Chelsea – a decision which currently looks extremely straightforward. While United ended the season as a representation of the 'This is fine' meme, everything burning around them, Chelsea did so with a European trophy and a place in next season's Champions League secured. Ratcliffe has frequently, and in public, lamented the way things were done at United. He has made decisions he deems unpopular but necessary. But what he seems to fail to understand is that perception matters. Yes, he may have succeeded in putting the club on a more even footing financially, but at what cost? This ludicrous post-season tour is a perfect example of the Ratcliffe era so far: commercially astute yet visually unappealing. It could be extremely damaging to the planned squad overhaul this summer. Sky has slashed the price of its bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more. Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
