ABSTRACT

Despite myriad popular and journalistic expositions, up to this point there have been virtually no academic discussions of the Manchester United phenomenon. This anthology represents the first concerted academic examination of Manchester United F.C. in its current guise as a widely followed and highly emblematic sporting institution.

Bringing together respected academics from an array of disciplinary backgrounds these essays each interrogate various related dimensions of the Manchester United world.
The primary aim of this collection is to illustrate how the structure and experience of Manchester United is implicated in broader societal shifts, within which the boundary between cultural and commercial concerns have become increasingly indivisible.

The chapters are presented within five thematic sections:
1 Becoming United
2 Economy United
3 Embodied United
4 Local United
5 Global United

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

Situating Manchester United plc

part |51 pages

Becoming United

chapter |15 pages

The team that wouldn't die

On the mystique of Matt Busby and Manchester United

chapter |15 pages

‘We hate the Manchester Club like poison'

The Munich disaster and the socio-historical development of Manchester United as a loathed football club

chapter |19 pages

From the Busby Babes to the Theatre of Dreams

Image, reputation and the rise of Manchester United

part |67 pages

Economy United

chapter |22 pages

Why does Manchester United keep winning on and off the field?

A case study of sustainable competitive advantage in professional team sports

chapter |14 pages

Trouble at the mill

Nike, United and the Asian garment trade

chapter |12 pages

Misers, merchandise and Manchester United

The peculiar paradox of the political economy of consumption

chapter |17 pages

Red and black

Inside Manchester United's underground economy

part |42 pages

Embodied United

chapter |14 pages

Where did it all go right?

George Best, Manchester United and Northern Ireland

chapter |13 pages

Under the skin of Manchester United

Knowing footballing bodies

chapter |13 pages

‘Cute with vague feminist gender shift'

Posh and Becks united

part |66 pages

Local United

chapter |15 pages

‘Manchester Is Red'?

Manchester United, fan identity and the ‘Sport City'

chapter |13 pages

Love thy neighbour or a Red rag to a Blue?

Reflections on the City-United dynamic in and around Manchester

chapter |19 pages

Parvenu United

Local rivalries, smalltown boys and city slickers

chapter |17 pages

Anfield envy

How the spirit of Liverpool hangs over Manchester United

part |44 pages

Global United

chapter |8 pages

Manchester, USA?

chapter |16 pages

Memphis United?

Diaspora, s(t)imulated spaces and global consumption economies

chapter |13 pages

For the love of England

Scandinavian football supporters, Manchester United and British popular culture

chapter |5 pages

‘Come on Red!'

An American tale