Manchester United

Book excerpt: 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