FC United of Manchester: Community and Politics Amongst English Football Fans
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
FC United of Manchester: Community and Politics amongst English Football Fans A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of PhD in Social Anthropology in the Faculty of Humanities 2013 George Poulton School of Social Sciences Contents…………………………………………………………………………………………….2-3 Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 4 Declaration ............................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 7 Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... 8 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 9 FC United as a Research Proposition ................................................................................ 12 Contextual Background ..................................................................................................... 16 Community and Football .................................................................................................. 17 Politics and Football .......................................................................................................... 24 Chapter One: Methodological Context: Fanzines, Fieldwork and Anthropology ................. 28 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 28 Research Conception and Beginnings ............................................................................... 29 CRESC Project .................................................................................................................... 30 Problems of Methodology ................................................................................................ 32 Volunteering ..................................................................................................................... 36 Fanzines and ‘E-zines’ ....................................................................................................... 39 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 47 Chapter Two: The Historical Context: Governance, Ownership and Fan Protest ................. 48 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 48 Football Before the Second World War ............................................................................ 49 1945-1979: Emerging Commercialisation and Calls for Radical Democratisation ............ 52 Football’s Free-Market Revolution ................................................................................... 56 Manchester United Supporter Mobilisations ................................................................... 60 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 69 Chapter Three: The changing match-day: From Old Trafford to Gigg Lane .......................... 71 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 71 Going to the Match – Some Theoretical Approaches ....................................................... 71 Deterioration of the Match-Day Experience at Old Trafford ............................................ 76 Going Back to Old Trafford ............................................................................................... 82 The ‘Re-Birth’ of the Match-Day Experience? ................................................................... 86 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 94 Chapter Four: The Making of a Community Club .................................................................. 96 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 96 The politics of local exclusion ........................................................................................... 98 Manchester is Red? ........................................................................................................ 104 Building the Global Brand ............................................................................................... 108 Community Claims .......................................................................................................... 111 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 119 Chapter Five: Community Policies ...................................................................................... 122 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 122 The Political Economy of FC United ................................................................................ 123 History of Community Football Initiatives ...................................................................... 128 FC United’s Community Football Programme ................................................................ 131 Community Football Within a Changing Model of Public Provision ............................... 148 The Move to Ten Acres Lane .......................................................................................... 153 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 158 2 Chapter Six: Imagining Manchester .................................................................................... 160 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 160 Radical Manchester ........................................................................................................ 162 The ‘Scousers’ and the ‘Bitters’ ...................................................................................... 168 Not so Radical Manchester? ........................................................................................... 175 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 177 Chapter Seven: The Politics of Football Activism: The Contested Political Meaning of FC United .................................................................................................................... 179 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 179 From Socialist Activism to Football Activism .................................................................. 181 FC United: A Socialist Football Club? .............................................................................. 184 Politics or politics? Contested Understandings of FC United .......................................... 189 FC United: A Vision of the ‘Big Society’ in Action? .......................................................... 193 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 195 Chapter Eight: ‘Football Consciousness’: Supporter Politics, Rivalry and Success .............. 198 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 198 ‘Football Consciousness’ and the Beyond the Debt rally ................................................ 199 New Solidarities in a Time of Crisis? ............................................................................... 205 Persistent Rivalry and the Desire for Success ................................................................. 210 ‘You’re going bust in the morning’: Old Rivalries Under New Terms ............................. 218 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 222 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 225 Final Remarks .................................................................................................................. 230 Appendix 1: Making it work Evaluation Questionnaire ..................................................... 231 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 232 Blogs and Fanzines .......................................................................................................... 251 Word Count: 86, 262 3 Abstract FC United of Manchester: Community and Politics amongst English Football Fans George Poulton PhD Social Anthropology, University of Manchester, 2012 This thesis is an ethnographic study of fans of FC United of Manchester, a new football club set up by supporters of Manchester United in the wake of the Glazer family takeover at Old Trafford in 2005. It focuses particularly on the importance of ideas of ‘community’