tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/alex-ferguson-5558/articlesAlex Ferguson – The Conversation2014-04-22T12:42:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/258262014-04-22T12:42:14Z2014-04-22T12:42:14ZDon’t blame Moyes for Man Utd woes: the buck stops at the top<p>Patience at Manchester United has run out. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/22/david-moyes-sacked-manchester-united">David Moyes has been sacked</a> possibly sooner than was expected, but entirely predictably given the huge financial pressures that were looming if the team continued to under-perform. </p>
<p>As Old Trafford veteran, Ryan Giggs, steps temporarily into the hot seat, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that the business model of any sports club is mostly driven by what happens on the pitch. On-field success enhances each of the three revenue streams – match day, broadcasting and commercial. </p>
<p>In United’s most recent financial statement published on February 12, the <a href="http://ir.manutd.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=133303&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1899266&highlight=">projected revenue for the next financial year was around £420m</a>. But this was predicated on the fact that the team would finish at least third in the Premier League and reach the quarter finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions’ League, only one of which happened. </p>
<p>As a consequence, somewhere in the region of £40m will be wiped off the bottom line of the balance sheet by the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League alone. Perhaps more importantly, the necessary rebuilding of the team will be more difficult and cost much more than anticipated from a significantly weakened negotiating position. While the immediate financial situation will not be too burdensome – given the fantastic shirt deal already in the bag with <a href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140405/NEWS/140409906/chevy-begins-sponsorship-of-iconic-english-soccer-team-by-bringing">Chevrolet</a> and another in the offing with <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-united-600m-nike-kit-7005901">Nike</a> – the future was beginning to look precarious and more than one year out of the Champions League considered unacceptable.</p>
<h2>Sense out the window</h2>
<p>So, the sacking of David Moyes was clearly a consequence of managerial failure but not entirely, indeed not even predominantly, that of Moyes himself. The real blame lies with the board and the CEO, or executive vice chairman, as Ed Woodward is called. </p>
<p>All normal recruiting and managerial sense seemed to fly out of the window from the moment Alex Ferguson resigned after 26 years in charge. Ferguson himself was permitted an over-powerful influence on the selection process whereas the sensible thing to do is not involve the outgoing person at all. Notwithstanding, the board and CEO sanctioned the selection of Moyes and then compounded that by allowing the incoming manager to bring with him an entirely untried (at this level) back-room team to replace an entirely tried and tested team. </p>
<p>Such mass movements are common in English football and do no favours to either the club or the manager himself. Managers will often demand such deals but they should be resisted. Of course, if at the end of the first season the manager wishes to replace staff that is entirely reasonable. Managers – and apparently Moyes was one – make a rod for their own back by taking on the entire responsibility for everything within the club and see delegation as a sign of weakness whereas it is the exact opposite. Clubs collude in this by abrogating their responsibility to manage the manager. </p>
<p>So, again, the CEO must take responsibility for endorsing the signings of <a href="http://www.football365.com/f365-says/9244765/Marouane-Fellaini-The-Albatross-Around-Moyes-Neck">Marouane Fellaini</a> and <a href="http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Football-News/2014/Jan/Juan-Mata-completes-club-record-transfer-to-Manchester-United-from-Chelsea.aspx">Juan Mata</a>, as well as a lucrative new deal for <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26287482">Wayne Rooney</a>. All three decisions smacked of desperation; it was difficult to see a strategy behind any of them. It was said at the time of Mata’s purchase that it was needed to appease the fans. That is no reason to spend £40m of the company’s money. Fans are appeased by sensible management, not rash, expensive decisions.</p>
<p>Moyes is carrying the can for the dismal performance this season and it is right that he should carry his share of the responsibility but it appears, at least from the outside, that he received scant support from those whose job it is to provide it. It may be a coincidence but when strong oversight and support for the managers is removed (as happened with with the departures of <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-news-david-dein-should-3287793">David Dein</a> at Arsenal and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21519522">David Gill</a> at United) the omniscience of the head coach is exposed as a facade. </p>
<p>United fans should hope the board and CEO do their jobs better this time around. If not, United may be looking at a repeat of the post-Matt Busby era of multiple managers and chronic underachievement which eventually lasted more than 20 years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Brady does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Patience at Manchester United has run out. David Moyes has been sacked possibly sooner than was expected, but entirely predictably given the huge financial pressures that were looming if the team continued…Chris Brady, Co-Director, Centre for Sports Business, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/228692014-02-05T20:42:05Z2014-02-05T20:42:05ZCharisma is a hard act to follow, in football as in politics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40816/original/8jtrwgky-1391628106.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who could possibly do better?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.thesportreview.com">thesportreview.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40816/original/8jtrwgky-1391628106.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40816/original/8jtrwgky-1391628106.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/40816/original/8jtrwgky-1391628106.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/40816/original/8jtrwgky-1391628106.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/40816/original/8jtrwgky-1391628106.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/40816/original/8jtrwgky-1391628106.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/40816/original/8jtrwgky-1391628106.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who could possibly do better?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.thesportreview.com">thesportreview.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Apart from a sensational <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byjcAjwAjOg">winning goal</a>, the main memory I have of the 1992 European Cup Final between Barcelona and Sampdoria is a moment in the second half when the camera panned to the man in the crowd who had already been announced as Sampdoria’s next manager: Sven-Goran Eriksson. The final was the last game in charge for the legendary Vujadin Boskov, a fiery coach who had created a team that played beautiful football and had won the Italian Championship for the first time in the club’s history <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twKXsAEsb6Q">the previous year</a>.</p>
<p>After the commentator explained who Eriksson was (this was long before his sporting and non-sporting exploits made him a tabloid favourite), the co-commentator said something to the effect of: “Deep down, he’ll be hoping Sampdoria don’t win so that he can go into that dressing room in the summer and tell them they’ll do it with him.”</p>
<p>That comment has occurred to me often recently. Both as a Manchester United fan, who is getting used to life after <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT68Fx11ocw">Sir Alex Ferguson</a> and as someone who does research on political parties. What defines charismatic leaders? How do you replace them? And what determines the success and failure of those who succeed them?</p>
<p>Charisma of course is a slippery concept which is much abused, both by the media and by academics. In politics, we tend to apply it to leaders who have strong personalities and perform well on television. In other words, we base it on how people present themselves. Yet, if we go back to the original definition of the term by the German sociologist Max Weber, we can see that it is not how leaders present, but how they are perceived, that determines whether we can speak of “charisma”. As Weber wrote: “What is alone important is how the individual is actually regarded by those subject to charismatic authority, by his followers.”</p>
<p>So, charisma is about the perceptions of the follower. In particular, as Weber and other scholars of charisma have discussed, we can say that a charismatic relationship is present between leader and follower when two key conditions are met: first, the followers believe the leader is on a “mission” and possesses unique powers; second, followers completely and unquestioningly accept the authority of the leader. These beliefs are usually expressed in highly emotional terms.</p>
<p>I have seen evidence of this type of relationship many times in interviews I have done over the years with representatives and members of political parties. Most notably, in the case of the Italian regionalist party, the Lega Nord (Northern League) which was founded and led for more than 20 years until 2012 by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrVJETMtHjc">Umberto Bossi</a>. Right through the party, from high-profile MPs in Rome down to ordinary grassroots members in small northern towns, I heard the same story.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zrVJETMtHjc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>“He basically changed my life,” one member told me when recalling the first time she heard Bossi speak in public. Almost all claimed that Bossi possessed a unique “sixth sense” which enabled him to predict events. As one put it: “he can see further than a normal person can”. That superior vision was why, as another member explained: “We have blind faith in him. Whatever he decides is fine with us.”</p>
<p>The party’s elected representatives were no different. One told me that Bossi was “a prophet, not just a politician”, while another simply commented: “He is the only leader who is loved … completely loved.” When asked to describe Bossi, a key figure in the parliamentary party said that he was “the one who gave us hope, who gave us the ideas and who still has that great capacity to read the future”.</p>
<p>This type of charismatic relationship obviously gives leaders enormous power within their parties. Even the most outrageous U-turns on policies or alliances with others can be justified thanks to the “all-seeing leader” who knows best. And who is unconditionally loved.</p>
<p>But what happens when a leader loses charisma? In mid-2012, Bossi and members of his family were accused of misappropriating party funds for their own ends. For a leader who had built his appeal on being different from the supposedly corrupt politicians of other Italian parties, this was a damning blow. Although he resigned almost immediately, the Lega swiftly dropped in the polls and saw its vote halved in the 2013 general election. Even more worryingly for its chances of survival, data provided to me by the party shows that it lost over two-thirds of its registered members in the eight months following the scandal. The more charismatic they come, the harder they fall.</p>
<p>Charismatic leadership is an extremely tough act to follow. The two leaders who have succeeded Bossi – Roberto Maroni and Matteo Salvini – have been pale imitations and have done nothing to halt the party’s decline. How can they compete with the memory of a leader who had special powers and was loved?</p>
<p>Watching the very uncharismatic <a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02679/moyes1_2679794b.jpg">David Moyes</a> suffering week after week in the Manchester United dugout gives me some idea of how Lega Nord members must feel. We believed Ferguson had unique powers. We thought his “mind games” could unhinge other managers. Which <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yenzdq5g6o">they did</a>. And we were convinced his teams could tap into great reserves of strength inspired by him in order to produce late winning goals. Which, of course, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-XsRJU-LGo">they did</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_Yenzdq5g6o?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>So, how can you replace the charismatic leader and achieve new victories? One solution might be, to return to the earlier observation about Sven-Goran Eriksson, for succession to occur after a defeat rather than a triumph. In United’s case, this would have meant replacing Ferguson at the end of the 2011-2012 season, when the team narrowly lost the title to its main local rivals, Manchester City. Another of course is to find a new charismatic leader. For political parties, that is obviously far more difficult than for football clubs since you can only select the new leader from within. For United, however, it was – so the papers say – a possibility. But instead of José Mourinho, the self-anointed, but undoubtedly charismatic “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybQAg2YUxY">Special One</a>”, we opted for Ferguson’s own preference: Moyes, the so-called “<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSnWIgBCAAABfjL.jpg:large">Chosen One</a>”. An indication, perhaps, that in the end, just like Bossi, our old charismatic leader lost his sixth sense too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22869/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Apart from a sensational winning goal, the main memory I have of the 1992 European Cup Final between Barcelona and Sampdoria is a moment in the second half when the camera panned to the man in the crowd…Duncan McDonnell, Marie Curie Fellow, European University InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195022013-10-25T13:39:00Z2013-10-25T13:39:00ZBecksistentialism: because man is a goal-seeking animal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33812/original/sc9wkj2p-1382703746.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Man and superman.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A student came up to me after class the other day and said, “So what is this ‘Becksistentialism’ all about then?” I want to begin to answer that question by defining the negative: Sir Alex Ferguson is not a Becksistentialist.</p>
<p>Consider what he has been saying about Becks in the wake of his <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/sir-alex-fergusons-autobiography-david-beckham-thought-he-was-bigger-than-me-and-manager-blames-victorias-influence-for-their-falling-out-8896997.html">new (or revised) autobiography</a>: “David was the only player I managed who chose to be famous, who made it his mission to be known outside the game.” He has a whole variety of complaints, including, notably, that Beckham refused to take his beanie hat off at a dinner. And of course he has a go at just about everyone else too (for example, Roy Keane). But I want to zero in on his comments about Beckham, because they help us to understand not just the enigma that is Beckham but our own experience as human beings.</p>
<p>“He could have been a Manchester United legend.” But Beckham – just as he refuses to take the beanie hat off – revolts against the Ferguson vision. Ferguson wants him to become a god. Not just a footballer. But The Footballer. A living legend. But, of course, at the same time subordinate to Man U. So it is in part a power move – <em>Fergie rules</em>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33807/original/w2ns7tts-1382697947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33807/original/w2ns7tts-1382697947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33807/original/w2ns7tts-1382697947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33807/original/w2ns7tts-1382697947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33807/original/w2ns7tts-1382697947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33807/original/w2ns7tts-1382697947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33807/original/w2ns7tts-1382697947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33807/original/w2ns7tts-1382697947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Becks: morally deregulated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yui Mok/PA Wire</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the Becksistentialist naturally refutes this simplistic and tyrannical thinking. I want to argue that Beckham – for all his visibility and connectedness - is in fact the great Outsider figure de nos jours. A rebel. And a champion of self-liberation. The beanie at the dinner table to me represents what <a href="http://criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/week8.htm">Emile Durkheim calls “anomie”</a> – the state of “normlessness” in which we float free from the rules of society.</p>
<p>It is not the case that David Beckham became an existentialist the day he joined Paris Saint-Germain at the beginning of this year. He was already an existentialist. It was in Paris that he became more self-aware. The existentialist is born out of crisis. Everyone has crises. Beckham’s tend to be a bit more visible and therefore susceptible to analysis. I happened to witness his primal crisis at close quarters.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ur5fGSBsfq8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘One surprise is the inclusion of Archimedes’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The red card in the 1998 World Cup in France – Le Mondial – when he was sent off for retaliation. England v Argentina. Beckham had been benched for the first two games by Glenn Hoddle, who suspected him of being distracted by (the then) Posh Spice and too much show-business. Like Ferguson, Hoddle is an essentialist who <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/270194.stm">believes in the soul and karma</a>: and thinks that Beckham has to be pure Footballer and nothing else and is duly punished for not being it. </p>
<p>And so we come to St Etienne and Argentina (a match also notable also for the miraculous Michael Owen solo goal). The two teams are level at 2-2. Then, a minute into the second half (I was just sitting down with a drink in my hand), Diego Simeone clatters into Beckham. And the foot famously goes up. And the red card comes out. But was it “intentional” or wasn’t it?</p>
<h2>To be is to do</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/24/boxer-goalkeeper-sartre-camus-martin-review">Jean-Paul Sartre</a> would say: of course that kick is intentional; there is no unconscious, everything we do is intentional, deliberate, voluntary. Including falling in love and jealousy. There is no such thing as a “crime passionnel” or “I couldn’t help myself, your honour”. Does Beckham take the easy way out? There is a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKA_jKdoSVQ">fascinating interview conducted by Zinedine Zidane</a> (asking the questions in French) in which Beckham offers a classic Becksistentialist commentary.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33809/original/xv9yzynh-1382698212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33809/original/xv9yzynh-1382698212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33809/original/xv9yzynh-1382698212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33809/original/xv9yzynh-1382698212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33809/original/xv9yzynh-1382698212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33809/original/xv9yzynh-1382698212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33809/original/xv9yzynh-1382698212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33809/original/xv9yzynh-1382698212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red card: being followed by nothingness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PA Archive</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, he argues, he could have <em>not</em> kicked Simeone. And perhaps England could then have gone on to win the World Cup as well. But he accepts and asserts responsibility for it. I am the author of my acts, says Beckham. I am what I do. (The French subtitles have: <em>je ne regrette rien</em>). He is in some paradoxical way proud of his mistakes. In other words, Beckham appears to be arguing – you have to act as if it were intentional – and the deed becomes part of your narrative.</p>
<p>As a result of this sending off, the great rule-breaker, Becks the rebel becomes Public Enemy no 1 for a spell. When he gets back to England he finds that he is held responsible for the World Cup exit. It is all his fault. The question he asks himself is – does everyone hate me? Am I the Bad Guy in all this. And he says, Yes, I am. He claims authorship. Go on, hate me.</p>
<h2>Football, without question</h2>
<p>His answer reminds me of <a href="http://www.glasgowreview.co.uk/articles/jeangenet.htm">Jean Genet</a>, the great writer and thief and <em>inverti</em> (or “queer” in French street slang). I chose to be a criminal. I am not going to ascribe responsibility to some faceless impersonal forces – genetic fate or determinism or social deprivation. You have to act as if it were intentional.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33805/original/zxgxbcjh-1382697370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33805/original/zxgxbcjh-1382697370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33805/original/zxgxbcjh-1382697370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33805/original/zxgxbcjh-1382697370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33805/original/zxgxbcjh-1382697370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33805/original/zxgxbcjh-1382697370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1104&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33805/original/zxgxbcjh-1382697370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1104&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33805/original/zxgxbcjh-1382697370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1104&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Death and life have determined appointments. Riches and honour depend.
upon heaven’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hobochi Chen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But of course Beckham is not a pre-eminently verbal philosopher. A lot of his thinking is expressed through the medium of the tattoo (Confucius) and the haircut (inconstant). I see his career overall as in some ways like <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/01/candide-voltaire-rereading-julian-barnes">Voltaire’s Candide</a> – a critique of naïve optimism. The relationship of individual player to the team raises the ghost of the Sartre’s “group-in-fusion”. But maybe the final question to be asked is: “Whither Becks?” His fundamental Becksistential statement, “I am not what I am and am what I am not” suggests a career not just as “ambassador” but also as spy. Perhaps <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/4982736/victoria-beckham-david-beckham-should-be-next-james-bond.html">Victoria Beckham’s suggestion</a> that he would make a good James Bond is not so far off the mark.</p>
<p><em>Andy Martin is delivering a talk <a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/festival-of-ideas/events-and-booking/becksistentialism">on Becksistentialism</a> as part of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, October 26, 11.30am-1pm, West Road, Cambridge.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19502/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A student came up to me after class the other day and said, “So what is this ‘Becksistentialism’ all about then?” I want to begin to answer that question by defining the negative: Sir Alex Ferguson is…Andy Martin, Lecturer, Department of French, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/142432013-05-16T23:09:30Z2013-05-16T23:09:30ZThe Beckham and Fergie years are over, but Manchester keeps cashing in<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23974/original/k938nxk7-1368715798.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C511%2C408&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Becks gets his first lesson in posing for the cameras.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dave Kendall/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22447018">Alex Ferguson resigned</a> as Manchester United’s manager he has been credited with everything from reversing the recession to single-handedly putting Manchester itself on the global map. </p>
<p>One person whose life he did have an enormous impact upon was a certain David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE, who fittingly <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/may/16/david-beckham-retire-football-psg">chose to retire yesterday</a>. From the age of 14 the boy who would become the biggest name in football was associated with United – and the realm that Sir Alex would dominate.</p>
<p>Together they have left an indelible mark on Manchester. But when Beckham and Ferguson arrived, Merseyside ruled the football pitch in much the same way as Manchester now does. </p>
<p>That difference in subsequent years was the Premier League and its huge broadcasting revenues and genuinely global reach Manchester achieved for its profile through football and its associated personalities. </p>
<p>In the mid-Eighties Manchester United was a largely un-leveraged brand. The “Munich” factor had generated a global awareness of this previously regional football club but hitherto that brand had never been truly commercialised.</p>
<p>When the Premier League began in the 1992/93 season, Ferguson had been in post for nearly 6 years and had done a magnificent job of reconnecting the United product with the United brand of youth and exuberance originally established in the reign of Matt Busby and his “Busby Babes”. Then United won the first Premier League championship. </p>
<p>With their support, global awareness and the newly arrived financial injections of broadcasting cash, United were in the perfect position to take a competitive stranglehold on English football. And they did. Simultaneously, Sky was now broadcasting the world’s most popular sport. Together they had access to every market in the world and riding on the back of that access was the city of Manchester itself. Where Merseyside’s tourist bait was the Beatles, Manchester had the United of Ferguson, and then Beckham. </p>
<p>By 2008, Manchester City was purchased by the Abu Dhabi United Group and instantaneously became one of the richest clubs in the world. Would the Abu Dhabi United Group have considered Manchester City without the Manchester effect created by United? Unlikely. </p>
<p>Would they, for example, have considered purchasing the 1986/87 champions and runners-up, Everton and Liverpool? Doubtful. Neither of those two clubs had the new stadium they craved but City were ensconced in the newly designed City of Manchester Stadium (now the Etihad Stadium) for which City had only been required to provide less than half of the £42m restructuring costs of converting the stadium from its Commonwealth Games usage. Bit by bit Manchester was becoming associated with all things sporting and cool. Manchester is now genuinely Britain’s second city.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://neweconomymanchester.com/stories/1857">recent research report</a> published by the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University and Cambridge Econometrics it was estimated that football contributes in the region of £330m in gross value added (GVA) to Greater Manchester’s economy. According to the report, the global profile that Manchester receives from football is worth over £100m a year on an advertising-equivalency basis. </p>
<p>If everything continues as it is for the next 20 years this could be worth in excess of £2.5 billion to Manchester’s economy. What is clear is that the profile of the Premier League and its two leading clubs provide large football-related revenue for the local economy. Hotel occupancy rates, and prices, for example, are up by an average of 10% – 15% on match days. </p>
<p>Not only are there such direct benefits but also football raises the global recognition of the city, attracting not only visiting football fans, but also investors and skilled workers from sectors far wider than sport alone. As Professor Simon Shibli, co-head of the Sports Industry Research Centre, explained, “[Football] contributes immensely to the city’s financial, cultural and social capitals.” </p>
<p>Other real beneficiaries of the football effect are the city’s universities. The number of students attracted to Manchester as a consequence of football has yet to be quantified but if we look at some research carried out by the Welsh Economy Research Unit at Cardiff University in January 2013 we can make an educated guess. <a href="http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Swansea-University-enjoys-boost-Jack-Army-spreads/story-17299700-detail/story.html#axzz2TTDoAnGm">The report</a> states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Swansea University has seen a record 25% increase in applications for entry in September 2013 [when Swansea City joined the Premier League], 4% higher than the previous record high in 2010, at a time when there are concerns about numbers of applications nationally. The increase is a remarkable achievement in an environment where applications across the UK are currently showing a modest 3.5% rise and a 2% fall nationally in applications from Welsh students.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is reasonable to assume that if a relative newcomer to the Premier League can show such results then the Manchester effect will be even more striking. Incidentally, in the 1986/87 season Swansea City and Cardiff City were respectively 13th and 14th in the old fourth division. </p>
<p>Manchester itself has also become a magnet for media and sports related industries a fact which, according to the report, made it obvious to relocate BBC Sport with the wider <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10056497/BBC-staff-paid-up-to-150000-to-move-to-Salford.html">move of the BBC</a> to MediaCityUK, even at a time when the Olympics were due to be hosted by London. These two industries, sport and media, as sub-sets of the leisure industry, are the only industries that economists generally agree are guaranteed to grow over the next two decades. </p>
<p>The time of Sir Alex time may be over and Beckham departed for foreign shores years ago. But their brands remain burnished on Manchester.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/14243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Brady does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Since Alex Ferguson resigned as Manchester United’s manager he has been credited with everything from reversing the recession to single-handedly putting Manchester itself on the global map. One person…Chris Brady, Co-Director, Centre for Sports Business, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.