ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to reveal how the creation of a club history became one of the foundations of Manchester United's economic success. The analysis enlarges on the club's history from the late 1950s, with "the Munich air disaster of February 1958", to the recent period, starting with the purchase of the club by the captain of American industry Malcolm Glazer. The chapter looks at what are the exemplary brands of a club. It highlights how the sports institution established itself as a genuine economic entity. Locally, the rivalry between Manchester United and Manchester City was based on sporting criteria with extraterritorial dimensions that reoccurred in the 2000s. The success of the two major clubs, Manchester United and Manchester City, in domestic competitions imbued the city with the rank of a major football locality. In 1909, Manchester United won its first Cup in the Crystal Palace stadium in front of 71,000 spectators.
