Book Description
A Seat in the Crowd is about travelling the length and breadth of England and Europe to watch Manchester United. It is about the lifelong journey of two supporters (with the help of one or two friends along the way) who have been following their club for over 40 years each. Back in the days when we both started watching football, a seat in the crowd was for the gentry and not the likes of the two of us. Nowadays we are all expected to sit in the crowd, although some of us still like to stand! It can get confusing when we are expected to sit down in the Stands and only stand on the terraces. But there are no more terraces in the Premiership to stand on, so we stand in the Stands in front of our seats instead - when we are allowed to that is! A Seat in the Crowd is about travelling the length and breadth of England and Europe to watch Manchester United. It is about the lifelong journey of two supporters (with the help of one or two friends along the way) who have been following their club for over 40 years each. At the start of any season no-one can possibly know the outcome. Plenty think they do, but that is mere blind faith. It is an adventure which happens every year and these last few years have been very special to United supporters and most especially to us, due to the superb management of Alex Ferguson, who has taken the team, and consequently us too, to heights never before scaled. This book represents a whole season, the season 1999-2000 seen from our viewpoint as fans. It contains not simply accounts of games and experiences relating to the games themselves, but also includes comment on all the major issues affecting football fans today from the viewpoint of match-going fans. Not the middle-class Nick Hornby, nor the "lads" getting drunk and involved in violence, but ordinary fans whose experience mirrors that of thousands of football fans all over the UK.

About the Author
Linda Harvey: I remember a while ago, I was asked to write an article about why I was a United fan and it was very hard to get past one simple statement - I was born in Salford! All those who know anything about the local area around Old Trafford will know that Salford is a Red town, just about as Red as you can get. When I was a kid, growing up in Salford in the 50's, there was only one team in Manchester - the Busby Babes. All us kids adored the Babes, but we also had our personal favourites - mine was Eddie Colman. My grandparents lived just down the road from Eddie in Ordsall and we would go over for tea every Saturday when I was little. The afternoon was often spent in Ordsall Park, hoping to catch a glimpse of Eddie as he strolled to Old Trafford for the game. I was 10 years old when Eddie died with the other lads at Munich, and my heart was broken on that grey February morning when Eddie's coffin left Old Trafford for the last time to make the short journey home to Archie St. Everything football (and United) have meant to me since has been defined to some extent by that moment. In the intervening 42 years, United have hit the highs and plummeted to the depths. There have been moments of exquisite skill and moments of high comedy. There have been many celebrations and the occasional heartbreak. And I have had other heroes - Bobby Charlton in the 60's, Mark Hughes until a few years ago, and now the wonderful lads who won us the Treble last season. Through that time, through all the changes in my life, good and bad, United has always been there. A place to go to forget my troubles or celebrate my triumphs. A place where I have made friends who will last a lifetime. But, probably most important, a place where I can remain a child forever. At football I can sing and dance and cry and scream and worship my heroes. I don't have to be grown up and sensible. This is a very precious thing indeed. Paul T Windridge: Back in 1957, we hadn't long bought a TV, so viewing was essential whatever the programme, but this was a very special day for me as it was the first time I had been able to watch Manchester United play. I was 8 years old and it was Cup Final Day. The Babes were unquestionably going to win the double when a certain Irishman in a claret and blue shirt decided to clatter into Ray Wood and the rest is history - and so is this.......... Growing up in a family of rugby fanatics I should never have become a football supporter, but I've always been a stubborn and awkward bastard so there should have been no surprise when I became enthralled with the men in red. Bearing in mind that this was pre Munich and I lived in the Midlands I should really have supported Wolves, but I didn't. Manchester United were the ones who embodied the romantic spirit for me. They were young lads who played football in the way few of us could ever dream of and I wanted to be like them. It was a time when the players played the game because they loved it and we watched because we loved them. Manchester United were the team for me, and what better club to be part of, and who better to look up to than Matt Busby. My loyalty grew from an early age and has never wavered. I have since infected my children with the dreaded Red disease and they have also become imbued with the spirit of Manchester United.

Excerpted from A Seat in the Crowd by Paul Windridge and Harvey Harvey. Copyright © 2000. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpts from the Introduction, which sets the scene for the season to come: For 3 years now, Linda Harvey and Paul Windridge have been writing about Manchester United. They began by writing match reports for various United email mailing lists and for the biggest Manchester United fans' website on the internet. Gradually though, what began as simple reports of the game, developed into more complex narratives. These were not simply reports of a football game, but each told a story: of the whole match-going experience. Gradually Paul and Linda began to get reactions from people all over the world, those who craved more than mere reportage. Over and over again, these football fans explained that these "reports" were special because they represented how ordinary fans experience football - not just at the game, but the whole experience. The pre-match routines, the meetings with mates, the travelling to away grounds, the difficulties getting tickets, the people you meet along the way, the banter with the opposition fans, the emotions you feel. And for those who can't attend matches, they took them into the world of being a supporter, enabled them to 'live the life'. Some of this work has appeared in compilations of fans' experiences (most recently in the book "European Glory: Eyewitness accounts of United's 1968 and 1999 European Triumphs")

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Back in the days when we both started watching football, a seat in the crowd was for the gentry and not the likes of the two of us. Nowadays we are all expected to sit in the crowd, although some of us still like to stand! It can get confusing when we are expected to sit down in the Stands and only stand on the terraces. But there are no more terraces in the Premiership to stand on, so we stand in the Stands in front of our seats instead - when we are allowed to that is! A Seat in the Crowd is about travelling the length and breadth of England and Europe to watch Manchester United. It is about the lifelong journey of two supporters (with the help of one or two friends along the way) who have been following their club for over 40 years each.

At the start of any season no-one can possibly know the outcome. Plenty think they do, but that is mere blind faith. It is an adventure which happens every year and these last few years have been very special to United supporters and most especially to us, due to the superb management of Alex Ferguson, who has taken the team, and consequently us too, to heights never before scaled.