“Your Neighbors Walk Alone (YNWA)”: Urban Regeneration and the Predicament of Being Local Fans in the Commercialized English Football League

Abstract

This article focuses on the changing nature of English football and the shifting relationship between a club and its supporters in the latest era of football commercialization, taking Liverpool Football Club (FC) and its surrounding community in Anfield, Liverpool, England, as an example. The changing nature of English football since the 1990s has forced Liverpool FC to treat its social environment from a commercial perspective. Recently, this trend has been aggravated by Liverpool FC’s land-speculation policy, which is embedded in an urban regeneration policy to take over land in adjacent areas to expand the Anfield Stadium for specifically commercial purposes, escalating tension with local people. This land-use conflict between the local community of Anfield and Liverpool FC has raised the ultimate question of the extent to which the local supporters will remain loyal to the club they support. Drawing on ethnographic research in Anfield, Liverpool, this article looks at the intersection between the urban regeneration policy in Liverpool and the changing nature of English football, which has placed Liverpool FC in a situation of competing with the local fans for urban space, stretching local supporters’ loyalty to the club they support. The result shows that it is the club that has introduced the shift in the meaning of loyalty, tailored to the recent situation in English football. The commercialization of Liverpool FC and its land-speculation policy have produced shock-subjectivities influencing local people’s perception of and practices toward Liverpool FC, suggesting the knife-edge dilemma of being a local fan.