da dobrowin： The crest is the one of the few constants a club has for its identity. Colours rarely change but different kits are churned out every year, players come and go, even stadiums are abandoned. The badge remains . . . well, not exactly the same.
da brwin： Over the years top sides have switched their crests for a number of reasons. Manchester City are currently undergoing a month long consultation with fans about their current badge while West Ham United took a vote and will switch theirs to a new design when they move into the Olympic Stadium.
These are two recent examples of a trend that has become popular as clubs search for the most marketable look.
In the first of a series looking at changing badges we start with the ones clubs got wrong. To avoid being facetious the Manchester United badge doesn’t appear in this list. They were widely criticised back in 1998 for dropping the words “Football Club” from the crest but they were just ahead of the curve in the marketing game.
Here are the five worst badge changes…
Liverpool
Now this isn’t here to get Scousers angry. It isn’t even here because Liverpool Football Club has a bad badge, in fact, all iterations of their crest have been good. They are all equally iconic. The problem is how they have become interchangeable.
The more detailed version from the nineties that incorporated the Shankly Gates and the Hillsborough eternal flame replaced the Liver Bird in a simple crest design. The nineties version may have taken some getting used to but it brought together a number of vital elements.
It still is the official badge yet the latest jerseys have seen a return to the standalone Liver Bird atop the LFC lettering.
Again, either design looks good but there’s no reason for the reversion, because of this the current shirt badge qualifies for one of the worst badge changes in recent times.
Fulham
At first glance there is nothing wrong with the Fulham badge. It was introduced in 2001 to mark their debut in the Premier League. The club has had an array of crests, ranging from simple lettering to coats of arms. Normally I would be a fan of a simple design, they work well and from a marketing point of view and make most sense.
What I can’t applaud is laziness. No effort was made to keep one unique symbol in the design. It looks like the sort of thing computer games produce when they haven’t got the licence to use the real badge. Back in 2001 it faced an angry backlash from the fans and it’s not hard to see why.
Click here to view Fulham’s crest before the change in 2001.
West Ham United
As mentioned in the introduction, West Ham will alter their badge when they start life at the Olympic Stadium in 2016. Their new design could quite easily have joined the “Best Badge changes” list. The new offering will prove to be the Marmite of crest alterations.
When put to the vote, 56% of fans said they liked it. Or to put it another way, nearly half of them didn’t. Its crisp design should be applauded. The removal of the castle, thus disposing of any Boleyn Ground ties, makes sense. The problem is with the overall execution.
The addition of the word “London” looks tacky and the Hammers sit awkwardly in a crest that appears there for the sake of it. Instead of giving a nod to the original badge, that was a crossed pair of hammers in a crest, they should have just used it or had the hammers alone. The wording ruins an otherwise good design.
Click here to see what the Hammers’ new crest will look like.
Manchester City
Regardless of what happens during Manchester City’s month long consultation with fans one outcome is certain, a new badge will be designed. The current one was adopted in 1997 when the in-use circular badge became ineligible for trademark registration. The board didn’t like the idea of not being able to control merchandise or prevent counterfeit goods flooding the market.
So the circle went and in stepped an eagle. The centrepiece of the badge containing the ship and the three rivers stripe was a good way of keeping tradition. The eagle itself had been used in programming dating back to the sixties, one time Manchester council had requested all sporting teams adopt an eagle to represent the city.
It just didn’t look or feel like a Manchester City badge. The two previous circular versions were instantly identifiable. The eagle looked like an imposter. To make matters worse three stars were added for absolutely no reason. They don’t represent anything. At the time they were described as giving the badge a more European feel which came in handy for away games in the old Division Two.
Some fans have grown up with the new badge and feel attached to it but the majority are looking forward to waving it goodbye.
Click here to view Man City’s circle crest.
Leeds United
Leeds deserve to be here because they replaced a badge that was highly identifiable and transcended in football with a gimmick for no good reason.
What’s referred to as the “Rose and Ball” badge came into existence in 1984 and lasted 14 years. It was the one that last saw Leeds clinch a league title, incorporating the white rose of York, a yellow and white ball and the club’s name.
It was replaced by then chairman Peter Ridsdale to mark the Leeds march on Europe. The new one may include the traditional rose but it’s garish and looks like it’s been designed on a Commodore 64.
Click here to view Leeds’ previous crest.