48 hours before one of the biggest games of our Premier League season, perhaps the last thing the Newcastle fanbase needed was an immensely divisive announcement from the club itself.
But on Friday lunchtime, exactly that happened. The club has issued a statement proposing to change our iconic crest, which has been in place since 1988 and stands out as one of the most unique in the Premier League.
And now an image has emerged of one of the proposed new designs, and it’s fair to say that if Friday’s 12pm announcement went down poorly, this is unlikely to boost the mood anytime soon!
Image of one badge proposal ‘leaked’
Exclusively revealed by NewcastleWorld and rapidly spread on social media, the concept image still depicts the seahorses and different elements from the city’s own coat of arms – but at this stage still looks like a needless design update.
Additionally, NewcastleWorld’s Liam Kennedy writes: “The proposal design was drawn up prior to the fan consultation process”, hinting that the decision has been in the pipeline for some time. See it below:
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In their Friday statement, the club put out the following message to fans: “As our club grows on the global stage, the symbol that represents us needs to be able to keep pace. It needs to show up clearly and confidently across everything – from kits to screens to merchandise.
Adopting a ‘Refine & Revive’ approach, the club is now seeking input from season ticket holders and members alike in terms of the new direction and design.
But whilst fan input will no doubt be incorporated into the final design, it looks the club and its design team have already drafted up several concepts over what the new crest could look like.
The biggest mishap yet by the owners?
Whilst the proposed move from St James’ Park had many critics – though the justification of being a massive revenue booster partially excused it – the general consensus within the fanbase now is that there is little logic behind changing the club crest.
It’s from here that the club has to be careful with how it approaches the final design.
If it’s like Manchester City, who reverted back to a circular design which it had previously, and tapped into Manchester’s industrial and shipping history, then this will satisfy portions of the fanbase.
However, should they strictly go with a simplistic circular design, similar to that of Aston Villa and Chelsea’s recent crests, or even delve into Leeds United circa 2018 for a laughably unusual design, then this will feel like the biggest misstep of the current owners so far into their tenure.
Sounds to me that the current elaborate and detailed stitching design is costing too much to put onto the current shirts meaning the cost has to be either absorbed or have the danger of putting the shirt prices up.
Our crest is quality, unlike much of the cheap, modern looking designs and should not be touched. But who am I to make a comment as is sounds like we are being railroaded.
Toonarden(Quote)
For me the fact we have changed this 3 times now means it doesn’t matter if they do it again.
If it was the original then yes it’s a completely different story but as it’s the fourth badge in our history then it’s no big deal imo.
People need to stop being outraged for no reason whatsoever other than it’s the in thing to be outraged at anything these days.
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
Why does it seem like our fans are disproportionately whingey compared to others? How many clubs actually ASK their fans for opinions before making decisions on stadiums/crest? You lot need to grow a **** pair and stop crying “proud history” like kids every time there’s a change, they’re not talking about getting rid of the design, just modernization, they’re obviously not just “doing it for a laugh” there’ll be a reason, so for the love of Sir Bobby, stop whinging, act your ages and when they ask your opinions on things, be proud that you have the opportunity to be part of the clubs decisions, because you could support someone like Cardiff who just change their club colours and sod the fans.
Sean(Quote)
I hope the picture of a magpie is not on it we need something that reflects the club and the region .. why not be open to look at new ideas and change .. let’s see what they come up with
Mike(Quote)
Is this anything to do with the fact that the team are wearing training tops with the crest blacked out?
Daveys **** mate(Quote)
That is an excellent observation Daveys **** mate.
It does irk me a little that the rationale is that the badge is too intricate for the digital world. I thought we lived in a world where AI was going to solve every problem?
Peaco(Quote)
It needs to be simple….we are known as the mags, so why not a magpie?
It certainly needs to change, a minimalistic version of the current badge shown on this post looks great, but could be even simpler for alternate kits like we’ve seen with Arsenal, ManU, Everton even!
M82 RKY(Quote)
If they’re going to change it,could we have an image of the Tyne Bridge incorporated in the design please ?
Tommy Tantrum(Quote)
Couldn’t of put it better myself, i for one wouldnt be sad to see the seahorses go, a bridge/bridges and a castle maybe a magpie or 2 for joy aswel. People seem to be against the circular template but in my opinion it looks much better on merch etc Psg has some of the best merch going and the circular crest looks clean.
Krs11(Quote)