Oh no they’ve changed the Newcastle United crest.
The very depiction of the essence of the club, intrinsically linked with the city as evidenced by the usurped crest being an update of the city’s coat of arms, and they’ve messed with it.
Except, not really, it’s pretty much the same.
After two years of consultations, including an in-person event for supporters at SJP this summer, the Newcastle United crest has been tweaked slightly.
There is no doubt in my mind that the reason of better digital resolution was indeed genuine, as the revised version has seen more definition of the castle and lion (which look better) and the hippocampi (THEY’RE NOT SEAHORSES!) which look worse. Overall though, you’d need a second glance to really appreciate that it had changed, if you didn’t already know.
While discussing this on The Mag Podcast, I made a bold statement that may have been inaccurate. I said that if they had just made this change without any of the preamble and put out a statement saying “the crest has had a tidy up so it works better on digital media” most people would have been OK with this. I was rightly pulled up because of course they wouldn’t.
🎙️ LISTEN TO THE CLIP FROM THE MAG POD
Tidy up or unnecessary tweak? The Mag Pod team debate the new crest.
Jamie, Simon, and Hutch debate the new badge design, digital resolutions, and whether the “not-seahorses” look better or worse. Press play to listen (10 mins):
Want the full episode? Listen to Episode 9 of The Mag Pod here »
First off, let’s remember that the consultation process was mandatory as, under FA rules, any change to the badge, colours or clubs name must be run past the supporter base first. However, I think it’s a bit disingenuous to suggest the club didn’t give a fig as to what we, the hoi polloi may think of crest related amendments. This is no longer the era of Mike Ashley, where the ownership would go to unnecessary lengths to create dismay and consternation among the fanbase. The current folks in charge understand that they need to keep the “customer base” happy to maintain growth and when it comes to something like this, with no direct financial effect, it’s good business sense to give the people a voice.
Credit: Newcastle United FC
Even so, it’s still created a ripple. The slightly angular look of the not-seahorses will take a bit of getting used to, but I’ve seen more than the occasional suggestion that the retro badge that looks rather nifty on the blue away shirt should have been considered. I’m not sure where the nostalgia for this comes from, as it was representative of a dire period in the club’s history, with a miserable relegation leading to being mired in the second tier until the very season they ditched it. Neither wonder as the centre piece is a lone magpie.
This is also true of its successor, the stylised NUFC, which has a teensy little magpie sat underneath it if you look close enough.
This maybe fared a bit better as it’s tenure was spent entirely in the top flight, and while it looks neat I have two issues with it.
One is that I think it’s incredibly lazy and uncreative when clubs roll out a badge that is basically their initials in a fancy font. Give any focus group of first schoolers five minutes and they’ll come up with a version of this.
Secondly – and this doesn’t get said enough – the C looks nowt like a C. I was given one a shirt with this on as a small child and I genuinely spent years thinking it simply said “NUF” with a little sort of bridge for the magpie to sit under and make the overall effect look like a football. I am happy for both versions of this badge to regularly reappear on second kits, especially if they continue with the wise approach of hiding a second magpie on there somewhere, but that should be the extent of their remit.
So, I am accepting of the new(ish) design as it retains the consistency of the club having a version of the coat of arms. Very few teams hold such a prominent connection with the city they represent, so it’s only right this should be out there.
If they want something quick and easy they are clearly planning to use the little castle in places (although it occurred to me that this looks a bit like Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama doing a dance and I can’t take it seriously now) so you have a quick and easy effect when needed.
Let’s be honest, if it wasn’t for the interminable suffering of this endless international break, we’d probably not be talking about it anyway. At least it gave us (another) opportunity for Hutch to make a fool of himself.
💬 HAVE YOUR SAY
What do you think of the updated Newcastle United crest?
Is it a necessary digital tidy-up, or do the new “not-seahorses” look worse? Would you have preferred a retro badge return instead? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below!