Newcastle to consult with fans on ‘refining and reviving' club badge

New York Times

09-05-2025

Newcastle United are to consult with their supporters on 'refining and reviving' their current club crest.
The club have launched a consultation process with fans via an independently run survey aimed at seeking advice on how they can modernise their badge.
After initial discussions with Newcastle's Fan Advisory Board (FAB), the club have accepted that there is little hunger for a major overhaul of the crest's design, which has been in use and largely unchanged since 1988.
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It is perhaps most synonymous — at least until earlier this season, when the club finally ended their long wait for a meaningful trophy — with Kevin Keegan's Entertainers team of the mid 1990s and it is based on the city's coat of arms, featuring the castle and seahorses which pay tribute to the city's status as a seaport.
'This isn't about walking away from our past,' the club said in an official statement on Friday. 'It's about carrying it forward with pride. The crest is part of our story. It's on our shirts and inked in our skin. It deserves thoughtful evolution — shaped by the voices of the people who love it … Based on what we've heard, updates to the current club crest should be minimal and therefore 'Refine & Revive ' is our recommended approach.'
At issue is the fine detail of the club's current design. 'It was created in a different era,' the club said. 'Its intricate design doesn't always translate well in today's digital world. And it's difficult to reproduce it clearly and consistently. As football and the world changes, so too must the symbol that unites us.'
Initially, Newcastle season ticket holders and members will be given until May 16 to respond to a survey about what should be retained or updated from the current badge, the results of which will be collected by Savanta and then passed on to the club.
The FAB have then recommended that Newcastle's wider fanbase should be given a choice of options in the second stage of the consultation process. No potential changes to the badge will be made in time for the start of next season.
As someone who is old enough to remember previous incarnations of Newcastle's club crest, I'm perhaps not as emotionally wedded to the current version as some might be.
Don't get me wrong, this is a classic badge, one which celebrates the club's connection to the city and which stretches back into Newcastle's proud history, but other designs have been just as beautiful.
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What about the magpie standing splendid beneath the arc of a downturned capital letter C, which props up a curled NUF? That was gorgeous, something I'll forever associate with Paul Gascoigne, the first player who persuaded me that football could be poetic (as well as brutal).
Those simple, sensuous curves – which were on the front of Newcastle kits from 1983-88 – were ahead of their time; think about Juventus and the decision they took in 2017 to strip their badge back to their first initial. I wouldn't have minded a comeback for that design.
The magpie makes sense for Newcastle, the club – more so than the seahorses on the city crest, which are a nod to the city being a seaport – because that is their nickname. It also featured prominently on a club badge from 1976-83, standing in front of the Castle Keep and with the River Tyne in the foreground.
I'm pleased – and relieved – that Newcastle are consulting so heavily and sensitively with their supporters on 'refining' their current crest and that they accept the link to the city is so important, but was there an argument to be more adventurous now that their modern identity has changed? After lifting the Carabao Cup, they are no longer the perennial losers. The magpies are rampant.
By nature, I'm a traditionalist, but losing was one tradition I was happy to let go of.