Saints Crest Change

[Christophenburg]

There seems to be near annual rumours that the crest/logo may change, though never really comes to anything? Are there any legs to this at all? Got to say I've never been a fan of the current crest, looks exactly like something a fan would design in the 1970s! Lots of interesting concept designs out there, but I'm not sure if there is much of an appetite to change it these days.

The earliest crest was a white shield with a red stripe, created by a fan way back in 1888/89 season long before Saints wore anything on their kit (bar the Hampshire FA crest occasionally). This is also where the Saints nickname originates. These were really common at the time, but does anyone know if any survive? I've never seen a picture of one.

[edprice1984]

I really like our crest/badge. There is nothing else like it out there and it is very distinctive. Most of the concept designs basically incorporate bits of the current badge but overall the result is quite poor. Leave alone and concentrate on the stuff on the pitch.

[Toadhall Saint]

55 minutes ago, edprice1984 said:

I really like our crest/badge. There is nothing else like it out there and it is very distinctive. Most of the concept designs basically incorporate bits of the current badge but overall the result is quite poor. Leave alone and concentrate on the stuff on the pitch.

This all day long

[Fan The Flames]

Agree, I've yet to see a design I like.

[Kenilworthy]

very, very few modernizations of club badges have been improvements. Most are hideous. Leave well alone

[Colinjb]

Our badge is instantly recognisable, unique and a quite excellent bit of design. Leave it be.

[Badger]

I've never been keen on our badge but have come to fear what sort of abortion they could make of changing it, or as it might be termed "modernising" it. For that reason it might be best left alone.

[CB Fry]

It's not really broken, and as others have said it is virtually guaranteed that the replacement would be shite. 

The only new badge I've liked in recent times is Crystal Palace, which is excellent. But I don't really trust our lot to deliver.

[Whitey Grandad]

What’s wrong with these youngsters that they have to keep changing everything all the time? I like the current crest, compared with all the others it has some style.

Besides, I have a lucky Saints key ring that my daughter gave me when I first started taking her to games over thirty years ago. I clip it onto my trousers belt and take it to every game and if things get a bit sticky I reach down and give it a quick rub. If the players ever ran out and saw that I wasn’t wearing my lucky key ring there’s no telling how badly they would play.

I say ‘lucky’ but so far it’s not been much help but it must come good some day.

[Matthew Le God]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

What’s wrong with these youngsters that they have to keep changing everything all the time? I like the current crest, compared with all the others it has some style.

The club has not had that current badge for significantly longer than it has had it. Did you complain about the change away from tradition in 1974?

[Whitey Grandad]

22 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

The club has not had that current badge for significantly longer than it has had it. Did you complain about the change away from tradition in 1974?

That’s not an argument for changing it now.

[captainchris]

It’s a great badge. Leave it alone... 

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

The club has not had that current badge for significantly longer than it has had it. Did you complain about the change away from tradition in 1974?

Says the man that tried to convince this forum that the plain red shirts that Cortese brought in were now our traditional kit, because no one could say that we wouldn't wear that type of shirts for the next fifty seasons.

(Spoiler alert: we did not wear that style of shirt for the next fifty seasons. As every single person knew at the time except Matthew Le God)

[Avenue_Saint]

Leave it alone.

[Kenilworthy]

10 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

The club has not had that current badge for significantly longer than it has had it. Did you complain about the change away from tradition in 1974?

We never had a shirt badge before 1974 so the design set the tradition rather than changing it. Ok there was a club crest, as reproduced in my Esso collection of club badges. But it was really used on a limited basis so not familiar to the world at large. If we really had to change I would welcome the use of the Southampton City badge, but that no doubt would be regarded as too fancy. What we will most likely get is some stylised SFC in the same way that Juventus have ruined their badge

[Wurzel]

16 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

What’s wrong with these youngsters that they have to keep changing everything all the time? I like the current crest, compared with all the others it has some style.

Besides, I have a lucky Saints key ring that my daughter gave me when I first started taking her to games over thirty years ago. I clip it onto my trousers belt and take it to every game and if things get a bit sticky I reach down and give it a quick rub. If the players ever ran out and saw that I wasn’t wearing my lucky key ring there’s no telling how badly they would play.

I say ‘lucky’ but so far it’s not been much help but it must come good some day.

They've clearly been missing it at all those lockdown games you've been unable to attend this year. Could you try rubbing it harder when forced to watch on tv, and maybe do it at kick off .

For what it's worth, no, leave the badge alone.

[Matthew Le God]

14 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Says the man that tried to convince this forum that the plain red shirts that Cortese brought in were now our traditional kit, because no one could say that we wouldn't wear that type of shirts for the next fifty seasons.

(Spoiler alert: we did not wear that style of shirt for the next fifty seasons. As every single person knew at the time except Matthew Le God)

I did no such thing. You've clearly not understood the point I was making.

[Christophenburg]

18 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

What’s wrong with these youngsters that they have to keep changing everything all the time? I like the current crest, compared with all the others it has some style.

I'm 33 and have supported Saints since going to the Dell in the 90s, would definitely not consider myself a youngster.

It was only a question as to whether the rumours had legs as they seem annual, and then my personal opinion on the design itself. Seems that was probably not the right thing to have an opinion on...

Can anyone answer the question about the 1888/89 crest?

[Snopper]

1 hour ago, Wurzel said:

They've clearly been missing it at all those lockdown games you've been unable to attend this year. Could you try rubbing it harder when forced to watch on tv, and maybe do it at kick off .

For what it's worth, no, leave the badge alone.

This.  Just leave well alone.

 

[tajjuk]

I like our badge it's quirky.  Yeh it's probably not very 'corporate' but do we really want it to be? Plus it's still very distinctive, I am not sure the club has ever particularly had much issue with club identity, we've been the clear 'kings' of the red and white stripes in England for a long time as other pretenders come and go (like Sunderland, Sheff Utd) etc.  We're known for our youth production, though the that reputation these days is probably a little less deserved, and still plenty of people around who remember Le Tiss in his hey day.  I'd say relative lack of success not the club image hinders a more global reach than anything else. 

Plus what other football team in world has a halo in it's badge, a tree and an old school football? 

I would also say a lot PL badges basically fit in two categories - 'Traditional coat of arms style' ones like Liverpool, Newcastle, Everton, Utd etc. or more 'clean corporate logo' style like Wolves, Fulham, Spurs, West Ham etc.  Ours is neither really and I like that. 

Edited 7 May, 2021 by tajjuk

[Toussaint]

If modernised pub signs are anything to go by, please God nooooooo....

 

 

 

...oooooo

 

..oo

[Billy the Kidd]

19 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

What’s wrong with these youngsters that they have to keep changing everything all the time? I like the current crest, compared with all the others it has some style.

Besides, I have a lucky Saints key ring that my daughter gave me when I first started taking her to games over thirty years ago. I clip it onto my trousers belt and take it to every game and if things get a bit sticky I reach down and give it a quick rub. If the players ever ran out and saw that I wasn’t wearing my lucky key ring there’s no telling how badly they would play.

I say ‘lucky’ but so far it’s not been much help but it must come good some day.

Have you tried rubbing the key ring also 😉

Great story though, that is a lovely thing to have, and I also agree - leave the crest well alone.

[aintforever]

It looks like the result of a Junior School art and design project, should have been changed decades ago.

[Pamplemousse]

One of the best badges in the league. It's perfect IMO.

[Whitey Grandad]

5 hours ago, Wurzel said:

They've clearly been missing it at all those lockdown games you've been unable to attend this year. Could you try rubbing it harder when forced to watch on tv, and maybe do it at kick off .

For what it's worth, no, leave the badge alone.

No matter how hard I rub it nothing seems to work:(

[CB Fry]

5 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

I did no such thing. You've clearly not understood the point I was making.

Except you did. Every time anyone said "but red and white stripes are our traditional kit" you went off with "yes but what is tradition", "70 years ago we wore so-and-so" and "traditions have to start somewhere so this could now be our traditional kit, wait and see".

Absolute horseshit, and did plain red become traditional to us? 

Wrong, completely wrong, as ever, as usual.

Edited 7 May, 2021 by CB Fry

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, CB Fry said:

Except you did. Every time anyone said "but red and white stripes are our traditional kit" you went off with "yes but what is tradition", "70 years ago we wore so-and-so" and "traditions have to start somewhere so this could now be our traditional kit, wait and see".

Absolute horseshit, and did plain red become traditional to us? 

Wrong, completely wrong, as ever, as usual.

I did not say that. You have twisted my words significantly.

[CB Fry]

4 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

I did not say that. You have twisted my words significantly.

Well I am delighted that you now totally accept that red and white stripes is our traditional kit. Great to have you on board.

[Matthew Le God]

22 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Well I am delighted that you now totally accept that red and white stripes is our traditional kit. Great to have you on board.

I didn't say that either. Is English comprehension not your thing?

[sydney_saint]

I hope no one goes near our badge. So many modern badges are these shitty, dull and uninspiring circular badges. Ours was designed by a fan, and it shows. It's junk. But I say that from a place of love. I assume when they were designing it, they drafted in several ideas that represent the club. Rather than honing in on one of them, thought fuck it and threw it all in. New Forest, Halo's, Solent, Scarf etc. In it all goes. It's a fantastic mess. 

I can only think of a small handful of clubs in the top 4 divisions that have gone with a new badge and it looks decent. I quite like Derby's, and I quite like Lincoln's. Other than that, they are mainly bland, 'simplistic' badges that stand for little. I'm surprised they haven't tried to redesign it, but so glad they haven't

[Fitzhugh Fella]

On 06/05/2021 at 15:11, Christophenburg said:

There seems to be near annual rumours that the crest/logo may change, though never really comes to anything? Are there any legs to this at all? Got to say I've never been a fan of the current crest, looks exactly like something a fan would design in the 1970s! Lots of interesting concept designs out there, but I'm not sure if there is much of an appetite to change it these days.

The earliest crest was a white shield with a red stripe, created by a fan way back in 1888/89 season long before Saints wore anything on their kit (bar the Hampshire FA crest occasionally). This is also where the Saints nickname originates. These were really common at the time, but does anyone know if any survive? I've never seen a picture of one.

Yep Gary Chalk has a couple of the shields (they were designed to tuck in fans hat bands) and I have published photos in my pre-war Cup history book on Saints. 

[Charlie Wayman]

There are far more pressing matters to worry about this summer.

[The Kraken]

I like our badge.  There’s typically a few articles/blogs every year about the best badge in the Premier League, and the Saints badge typically does just fine in those rankings. It’s not the best badge and it’s definitely seen as quirky but it works ok.

Until such point as I see an alternative design that is better, I’m more than happy to keep it. I’m yet to see anything else that has been put forward that I prefer. If there is a better option, then by all means I’m open to change, just haven’t seen that option yet.

 

 

[Roo1976]

Spoiler alert...................................Its a great badge its not broken and it doesn't need fixing.IMO😇

[SW5 SAINT]

21 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

No matter how hard I rub it nothing seems to work:(

Careful what you rub down there.......

[Whitey Grandad]

37 minutes ago, SW5 SAINT said:

Careful what you rub down there.......

No worries

A quick squirt of WD40 and time for another try. I don’t understand it. Aladdin seemed to conjure up a genie every time he gave it a good go.

[John Boy Saint]

Aside from leaving the Badge alone - there is nowt wrong with it.

It’s great to see above the first cast members of this years Panto at the Mayflower, CB and MLG are busy practising their parts 😜

[Pedantic Pete]

I am not sure how many new fans a new badge will bring? I assume that's the point of changing it? Remember when Royal Mail changed their name to Consignia, that seemed like a great idea to someone to I suppose? It fix if why broken ain't it?  

[Christophenburg]

On 08/05/2021 at 06:40, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Yep Gary Chalk has a couple of the shields (they were designed to tuck in fans hat bands) and I have published photos in my pre-war Cup history book on Saints. 

Thank you - I'll see if I can get a copy of the book

[Saint_Jonny]

Nothing to do with Saints (for what it's worth I would leave the crest as it is, it's great) - but Eastleigh's crest makeover last year was excellent. So it proves that change doesn't always = shite. 

 

Edited 11 May, 2021 by Saint_Jonny

[JCBSaint]

Just throwing it out there , I do think our badge is good, it says lots about our area and nickname, I did have one idea to freshen it up as it were, wondered what your thought were. Why not have the black of the halo and black of the Southampton name in dark blue instead? Maybe somebody could do a mock up? Keep the rest of the badge the same. Kit wise we could have dark blue shorts. Just freshening things up. We had them up until around the 50’s?