One Camel or two? Fans ‘consulted’ on Newcastle United club crest change… | OneFootball

On Friday, Newcastle United announced that the club crest is to be changed.

The official announcement (see below) from the Newcastle United owners declaring…

‘As football and the world changes, so too must the symbol that unites us.’

Why ‘must’ the ‘symbol that unites us’ change?

The Newcastle United hierarchy explaining why our symbol (crest) can’t continue to unite us…

‘Its intricate design doesn’t always translate well in today’s digital world. And it’s difficult to reproduce it clearly and consistently.’

As for what alterations will be made, how much the Newcastle United club crest (symbol) will change, the club stating…

‘Based on what we’ve heard, updates to the current club crest should be minimal and therefore Refine & Revive is our recommended approach.’

I don’t quite know where to start…

One thing I can’t quite decide, is whether I find the nonsense put out by the club to be even more ludicrous than the reaction of many Newcastle United fans to Friday’s announcement.

The way some fans are going on, you would think the Newcastle United owners had already published images of the new club crest, featuring a couple of Camels either side of a Mosque (bringing back memories of when the Mackems were slating Wor Flags for a giant new flag that featured local landmarks, including the…Spanish City!).

A lot of fans saying this Newcastle United club crest is part of our history.

Well it is part of our history BUT modern history.

One of the Newcastle United first team squad is older than this (current!) NUFC club crest, John Ruddy born in 1986, two years before the Newcastle United club crest was changed (again!). Plenty of our other players (Trippier, Wilson, Schar, Burn etc) were born before the new/current NUFC crest was five years old.

The club first officially adopted the city’s coat of arms as their crest (symbol…) in 1969, that was used by Newcastle United until they designed a new one in 1976, that lasted until the NUFC with the C below in 1983, before then the most recent change in 1988.

A lot of us who were around back in the day, feel a lot of affection and nostalgia for that C under the NUFC one, especially I think because it came in for the Kevin Keegan 1983/84 promotion season and looked lush on the shirt designs of that era, especially the silver away shirt that followed KK’s departure.

Although there again, I loved the shirt design (and crest) when Keegan originally came in for the 1982/83 season.

Looking back in time, it appears that whilst the Newcastle United players didn’t usually have any badge (crest, symbol…) on their shirts, for the three FA Cup final victories their shirts did sport the city coat of arms, that was eventually officially adopted in 1969 as the club crest.

Also interesting to look at this image of the 1969 Fairs Cup winning team…

As you can see, the players’ shirts don’t have any club crest on, though Joe Harvey’s blazer has the city coat of arms on it.

Any ‘youngsters’ out there who are wondering what was on the replica shirts back then, they will be in for a shock.

When I was a kid growing up back in the 1970s, there were no replica shirts, there wasn’t even a club shop!

What you could buy from certain shops (can’t remember where – sports shops, department stores?) were generic football shirts, so as well as blue ones, red ones, there was a back and white stripes one. At some point (again, can’t remember when), you could buy a sew on badge from places with that city coat of arms on, which your mam could sew onto your shirt. Though I can’t remember many kids having that badge sewn onto their generic black and white shirts. Indeed, very few even had the black and white shirts from what I remember. Ordering them on the Internet back in the 1970s took even longer than Castore in the 2020s!

Before Newcastle United had a club shop, we had the much missed Newcastle United Supporters Club shop, up next to the Haymarket, this opened sometime in the 1970s I am pretty sure.

Apologies for going down that nostalgia rabbit hole, getting back to this Newcastle United club crest nonsense.

I have mentioned how ridiculous the reaction of some fans has been, even before they see what a new design might look like, now I turn my sights on the Newcastle United owners and senior staff.

Of course I am beyond happy that we got rid of Mike Ashley and his shameless minions.

However, one thing I find cringeworthy every time they do it, is when the club have a ‘consultation’ process with the Newcastle United fans about anything.

For example, whilst some naive fans thought it was great that the club were asking our opinion on the new stadium, in reality it was just an exercise in finding out how much supporters would be willing to pay for tickets in the future.

We have seen other lame consultation processes and fan workshops etc etc, regarding stuff like home and away tickets, about cup final tickets, how they should be sold, the penalties for breaking club rules (passing a ticket to a friend or one of your family), how tickets should be distributed and so on. All of it just public relations nonsense, the club pretending to listen and take notice of fan wishes…

Truth is, they are the same as all the other clubs in this respect. Any club that knows the stadium will be full every home match no matter what they say and do, they have zero interest in what fans want.

This latest public relations nonsense on Friday regarding the Newcastle United club crest, this is my belief of what the reality is…

‘With the new Newcastle United club crest, the club will have already had the new design sorted ages ago. Asking fans for loads of pointless feedback via surveys and so on where no fan knows what anybody else is saying. Have some workshops where everyone says something different to the rest, where some are louder and also happen to be the most stupid. Then we will be asked to vote between the design they will go with regardless, option two including red and white stripes, option three an image of Mike Ashley wearing only his boxer shorts.’

The important bit when it comes to what the Newcastle United owners are really saying…

The Newcastle United owners stating that the club crest needs to be changed due to the club growing ‘on the global stage’, it then means that ‘the symbol that represents us needs to be able to keep pace.’

The Newcastle United official statement says about the current crest:

‘Its intricate design doesn’t always translate well in today’s digital world. And it’s difficult to reproduce it clearly and consistently.’

I’m confused, I thought that as technology moved on ever faster in this ‘digital world’ then surely this should mean that the current Newcastle United club crest should be easier to reproduce! It it was the olden days and you were asking people to hand draw the crest then this would make some kind of sense but this is the ‘digital age’ and it doesn’t make sense.

As for what alterations will be made, how much the Newcastle United club crest (symbol) will change, the club stating…

‘Based on what we’ve heard, updates to the current club crest should be minimal and therefore Refine & Revive is our recommended approach.’

I’m sorry, but this is where the biggest deception surely is from the club. If any intended changes are going to be ‘minimal’, to ‘refine and revive’ (corporate nonsense speak), then surely any ‘minimal’ changes wouldn’t be contentious, if they are just giving it better definition to the current design, where at first glance you would hardly notice any difference, then absolutely no need to make this announcement and pretend consultation process.

To me it is crystal clear that the Newcastle United owners are going to substantially change the club crest and whilst there may be no camels or mosques in the planning, their new (already prepared!) ‘symbol’ will look very different to what we have now. It is all about branding and they have decided they want something a lot more simplistic and that will be much more instantly recognisable and clear on a global basis, that will be easier and quicker to register for those who may not be Newcastle United fans at all, may not even have heard of us before!

The real and only reason why we should KEEP the current Newcastle United club crest

That one reason why we should keep it, is because it is bloody brilliant!

Which Premier League club, indeed any club anywhere, has a club crest as good as Newcastle United’s? Maybe some can make a case (though I can’t think of any) for their club crest being as good as Newcastle’s but for me there is definitely none that are better.

If it’s not broken, why fix it?

I think maybe one of the most astonishing things of all though, is that back in time when the club was a total shambles under McKeag and others, when in 1988 we had just lost the third of three world class local players, Gazza following Waddle and Beardsley out of the club, that they somehow came up with this brilliant new Newcastle United club crest????

Who do we have to thank for this, which person can take the credit for designing the Newcastle United club crest that we see today (enjoy it while you can…), that we have all taken for granted these past 37 years?

Another strange thing is the timing of the club announcement, unless it was to take our minds off worrying about Champions League qualification and especially those panicking ahead of Chelsea at home tomorrow.

You would have thought that moving to a new Newcastle United club crest would have been timed so that it could then be available to be used on the next season’s shirt designs.

This won’t happen in time for the 2025/26 shirt designs and then of course the sales of replica kit and other merchandise, indeed, what look like pretty reliable ‘leaked’ images of the new home shirt are already circulating.

Good luck to all of you who are happy to be ‘consulted’ and to play a part in ‘agreeing’ what the new Newcastle United club crest will be.

My preference is two camels, not one.

Newcastle United official announcement – 9 May 2025:

‘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.

So we’ve been asking ourselves: how well does our current crest represent the club today? And how well will it serve us tomorrow?

It’s time to update our crest

This isn’t a decision we take lightly. We love our crest. It’s iconic and has stood us through unforgettable triumphs and testing times. But it was created in a different era. 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.

That’s why we’re coming to you

This isn’t about walking away from our past. 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.

Tell us what matters most

Based on what we’ve heard, updates to the current club crest should be minimal and therefore Refine & Revive is our recommended approach. We’ve spoken to our Fan Advisory Board, now we want to hear from you. What should stay the same? What needs to be updated? And how can we embrace our history – not just by honouring it, but by preserving its spirit and building on it, so we can thrive in the years ahead?

We’re inviting Season Ticket holders and Members to share their views in an independently ran survey. A link to that survey will be emailed directly to those fans. The cut off is 5pm on Friday 16th May!

Want to hear more?

Want to hear more? We will be holding a fan consultation workshop for Season Ticket Holders and Members on Wednesday 14th May, both in person at St. James’ Park and online, to provide more detail on why we’re undergoing this process and offer you an opportunity to share your thoughts. A link will be supplied to register your interest to this event in the same email.

What happens after the survey closes?

The Fan Advisory Board have recommended that the wider fan base should be given a choice of options to select from during the second stage consultation. This second stage will be delivered via a separate survey, dates to follow.