Leeds United today unveiled a controversial re-branded club crest for the 2018/19 season onwards.
The badge, which depicts a supporter performing ‘The Leeds United salute’ with a fist to the chest, has been met with mixed reactions online, with one supporter saying the club have got it “totally wrong”.
The club announced the decision this afternoon in the latest phase of owner Andrea Radrizzani’s long-term project at Elland Road, with Leeds having consulted 10,000 supporters over the crest.
Most reaction online appears to be largely negative, but this wouldn’t be the first time the club rolled out a doomed re-brand.
Leeds United anger fans with ‘laughable’ new club crest https://t.co/ken3YCrBRU #LUFC
— The Independent (@Independent) January 24, 2018
In 1973 Leeds United launched the “smiley badge” which was inspired by a marketing man called Paul Trevillion who had convinced Don Revie to revolutionise the image of the club.
The artistic design had the explicit intention of gaining acceptance from a public outside West Yorkshire, but it was clearly ahead of its time.
Leeds’s new design – which clearly has international undertones – may well suffer the same fate.
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