By ‘We got it wrong’ Grimsby board apologise over controversial badge
The Grimsby Town board have made their first mistake and their first apology of their tenure after controversially changing the club crest without prior fan consultation.
On January 1, Grimsby Town FC announced the launch of their brand new website and a new club badge.
While fans have unanimously agreed that the new club website is a huge improvement, many have been left disappointed by the badge change and the lack of communication around it.
Whilst standing by the work of Rich Lyons, the Town fan and professional designer of the badge, the board admitted “we got it wrong”.
“The Board saw the changes to the crest as brilliant, but subtle; preserving the legacy of the crest but also improving it to work better in a digital age,” a club statement read.
“The new crest is rebuilt entirely from the ground up, using the basic ingredients of the existing version – the sash, the shield, the stripes, the trawler, the fish and the club name.
“It is constructed wholly upon a grid of geometric shapes that are compositionally harmonious in their relation to each other, and the scale of components have been optimised to allow the crest to be used at any scale digitally and physically.
“The Board promised to seek feedback from supporters on the website over the coming weeks, but we were so convinced about the subtlety of the changes to the crest we failed to consult. We got it wrong.
“Despite significant effort to ensure that we communicated the change well, our social media posts were also delayed by several hours, thus making it appear at first as if the Board was being less than transparent on the changes.”
The board will now hold a fan vote in “the coming days” to give the fans a decision on which badge to use – the current one which has been used since 1972, or the new one.
Speaking on Twitter before the statement was released, Grimsby chairperson Jason Stockwood said: “Dear GTFC fans, we messed up on the consultation & comms over the new crest & club brand guidelines.
“It has been months of work and subtlety updates the club for a more digital age but hold our hands up that we got this wrong.
“The whole board stand behind the brilliant work Rich Lyons has done and the reasons it needed doing.
“Apologies, we will start again tomorrow to explain fully (please read the article on the website) & then will put the option to fans for a vote over the coming days.”
Comment below your thoughts on the new badge and the board’s reaction to criticism.
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