Bemused football fans have criticised Farsley Celtic’s new club badge.
New chairman Paul Barthorpe unveiled the new badge earlier today, saying it would give the club a “new start, a new freedom, and a new way of doing things to reflect the bright future ahead of us, whilst also never forgetting who we are or where we have come from.”
But fans, who saw their club promoted to National League North as champions, have given a vocal response to the new design, with some calling for the old badge (below) to be reinstated.
Danny Harrison posted on Facebook:
“Awful clip art rubbish. The text hasn’t even been warped properly- “Celtic” is wonky. One “C” is bigger than the other. I hope you didn’t pay too much for this amateur job. You can do much better.”
James Ward agreed, He posted:
“Sorry Farsley but old is gold! Not feeling the new badge at all. Please change it back!”
Steve Crabtree said the design was more suited to an American Football club. He added:
“Are you going to start playing in the NFL too? That’s not a football badge, it’s not a Farsley Celtic badge, and it’s really really awful.”
Cameron Sugden added:
“No no no no no no!! Call a late April fools and leave it is as it was.”
BREAKING NEWS: We are delighted to unveil a new badge as the Celt Army usher in a new era #CeltArmy https://t.co/aepavuMj4Q
— Farsley Celtic (@FarsleyCelticFC) May 17, 2019
Others likened it to last year’s Leeds United club crest debacle, which saw angry fans successfully persuade the club not to change the crest.
But not everyone is against the new design. Garry Liversidge said:
“Like it, because it’s got a lot of people talking about it.🧐”
Chairman Paul Barthorpe said he wanted younger fans to be able to associate with the badge, and added:
“We are the youngest board in the league by some distance, and it is therefore our responsibility to be the forerunners in club innovation, new thinking and positioning our club at the front of the rest when it comes to looking ahead.
“The old badge was disjointed and sent out conflicting messages, and many of our fans, particularly the younger generation, didn’t understand what the symbology represented.
“We have spent a lot of time and resources on getting this right, and have sought the opinions of multiple stakeholders across all demographics.”
What do you think? Have your say in our poll:
Mr Barthorpe said Farsley’s new nickname would be ‘The Celt Army’ and added:
“The club’s new nickname … is very much how we see ourselves, a tight group all fighting for the same thing, the ultimate success of our club!
“We will stand shoulder to shoulder with our fans and our community, and we will support them regardless of any external and surrounding issues as they have repeatedly proven that they will do the same for us!
“Our stadium will become as any football club wants their stadium to be, a fortress, a Citadel!”
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Over to you …
Personally, as a bit of a traditionalist, I can see the merits of retaining the original badge but I do think that the new badge reflects the new stance of the management insofar has it is a more aggressive design and does bring out the idea of a committed band of fighters with their standard held aloft. Therefore I am all in favour of the new badge.
The change of badge, the ground name change, the awful green everywhere on the website, the new green strip, forcing the Irish connection down everyone’s throats -Bad. Good luck with enticing younger fan base, because I know quite a few traditionalist won’t be visiting Throstle Nest (sorry Citadel) again! Come back John Palmer.