The controversial new Leeds United badge design has caused an absolute furore among supporters in the city.
But it wasn’t that long ago that Huddersfield Town introduced a new Terriers corporate logo to mark the team’s promotion to the Premier League – and the reaction was totally different.
The Leeds badge revealed to mark their centenary led to widespread dismay and condemnation by Leeds supporters
The crest, which the club say celebrates “fans at the heart of our identity”, depicts a supporter doing the so-called Leeds salute.
However, thousands of fans signed a petition calling for it to be scrapped and the club have responded by extending the initial consultation process, which was said to have taken six months and included feedback from 10,000 people.
The petition on change.org, Stop LUFC from Implementing the Leeds Salute Crest, was set up on Wednesday and by this morning almost 75,000 people had signed it.
The work on the Terriers logo was done by Fantastic Media marketing agency which has worked closely with Town for many years.
And they say they were thinking of the fans when the designs were done.
Paul Whitcroft, Creative Director at Fantastic Media , said: “The aim was always to create a Terrier that the fans could be proud of as well as reflect the club’s position at the top of the football ladder.
“Key to the development was longevity - we wanted something that looks Premier League but can be a permanent part of the club’s identity.
“We took the character traits of a Terrier and the team; pride, tenacity, hard work and fight as inspiration for this new identity.”
The visual identity was developed at the agency after a business Insight workshop between the club and Fantastic.
Paul added: “We looked at a number of different identities along the Yorkshire theme and the club’s blue and white colours. We kept coming back to the Terrier because it is absolutely unique to HTFC, whereas Town are not the only team to play in blue and white or who are from Yorkshire.
“We also had a ready-made ‘Terrier Identity’ thanks to the amazing on-field accomplishments and the work of club’s marketing team to develop the #TerrierSpirit campaign.”
It probably helped that Paul is a Town fan who, along with 30 colleagues from Fantastic Media, attended the Play-Off Final at Wembley.
“As a Town fan, I was incredibly proud to be part of this,” he said. “I was confident it would go down well, but you never know, so personally, to see all the positive comments on social media is amazing.”
