With Hull City's supporters long and protracted battle with owner Assem Allam still ongoing, and supporters of Cardiff City still fuming at the Bluebirds now playing in red, you'd think that change would be seen in the footballing world as something of a big "No-No!". A working example of what happens when you ignore the fans would be what happened at St James Park in Newcastle, a debacle ensues and you end up needing a payday loan company in order to put things right.
However, Arsenal have previous in this area. After all it is only in 2002 that they last changed their badge, from the iconic cannon I grew up with, to something which looks frankly more like a caricature, possibly sketched by someone who may well have inquired "Can you guess what it is yet?", halfway through. This was met with a mixed reception by the fans at the time, and still to this day when I compare old to new, I wonder that surely there must have been something which could have been done regarding the copyright issue which caused the requirement for change to happen at all.
As of yet, it is unclear what exactly will replace this version of the Canon. Given Arsenal's continued expansion and attempts to market themselves as a major global brand, rumours have flown about the possibility of actually manufacturing differing versions of the shirt for the area in which it is to be marketed. For example, an Arsenal shirt marketed for the USA may in fact lose the canon completely from the crest, and replace it with two or maybe three smaller firearms, an assault rifle and pistol maybe, while the Asian market could perhaps have a Manga-esque stylised canon.
In his prematch press conference tomorrow, I confronted Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho about the situation for his opinions. While stressing that he does not speak about other clubs, he did offer is support for the fans who wish to keep the badge as it is, stating : "Arsenal's badge is iconic. It contains a canon, a thing capable only of single shots over long periods of time. It can be devastating, if it allowed to be, but is useless once someone gets behind it. I think they should keep it. Your crest is a reflection of your club. Yes, they should keep it".
Source: DSG
