Premier League club scrapped new crest after qualifying for Champions League amid fan frustration

Aston Villa’s 2023/24 campaign was a memorable one for several reasons.

In Unai Emery’s first full season at Villa Park, he guided the Villans to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League, securing the club a maiden Champions League appearance.

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Thanks to Ollie Watkins‘ remarkable haul of 19 league goals and a career-best season from Leon Bailey in which he produced 19 goal contributions, nights among Europe’s elite were no longer a pipe dream for Villa supporters.

However, it was not a campaign devoid of controversy.

What led Aston Villa to scrap Castore kit deal?

Villa’s playing kits, produced by Castore, made their stars look as if they had stood under a shower for 30 seconds.

The ‘wet-look’ kit, which was especially noticeable on Villa’s home shirt, ultimately prompted the club to axe ties with Castore and sign a long-term agreement with sportswear giants adidas from the 2024/25 season onwards.

However, the controversial set of playing strips may prove to be a collector’s item given they featured a crest that was in use for only one term.

Why did Aston Villa change their crest in 2022?

In 2022, Villa announced plans to update their crest as part of a review into ‘how we present ourselves visually in the future’.

Villa had last made a drastic overhaul of their crest in 2007, with minor alterations introduced in 2016.

A call-out was made by the club for fans to have their say via a survey, which was completed by nearly 13,000 supporters.

Two designs were then put to a fan vote, one of which was a round crest and the other featuring a gas lamp design.

More than 21,500 fans participated in the vote where they could choose the round crest, the gas lamp design or to keep the current crest.

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The round crest ultimately won, with 77 per cent of fans voting for it.

A driving reason as to why the round crest earned an overwhelming amount of votes is because many supporters associate the design with Villa’s greatest honour, the 1982 European Cup.

Villa first brought in a round crest in 1973 but tweaked it to a shield design in 1990.

Why did Aston Villa scrap the round badge?

Despite the clamour for the round badge and fans having their say, Villa announced in September 2023 plans to change their crest yet again, a decision driven by then-president of business operations Chris Heck.

“As communicated at the recent meeting of its Fan Advisory Board, Aston Villa is planning to re-engage with supporters to explore options for the selection of a permanent new-look crest ahead of the club’s 150th anniversary next year,” a club statement read.

“Subsequent to the previous consultation process, the results of which currently adorn the 2023/24 playing and training kits, the club has been assessing the impact of the change from local, global and commercial perspectives and have concluded that the current crest has not had the impact which had been hoped when it was introduced.

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“Using the results of that original process as the foundation, the club will again engage with supporters over the coming weeks in order to arrive at a permanent identity for Aston Villa, which delivers the required impact.”

Villa fans got an early glimpse at the new badge when the club registered it with the Intellectual Property Office in December 2023.

The new crest was a variation of the shield which was introduced under former owner Randy Lerner, representing an immediate scrapping of the round badge.

Aston Villa fans push back against plans for new crest

Villa’s incoming badge stirred controversy among the claret and blue faithful largely due to the lack of input they had in the design process.

The issue was also raised by the club’s Fan Advisory Board (FAB), who reminded Villa of the FA’s rules regarding consultation around introducing a new crest.

The FA rules regarding club crests state: “No Club shall make any material changes to its Club Crest without first undertaking a thorough and extensive consultation with its supporters.”

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Villa’s FAB raised the issue with the club at a meeting in February 2024, but Villa claimed ‘at no stage’ had they been found in breach of the FA’s Heritage Asset rules.

The new badge was ultimately revealed in time for the launch of Villa’s 2024/25 kits, which ushered in a new era of being sponsored by adidas.

Whether it was the badge or the fact Villa’s kits were being produced by a leading manufacturer for the first time since Nike in 2012, the West Midlands club announced record sales of the new home strip in July 2024.

The jump in merchandise revenue was reflected in the club’s accounts for the 2024/25 season as they generated £23million in sales, representing a drastic increase from the 2023/24 term when they made north of just £5m.

Perhaps Villa scrapping the round badge so soon was the right call after all.