Design vs devotion: Why football club rebrands walk a finer line than most

Jon Dignam, creative director at OurCreative., explains what makes rebranding football clubs particularly tricky, and why it’s worth ensuring the outcome feels both respectful and progressive.

When news broke that Newcastle United planned to update their club crest, my first thought as both a designer and lifelong football fan was: here we go again. Another club stepping up to what has become one of the most treacherous briefs in design – the football rebrand.

It’s a move that’s definitely becoming more common and in the last few years alone we’ve seen rebrands from clubs like Liverpool, Norwich, and even my own beloved Tottenham Hotspur. As a Spurs fan, I’m still in awe of how Nomad delivered a comprehensive brand world that actually feels like the club, rooted in its 150-year heritage and modernised without dilution.

However, not every redesign lands as successfully. That’s because, in football, a crest isn’t just a logo – it’s a symbol that fans grow up with. Redesigning it can feel a bit like rewriting family history.

Unlike other sectors, football clubs can’t rely on the usual rules of consumer branding. You can’t A/B test loyalty. Fans don’t shop around for clubs – we inherit them, we live with them and we suffer and celebrate with them. It’s generational, tribal and deeply emotional.

When a club updates its identity, the stakes are unusually high because you're not just appealing to a new audience. You're asking lifelong supporters to accept a shift in something they hold sacred.

Change doesn't have to be off the table, though. Many clubs are at an inflection point, particularly as the game continues to expand across the world. Matchday programmes have become TikToks, kits are fashion items and stadiums are multi-use venues. What’s more is that footballers are now cultural influencers and clubs are increasingly expected to operate as lifestyle brands.

Just think of all the documentaries that are now giving fans unprecedented behind the scenes access to clubs like Man City, Liverpool and Wrexham. In this context, visual identity needs to keep pace and act as the glue that binds all these evolutions together.

The challenge, of course, is how to evolve a football club brand without alienating, which is where thoughtful, rigorous design comes in. Tottenham’s transformation was case in point, as the Nomad rebrand didn’t just deliver a refined crest – it brought to life a full ecosystem, from wayfinding and merchandise to tone of voice. Old stadium materials were recycled into the new ground and the design was scaled across thousands of branded touchpoints, all of it consistent, modern and deeply considered. It was a love letter to the club’s past as much as it was a step into the future.

Contrast that with the early reactions to Newcastle’s leaked crest concepts – where fans have voiced concern about straying too far from tradition – and you can see how quickly things can unravel if the process isn’t inclusive or anchored in heritage. That’s why fan engagement is so important, not as a box-ticking exercise but as a strategic input.

Understanding what elements are truly sacred is vital to knowing where you can push and where you can’t. In Newcastle’s case, I’d argue that the black-and-white stripes carry more weight in the club’s identity than the crest itself.

Ultimately a successful football rebrand starts with the culture – the people, the place, the passion – and involves deep historical research and meaningful stakeholder engagement. It requires a design system that can stretch across every touchpoint, from shirt sleeves and social feeds to stadium signage and supporter hubs on the other side of the world. Above all, it demands an emotional intelligence that allows the design to feel both respectful and progressive.

There are plenty of pitfalls to avoid. The fear of backlash can lead to watered-down solutions that try to say too many things and end up saying nothing at all. In some cases, designers try to inject too much local symbolism or historic reference without a unifying idea, which results in an identity that lacks clarity or scalability. Then there’s the practical side – the importance of robust guidelines to protect the brand as it gets rolled out across merchandise, digital, broadcast and beyond.

The reality is that all football clubs are now brands beyond the football season and stadium stands. Brands like Juventus have managed to evolve their identities while maintaining deep cultural ties. The club’s shift to a minimalist ‘J’ mark was bold, but it was supported by a wider brand strategy that leaned into the club’s Italian heritage and global ambition.

There are lessons here for other sports too. Cricket, for instance, has huge potential for brand reinvention. The game is rich with tradition – from county rivalries and village greens to test match rituals that span generations – but much of its visual and brand language still feels rooted in the past. As formats like The Hundred and T20 draw in younger, more diverse audiences, there’s an opportunity to rethink how cricket shows up culturally, digitally and commercially.

That means using design to bridge the gap between time-honoured values and a more modern, inclusive experience. Just as football clubs have moved from static crests to dynamic brand worlds, cricket too could benefit from more unified, expressive identities that span grassroots to elite, digital to stadium, and speak to fans old and new.

Back to the beautiful game: as someone who works with purpose-led businesses navigating complex change, I see football as one of the most layered and high-stakes brand challenges out there. It’s a space where design meets devotion, where heritage and modernity need to sit side by side, and where every decision is scrutinised in public.

If we were to take on a brief like this, we wouldn’t start with sketching logos. We’d start by listening to the fans, the staff, the community and the culture. Before you actually create anything, you need to acknowledge that the most successful brands today (football or otherwise) aren’t just seen, they’re felt. When done right, a rebrand isn’t a betrayal of the past. It’s a commitment to the future.