West Ham looking to rebrand ahead of stadium move

A London-based design team including life-long West Ham United fans is understood to be behind the Premier League club’s new crest proposal.

West Ham has commissioned a design consultancy to work on a new crest which is proposed for 2016-17 season, when the club moves to its new home at London’s Olympic Stadium.

Two months ago a West Ham advisory board began to consider a rebrand in the light of the stadium move and the fact that the crest hadn’t been updated since 1999. All other Premier League clubs have updated their crest at least once since 1997.

A period of fan and stakeholder engagement has since taken place and a vote ends tonight on whether the design pictured will be taken forward. Only people with a ‘purchase history’ of West Ham tickets and products can vote.

The main change on the crest is the dropping of the castle graphic, which has been replaced by more prominent crossed hammers, a reflection of the nickname of the club – The Hammers. In addition ‘London’ is placed at the bottom of the crest.

West Ham says, ‘Our view is that retiring the castle from our Club crest would be a fitting way to respectfully signal a departure from [current home] the Boleyn Ground. Fans are overwhelmingly in agreement that it does not make sense to have the Boleyn Castle in our Club crest when we no longer play at the Boleyn Ground.’

On the addition of the crossed hammers, the club says, ‘We believe that the hammers are the fundamental symbol of our club and should be the most prominent feature of any evolution of the Club’s crest.’

Single-colour 2D versions of the crest have been created and a two-shade 3D version will be used online, according to West Ham.

A West Ham United spokesman says he expects a decision to be made by 18 July.

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Comments
  • Arthur Hunt May 9, 2014 at 9:00 pm

    Get rid of the London. Perhaps put 1895 or something similar.

  • Kevin Pollock November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I like the crests but how about putting East London instead of just London

  • Chris Wheal November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    The club made clear its reasons in this video: http://youtu.be/r-wgT2KTZZ4

    The addition of “London” (rather than East London, as the fans would like) is because international football fans may wish to support a London club and think West Ham is THE London club.

    Manchester United has show how lucrative a large international following can be. West Ham does already have an significant overseas fan base (New Zealand fans are currently visiting) but adding to that is important for revenue.

  • Nick Martin November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I know no one who wants to lose the castle let alone change the badge! However the fact is you will do whatever you want regardless. Under no circumstances do we need the word London on the crest, should be West Ham United F.C 1895.

  • Kevin Slad November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Our current badge is unique and is famous the world over, it should not be changed. Many teams around the world have the crossed hammers so we will just join the ranks of the ‘other’ clubs. However, our current badge is recognised everywhere. I went on the Nou Camp tour last week in Barcelona and even a member of the Spanish staff recognised it. If the logic is that we should retire the castle because we are moving home then why persist with hammers (the ship building industry left East London many years ago) and why not change ‘West Ham’ to Stratford? I also disagree with the London tag, many teams play in London and don’t feel the need to advertise this. The badge that has been widely advertised looks cheap and tacky and synonymous with an unofficial ‘snide’ shirt that can be bought at a Sunday market. I think the proposed change will be a massive mistake and not necessarily a popular one, either.

  • Steven Taylor November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I am in favour of the version with gold hammers

  • Rajinder Bahal May 12, 2014 at 11:57 pm

    No amount of trendy re-branding will improve the performance on the pitch. They will still play rubbish football!!!

  • Danny Rowton November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Totally agree with Kevin. Also, assuming the fans wont be listened to (for if they were, this change wont happen at all because I have not read a single wholly positive comment about it) the style of the badge at least needs to go.
    It really is terrible.
    It instantly reminded me of the el Cheapo ‘East London’ badge that Pro Evolution soccer gave us for their computer game because they dont have the licence to the club or player names. Why should we stand for that? As I first heard about this online, earlier this week (as I am no longer a season ticket holder) I thought this design might be a wind up. Turns out this is no spoof. Sort it out for Christs sake.

  • Steve Cooper May 15, 2014 at 8:48 am

    There is a city called East London in the Eastern Cape South Africa!!. I would go with West Ham United 1895 .

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