Brentford football club launched our new badge yesterday and, now that the shock of the seemingly sudden reveal has worn off, what is your opinion? Brilliant? Terrible? Indifferent?
Initial thoughts from myself were in the positive camp – it does happen 🙂 – and remain as such. Likewise much of the feedback to that column , whether directly in the comments or on social media. Equally though, I’m not so naive to realise there were some less than favourable initial observations out there.
That’s life. People are absolutely entitled to opinions whilst reaction to change can be a tough thing to deal with. Moreso sudden, unexpected change.
Yet, for some reason, the tabloids were lining up, lemming like, to immediately pour scorn. Why go for the positive or just reporting the story when you can do so in such a negative fashion? Do we have a bad relationship with the media or are Brentford just a soft target?
“Brentford supporters left furious”.
“Are we the wasps now?”
“Brentford’s new badge angers fans who claim traditional bee looks more like a wasp.”
These, the respective headlines yesterday from the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and that bastion of the footballing moral high ground, The Sun. Bearing in mind these were the same sources whose leading stories yesterday included :
Why are you sitting here on the sofa?’: Alex Jones asks Cliff Richard why he is on The One Show despite SUING the BBC –Daily Mail
‘Why are you sitting here on the sofa?’: Alex Jones asks Cliff Richard why he’s on The One Show despite SUING the BBC’ –The Daily Mirror
‘THIS IS AWKWARD’ The One Show’s Alex Jones asks Cliff Richard why he’s on the sofa despite £1.5 million lawsuit against the BBC The Sun
I’m no Cliff Richard fan and please don’t get me started on The One Show (the audience of which is, presumably, interchangeable with that of Mrs. Brown’s Boys). Yet this is the calibre of apparent news our supposed badge based fury and/or anger is lined up against.
Aside for the fact this fan fury seems such a skewed perspective , I don’t even get the whole Bees / Wasp thing. The bee on our new badge is clearly a bee. Maybe more ‘bumble’ than ‘honey’ but still clearly a bee. Who could even think this was a wasp? Desperate editors, internet comedians or Mrs. Brown aside?
Wasps. Real and shirt based. Not Bees
We’ve seen wasps before at picnics and on rugby shirts. I can’t say this enough but ours is clearly a bee. As for the claim that it only has four legs rather than six… Erm??! Not sure I follow the logic there. Presumably the ‘missing pair’ are under the wings.
Funnily enough, it IS possible to draw / photograph a bee with only 4 of the traditional 6 legs visible to the naked eye.
If nothing else, just look at the current badge and start counting.1, 2, 3, 4. I’ve no recollection of any fury / anger from Brentford supporters at what seems to be much more of a leg based inaccuracy. If, indeed, it even is one. Which it isn’t.
Have there been 20 years of marches and placards outside Mark Devlin’s office? “Give us back our legs” being shouted by an angry mob or #wewantourlegs appearing on Twitter ? (note to media team – don’t ).
The current badge. 1,2,3,4 erm that’s it..
Of course not. Because, much like the self-importance and perceived popularity of the John Lewis Christmas advert, it isn’t actually ‘a thing’ outside of a small section of cyberspace. That clickbait grabbing headline writers then chose to turn it into one is, sadly, endemic of today’s journalism.
And I say that as a football fan looking in rather than any form of journalist (which clearly I’m not) looking out. I’m just the numpty on the terrace with a bit more spare time on my hands early in the morning than is probably advisable. Oh, for some sleep..
But I digress. What I would ask is why was the release so rushed? So sudden. No fanfare. No build up. No cryptic clue from Matthew Benham. No “Big announcement coming soon” type advice. No ’strip tease’ – an annual favourite
Instead, like a bolt out of the blue it was suddenly here. An email in the inbox and a headline on the website announcing “Our new club crest” .
Much like the subject of kit, this is clearly an emotive one. Fans were apparently consulted although this is something I, and many others, were unaware of over this consultation period. “During the past 18 months we engaged with a wide range of fans and stakeholders within the Club about our crest and received a clear mandate to look at change.” Those aren’t my words yet something which could have been made clearer if it was happening. And if it was just with a select group, at least explain this in the announcement .
Whilst this is ultimately their decision as a general rule I think our club goes out of it’s way to involve the fans. Being realistic, it is one I’m presuming is a decision they had to get right for many more reasons beyond simply something to stick on the shirt and say “We are Brentford”
Involving the supporters a bit more, even just in the build up to the release, might have been a bit of a smarter move in retrospect. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and in a village such as football, where gossip and rumours can spread like wildfire, perhaps this was just a case of wanting to get the news out there.
Either way, the badge is here to stay. I’m hoping it grows on supporters. I love it and, whilst I have no qualms in voicing a less than club friendly opinion when warranted (as regular readers will be aware), in this instance I think they’ve come up with a great design.
Certainly, it is one I’ll be proud to wear on my shirt next season. Now Bob just has to get his part of that deal right ….
Nick Bruzon
BrentfordFC 
Now that the shock is wearing off I am definitely more keen on it. The fact that everyone was still in a grump with the US election probably didn’t help our moods!
Reblogged this on Simon Radford and commented:
Shock of the Week, Pt II
Nick perhaps the press were disappointed that there wasn’t an abacus on the badge???
Typical press really, just there to have another dig at the club they like to sneer at. I take no notice. We always prove them wrong, which infuriates them further. Although comments on these articles from non-Brentford fans have given the new badge a very big thumbs up
Noticeably, I have seen a number of comments from supporters who have worked in marketing and design, and the verdict has been pretty much unanimous, that the crest is very now, clean, sharp and very on trend.
Nicholas! Nicholas! You very nearly slipped into that heinous line ‘do you know who I am?’ but managed to stop yourself in time. A number of higher profile supporters e.g one of the siblings with the Trump-like views, and the group who sound like a really bad local radio station broadcasting from the pub, have all exclaimed ‘I wasn’t consulted!!’. Well believe it or not chaps there are Bees fans other than you, and I have seen fans come forward and say ‘I WAS consulted’. So I have no doubt fans were consulted
As for me, I am in love with this update on a classic with more than a hint of art deco
Thanks BQ. Re the consultation, I have no qualms about being consulted or not. Believe me, I’m aware we have thousands of fiercely loyal supporters whose voice is as, if not more, relevant than my mouth. The point was more a personal observation that I was blind to any of this. As were others. Certainly not an expectation I should have been selected.
As for the Trump brothers, I’m not sure that’s strictly true…..
” I have seen fans come forward and say ‘I WAS consulted’.”
This is real news considering that Nick B and many others with similar profiles have said they were NOT consulted.
Who are these “fans” that have “come forward” to say “I WAS CONSULTED”?
Forgot to say. I actually liked that there was no build up and it just happened. Talk of a big announcement would have resulted in speculation from Red Bull Brentford to the return of Jota. Alas build-ups usually result in an anti-climax.
And I wish i had thought of a better phrase there
Disgraceful they’ve dispensed with the Middlesex emblem. My father would turn in his grave. Why do we need to be ‘clean, sharp and on trend’? Forget tradition eh! As long as the marketing gurus convince a rebrand (at how much cost?) I recommend you take a look at some of the tacky reinventions of other crests, e.g. Fulham, and surely you will be convinced that heritage is being dispensed with. Change for change’s sake, don’t get me started about this year’s kit! All it needs now is for the Griffin to stop selling Fullers
I’m sorry some people don’t like it, I do. The whole number of legs thing is a bit weird for me. It looks like a bee. I’m clearly not a buzzing insect expert but it’s body makes it look too fat for a wasp in my eyes. And surely the Bees on the outgoing badge, which everyone now seems to love, have less leggage on view?
I get some people are sad to see the Middlesex reference disappear but again, does it really matter? I don’t recall anyone saying, “ah ffs, that castle has no reference to the county” when reminiscing about what an iconic emblem that one was. It’s not as though we have ever been called Brentford of Middlesex Football Club.
For me, Brentford is red, white, black and Bees. We were established a long, long time ago in 1889. All this is captured in a smart looking new badge which is so much tidier than its predecessor.
Re. press reaction? I gave up on tabloid journalists years ago after realising >99.9% of what they write is even more b*****ks than the words I sometimes put down on record.
Oh, one last thing… would be intrigued to see the designs that didn’t make it! Maybe the club could release a a few awful alternatives so sceptics think, hmmmmm, it could have been a whole load worse. Bit like that kit with the black smudges that got booed at half time and was subsequently scrapped.
Oh, the kit with the black smudges. The stuff of legend . I’ve still failed to even find an image of it…
No issue with the new badge or the reasons for changing it, although personally i’d like to see a nod to the castle, Middlesex and other historical insignia elsewhere – not wiped away. Perhaps on the new stadium?
Where there does seem to be an issue is around the “consultation” – the BIAS PR last night was interesting and suggests that their implied involvement was perhaps overstated. I do hope that BFC haven’t provided more ammo to the trashy press or those that want to bash the club by making a mess of something that didn’t need to be difficult.
The ‘trashy press’? I’d be more concerned with those pretending to support our Club, who are clearly more about agendas and spiteful vendettas.
Maybe a few are like that but not many imo. I know that one or two are very skeptical about the whole BFC marketing operation. Do you think the press give us a fair shake?
Anyway as said i’m chilled by it all.