Manchester United change their club badge... how has your Premier League club's crest evolved? | Daily Mail Online
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Manchester United's chief executive Ed Woodward earned some brownie points with the Old Trafford fans this week when he announced the words 'Football Club' would be returning to their famous crest.
But how has your team's badge evolved throughout the years? Sportsmail reveals the story behind each Premier League club's crest.
 
ARSENAL
Gunners: Arsenal's badge started off with three cannons (left), with the recognisable crest - complete with Latin motto arriving in 1949 (centre). The badge was updated in 2002 to give us the current version (right)
Arsenal’s nickname – the Gunners – and its badge continue to reflect the club’s origins in the Borough of Woolwich. Founded there in 1886 by workers at the Royal Arsenal in south London, the club moved north to Highbury only in 1913 and so the badge borrowed the familiar cannon symbol from the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich coat of arms.
This reflects the long military tradition in Woolwich, which is also home to the Royal Artillery Regiment. Initially, three cannon appeared on the crest, but this became one in the 1920s. At this time, the logo didn’t appear on the Arsenal shirts but was reserved for club stationary and the matchday programme.
In 1949, the crest as we would recognise it today was unveiled, featuring the Latin motto ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’ or ‘Victory grows out of harmony,’ the club name in bold lettering and the Borough of Islington’s coat of arms. Later versions introduced the familiar red background and at the start of this century, the cannon was made gold.
The club made the decision to modernise the crest in 2002, mindful they would be moving to a new home at the Emirates Stadium within a few years. During the 2011-2012 season, the 125th anniversary of the club, gold laurel and oak leaves were introduced, along with the word ‘Forward.’
ASTON VILLA
Prepared: Aston Villa's badge has always featured a lion, with the design changing from the 70s and 80s (left), adding the club motto in the 1990s (centre) and bringing the badge up to date - with added star - in 2007 (left)
The Rampant Lion of Scotland has always been a big part of Villa’s crest, reflecting the influence of William McGregor and George Ramsay in the foundation of the club. McGregor, who hailed from Perthshire, served the club for 20 years as president, director and chairman, and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Football League.
Ramsay, from Glasgow, was secretary and manager of the club between 1884 and 1926, overseeing the most successful period of its history, winning six league titles and six FA Cups. The ‘Prepared’ motto, which has been part of the crest most of the time, could originate from Rangers, who have the word ‘Ready’ on their logo. In 2007, the club redesigned the crest, adding a white star to signify the 1982 European Cup triumph.
CARDIFF CITY
 
Bluebirds and Dragons: Cardiff first sported the city's coat of arms, complete with Welsh dragon (left), before large parts of their history saw variations on 'bluebirds' (centre). The current design reclaims the dragon
The successful City side of the 1920s, the first to take the FA Cup outside of England, proudly wore the emblem of the Welsh capital on big occasions. The shield features the red dragon, the national symbol of Wales used for centuries as a symbol of authority.
The dragon upholds a standard of three silver chevrons on a red background attributed as the ensign of Iestin ap Gwrgan, the last prince of Glamorgan in the 11th century. The leek, the floral emblem of Wales, is also there, as are the Welsh goat, representing the mountains of Glamorgan, and the sea-horse, representing the prosperity of the River Severn.
A motto at the bottom reads: ‘Y ddraig goch ddyry gychwyn’ or ‘The red dragon will lead the way.’ After the war, the bluebird, which was the club’s nickname, featured prominently. It was adopted sometime around 1910, supposedly when a play of The Blue Bird, written by the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck, was performed at the New Theatre in Cardiff.
As Cardiff wore blue, supporters nicknamed them the Bluebirds after the play received rave reviews. The blue bird, always in full flight, has been on every Cardiff crest since, though its prominence was reduced last season when the club’s Malaysian owners redesigned the logo and brought back the red dragon to better match the chance of kit colour from blue to red.
CHELSEA
 
Blues: Chelsea's badge originally featured a pensioner (left), before the lion was adopted in the 1950s (centre left). The design was updated in 1986 (centre right) before the current version harked back to the past
Chelsea’s first logo was a sketch of a Chelsea Pensioner with a long white beard and a set of medals. The club’s first nickname, ‘The Pensioners’, rose from this. Badges weren’t worn on club shirts in those days, but the crest did appear in the programme.
After the war, manager Ted Drake ditched the ‘Pensioners’ tag and ordered a new design, with a simple cipher of the club’s initials used as a stopgap in 1952. The new crest, which was used for 33 years, was inspired by the Borough of Chelsea coat of arms, the lion taken from the arms of club president Earl Cadogan (aka Viscount Chelsea).
The staff in its paws is that if the Abbot of Westminster, whose jurisdiction extends over Chelsea. The roses around the outside represent England. The design was simplified to the lion and the club’s initials in 1986. The latest badge, introduced for the club’s centenary in 2005, returned to the circular shape.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Glass houses: Crystal Palace introduced a new badge for their return to the Premier League (right), combining their early efforts (left) and the badge that saw them into the modern era (centre), with the Eagles nickname
For the first 40 years of their existence, Palace didn’t have a crest as such but in the late 1940s an edition of the Crystal Palace with a claret and blue shield on the front was adopted. The Crystal Palace was originally an enormous building of cast-iron and plate-glass constructed in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Because of all the natural light it allowed in, it did not require interior lighting and was therefore dubbed the 'Crystal Palace.' After the show, it was taken down and rebuilt on Penge Common in south London and eventually lent its name to the area where the football club was formed. A more elaborate and accurate sketch of the building featured from the mid-1950s until 1972, when a very basic circular design with the letters ‘CP’ and the club’s nickname ‘The Glaziers’ replaced it.
This was short lived - when Malcolm Allison came in as manager the following year, he overhauled the club from top to bottom, introducing the now familiar colours of red and blue and the ‘Eagles’ nickname. This was naturally reflected in the crest, with chairman Ron Noades lending it a more aggressive look in the Nineties.
EVERTON
Towering: Everton have had Prince Rupert's tower as part of their identity since the 193-0s, first appearing on a shirt in 1980s (left). The club produced a retro version for the 1990s (centre), before the new design (right)
The first known Everton logo was adopted in 1922, as an amalgam of the club’s initials on a blue shield, though this would not have been used on the plain shirts of the time. At the end of the 1937-1938 season, club secretary Theo Kelly was tasked with designing a new club tie and came up with the idea of incorporating local landmark ‘The Beacon’ (aka ‘Prince Rupert’s Tower’) into the crest.
Located on nearby Everton Brow, the tower was opened in 1787 as an overnight holding place for local drunks and criminals. It remains there today, a grade II listed building, and has been the centrepiece of the club crest ever since. Mr Kelly also included the familiar laurel wreaths, a hallmark of winners in classical times, and the Latin motto ‘Nil Satis, Nisi Optimum’ which means ‘Nothing but the best is good enough.’
The logo was a little too complicated to be stitched on to the club jerseys initially, so a bold ‘EFC’ was preferred until the 1980s. The latest edition was criticised by fans because it omitted the Latin inscription.
FULHAM
 
Swords and shields: Fulham's crest was largely taken from the borough's coat of arms, with the first crest borrowing elements (left), the full version (centre), and the current minimalist effort designed in 2001 (right)
The first Fulham crest, adopted in the late 19th century, featured the crossed swords of St Paul adopted from the arms of the See of London, whose bishops had held the Manor of Fulham since the end of the seventh century.
In the Thirties, the badge featured a black and white sketch of Craven Cottage. This was dropped after the war, with Fulham adopting the crest of the local borough on a red and later white background. Interestingly, the Danish galley in this badge relates to the band of Viking pirates who assembled at Fulham in 827 after sailing down the Thames.
Its replacement in 1971 couldn’t have been any more different, consisting of just ‘FFC’ in a monogram. In the Eighties, elements of the Borough logo were restored, including the wavy blue lines to indicate the River Thames, which runs at the back of the ground. To coincide with Fulham’s first Premier League campaign, in 2001, a black and white shield was designed with the club’s initials in red lettering.
HULL CITY
Tigers: Hull's original crest saw them adopt the city's three crown coat of arms (left), while various incarnations of the 'tiger' were worn, notably in 1958 (centre left), 1988 (centre right) and the current version
As a one-team city, Hull initially adopted the three crowns - or, more accurately, three ducal coronets - that made up the Humber seaport’s coat of arms. The precise origins of this is unknown, with speculation that a company of medieval merchants operating out of the area adopted the crowns as their crest, taking after the Three Kings of the East who were also merchants.
Another possibility is the city’s connection with Edward I, who saw the area’s value as a sea port and took over the town known as Wykeham-upon-Hull from the Monks of Meaux. Consequently it adopted its name ‘Kingston‘ or ‘King’s Town‘ and displayed the three crowns of the King on all merchant ships sailing from there.
In 1947, the team started wearing a tiger’s head crest on their amber and black shirts. The familiar modern logo with the club’s name and nickname was introduced in 1979, with one version also incorporating the three crowns and the iconic Humber Bridge at the top.  
LIVERPOOL
Flying: The Liver bird has been a constant in the Liverpool crest, with various aspects added throughout history, such as a shield in the 1980s (centre) and the Shankly Gates, and Hillsborough tribute in the 1990s (right)
As with the city, the famous Liver Bird has always been the symbol of Liverpool FC. When the club was founded in 1892, it was the natural choice and has remained on the crest ever since.
Some of the earliest material to feature the Liver Bird were the league championship winners’ medals presented to the squad in 1901, when the larger city coat of arms was reproduced. Documents from the first few decades of the 20th century featured both the coat of arms and an individual liver bird.
After the war, the Liver Bird was at the heart of ever-more elaborate shield-based designs also including the name of the club. In the Sixties, the city council turned down a request by the club to adopt the council crest. It was in the early Nineties that the crest started to take the form familiar today, with the addition of references to the Shankly Gates, the Hillsborough eternal flame and You’ll Never Walk Alone, the club anthem.
MANCHESTER CITY
 
City life: Manchester City originally adopted the city's crest (left) before two circular designs dominated the 20th century (centre). The current version, resplendent with eagle and stars, was adopted in 1998 (right)
City’s original crest was a circular shape, with the club name surrounding a central shield bearing a ship in the upper half representing the Manchester Ship Canal and the red rose of Lancashire. Earlier incarnations had an eagle, an old heraldic symbol of the city, or a golden eagle, to represent the burgeoning aviation industry.
At other times, three diagonal stripes figured to signify the three rivers that flow through the city – the Irwell, the Irk and the Medlock. Modern versions include the Latin motto ‘Superbia in Proelio’ which translates as ‘Pride in Battle.’ The golden eagle has returned but the three gold stars at the top are purely decorative.
MANCHESTER UNITED
 
Devils: Like City, Manchester United used the city's coat of arms (left), before adopting a unique design in the 60s (centre left). The devil was added in the 80s, while the words 'football club' were removed in 1998 (right)
As with many teams, until 1970 United only wore a crest on their shirts on big occasions such as Cup finals and it would always be the Manchester City Council coat of arms.
This featured the references to the Ship Canal and local rivers already mentioned. In the 1958 FA Cup final with Bolton, played just three months after the Munich Air Disaster, United wore what appeared to be a phoenix rising from the ashes.
However, this is false - it is a golden eagle and formed a short-lived council crest. By the late Sixties, United had created their own version based on the council crest, with the ship and three stripes retained.
For reasons unknown, the roses were coloured white – the colour of Yorkshire! As the crest evolved, they were replaced by footballs and a red devil was added in the centre in honour of the club’s nickname. The word’s ‘Football Club’ were removed in 1998, creating a more marketable badge, but will again feature on the crest.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
 
Striped affair: Newcastle wore the city's coat of arms (left) until the magpie emblem was used in the 1960s (centre left) and 1980s (centre right). The current badge, based on the original, was introduced in 1988
Like the Manchester sides, Newcastle proudly wore the city’s crest whenever they graced big occasions. The castle motif dates back to 1080, when Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, ordered a ‘New Castle’ to be built on the current site of the city.
The two seahorses are a reminder that Newcastle’s prosperity is based on its sea port. The royal lion and pennon of St George at the top of the crest reflect the town’s Royalist tradition during the civil war and its resistance of attack from the Scots in the 14th century.
The black and white within the gold shield are of course the club’s colours. During the 1970s, as was the trend, Newcastle employed a simpler design of the club’s initials in bold worked into the shape of a football with a magpie, from the nickname, at the bottom. Another featured the magpie in front of a sketch of the castle, with the name round the outside.
NORWICH CITY
Winged wonders: The canary has been a constant in Norwich's badge (the original, left), with design changes in the 1960s (centre), and the current version being adopted in 1972 (right) after a design competition
City’s crest has always featured its iconic canary, reflecting the long standing connection between the city and the birds. In the 15th and 16th century, Flemish weavers, with whom local merchants had trade links, imported the birds from Dutch colonies in the Caribbean.
Originally, Norwich were nicknamed the Citizens, but they adopted their familiar moniker when they turned professional in 1905. In April of that year, newly-appointed manager John Bowman told the Eastern Daily Press: ‘Well I knew of the City’s existence… I have… heard of the Canaries.’ The name stuck.
Another local paper, the Norwich Evening News, ran a competition in the early 1970s and the winning design placed the canary on a football and incorporated symbols of Norwich Castle and the Royal Lion from the city’s coat of arms.
SOUTHAMPTON
Saints: Southampton were another club to borrow elements from the city's coat of arms (left) and (centre), with the current design - barring small changes - adopted in the 1970s and used until today (right)
Southampton’s crest, like many of those so far, borrows elements from the city’s emblem and indeed they used it until the 1970s. Then, a competition was launched to design a club-specific one.
Rolland Parris won, and his logo included a halo in reference to the Saints nickname, a red and white scarf for the team’s colours, a tree to signify the nearby New Forest and a river for obvious maritime connections. The white rose is borrowed from the city’s crest, but there’s no place for the Tudor-era ships. The football at the top was updated from a 60s-style design in the mid-Nineties.
STOKE CITY
 
Simplify: Stoke first used emblems from the city in the 1950s (left), with a simplified version emerging in the 1970s (centre left). A more heraldic crest was introduced in 1992 (centre right) before the current in 2001
In contrast to the sterile and corporate design used by the club today, Stoke crests of yesteryear are infused with references to the city. At the top is seated a potter, a nod to the city’s famous pottery industry.
At the top of the shield are two Staffordshire knots, with a boar's head in the middle representing the area of Longton, one of the six areas that make up the city. The red and gold fretted cross at the centre of the shield is borrowed from the arms of Burslem, while the Portland Vase depicted in the top left quarter signifies the area of Fenton.
Hanley’s emblem is a kneeling camel, the scythe Tunstall and the black eagle Stoke-on-Trent, the city itself. Completing the crest is the Latin inscription ‘Vis Unita Fortior,’ loosely translated as ‘Unity is Strength.’ Truly a club crest that encapsulates a whole city.
SUNDERLAND
Mackems: Sunderland's first badge incorporated their 'black cats' nickname (left), while the badge used from the 1970s to the 1990s (centre) retained the first badge's ship. The current design (right) was first used in 1997
Sunderland’s initial badge featured a black cat sitting atop a gold-coloured football on a red and white shield, capped with an ancient ship in black, an allusion to the fact the town’s prosperity was originally based on the export of coal. In 1937, Sunderland beat Preston North End in the FA Cup final and, as was traditional, wore the town’s coat of arms on their shirts.
Amusingly, the council asked for the badges to be unstitched and returned after the game! In the Sixties and Seventies, simpler emblems using the club’s initials featured on shirts, sometimes with the red and white shield. In the famous 1973 Cup final with Leeds, the lettering took on a curly effect and was slanted diagonally.
In 1977, a shield-shaped badge featuring the ship and a football on a red, white and black background was designed and kept until the team moved from Roker Park to the Stadium of Light in 1997.
It is a more elaborate design and is influenced by local landmarks. The central shield is divided into quarters, with the bottom right depicting the Wearmouth Bridge that links the north and south of the city and the top left showing the Penshaw Monument, a well-known local landmark. The other two quarters are the club’s colours of red and white.
At either side are two lions, borrowed from the city’s coat of arms, while the colliery wheel situated at the top marks County Durham’s strong mining heritage and reminds us that the Stadium of Light is built on land that was once Wearmouth Colliery. The Latin inscription ‘Consectatio Excellentiae’ means ‘In pursuit of excellence.’
SWANSEA CITY
Swans: Swansea - originally Swansea Town - used elements from the area's crest for their first badge (left). The Swan was adopted in in various forms from the 1970s onwards (centre) before the current version
Swansea City (Swansea Town until 1969) used the Borough’s crest, as laid out by William de Braose, Lord of Gower, in 1306.
It featured the caste built by Henry de Beaumont in 1099 and passed on to the De Braose family in 1203, a lion rampart and an osprey. The familiar Welsh emblem of the dragon was also there. The crest was simplified in the eighties, heralding a successful period for the club and what was by now the city of Swansea.
The first logo was a duck, spreading its wings and perched on Henry de Beaumont’s castle with the sea in the background, as reflecting the location of the Vetch Field ground. In 1998, this was simplified again to a simple ideogram of a swan and the club’s name underneath. At one time, this swan was red but returned to the preferred black in 2002. To mark the club’s centenary last year, the swan became gold and part of a golden shield.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
 
Proud cockerel: Tottenham's use of the cockerel dates back to the 20s (left), while has been in every design, with a shield (centre left), a stripped-down version in the 1980s (centre right) and the current retro design
The association of the Tottenham crest with the cockerel dates back to the 1921 FA Cup final. Harry Hotspur, after whom the club is believed to have been named, fitted his fighting cocks with spurs, as is visible in the logo.
In 1909, a former player called William James Scott made a bronze cast of a cockerel standing on top of a football and ever since it has been the club’s main symbol. Between 1956 and 1983, Tottenham wore a kind of heraldic shield - the lions to either side are from the Northumberland family, of which Harry Hotspur was a member. The caste is Bruce Castle, located near to White Hart Lane, and the trees represent the Seven Sisters.
The Latin motto ‘Audere Est Facere’ means ‘To dare is to do.’ This was reduced to the lions, cockerel and Latin motto in 1983 and further to just the cockerel and the ball in 2006.
WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Offer a branch: West Brom have featured the throstle bird on their crest from their early days (left), with the design frequently updated (centre) before the current logo was introduced in 2006 due to copyright (right)
West Brom seem to have adopted their badge much earlier than many clubs. Back in the 1880s, club secretary Tom Smith suggested a throstle (song thrush) sitting on a crossbar should be their logo. The nearby public house in which the team changed before and after matches featured a pet thrush in a cage.
The crossbar was replaced by a hawthorn branch when the club moved to The Hawthorns in 1900. The name of the club was not added to the logo until 2006. In terms of the badge used on club kits, the West Bromwich town arms were worn in the 1931, 1935 and 1954 FA Cup finals, with the Latin motto ‘Labor omnia vincit’ or ‘Work conquers all.’
In the Sixties and Seventies, the throstle was used, with 'WBA' also added by the Eighties. The current logo combines the club’s name, the throstle and the hawthorn branch inside a shield of the club’s colours.
WEST HAM UNITED
Happy Hammers: West Ham have always had the iconic crossed rivet hammers as their identity (left), with the Boleyn Castle added in the late 1960s, with an iconic variation in 1980 (centre), simplified in 1997 (right)
The original West Ham logo was simply a crossed pair of rivet hammer, common tools in the local iron and shipbuilding industries.
The club itself was founded in 1895 as the team of the Thames Ironworks. This remains a part of the crest to this day, as does the Boleyn Castle, a local manor where Henry VIII courted his second wife, Anne Boleyn, if legend is to be believed.
It could refer, however, simply to the adoption of local side Boleyn Castle FC as West Ham’s reserve side in 1904. The original peaked rooves on the tower were removed in a 1997 redesign, with just the turrets remaining. Some of the ‘cruciform’ windows were removed too.