Eddie Howe breaks silence on Newcastle United crest change after supporter backlash & FA complaint

Newcastle United hosted the second of two Fan Consultation Workshops at St James’ Park on Monday night. The club announced that it would be updating its club crest for the 2026-27 season with the process to make the change now officially underway.

An initial brand strategy process in August 2024 proposed that the club should change its club crest for the first time since 1988. The club then consulted with the Fan Advisory Board and club staff before releasing a statement on May 9.

The current fan consultation process is intended to inform supporters about the clubs decision to change the badge and listen to opinions over what should and shouldn’t change. A second consultation process will take place at a later date with the intention of presenting fans with a final say on what the crest will be.

During the process, the club have worked with Octagon, ‘the world’s largest marketing and sponsorship consulting practice’ specialising in sport.

Newcastle United club crest change

Newcastle presented supporters with a process showing three potential routes for the future of Newcastle’s club crest: Refine, revive or reinvent.

Following internal consultations and the feedback from supporters, the reinvent option is now understood to be completely off the table. The club’s stance is that it will be refining the existing club crest, with no major overhauls.

A circular redesign was described as ‘bleak’ and won’t be considered by the club, who want to maintain the crest’s unique and instantly recognisable silhouette. Newcastle also ruled out a ‘retain’ option of keeping the badge the same.

Newcastle have already designed several concept crests with one being leaked online. The club confirmed that the leaked crest was genuine and produced before the consultation process.

The leaked crest was criticised by supporters and members of the media with Newcastle stressing supporters will have the final say on the crest and their views will be listened to.

Newcastle United crest survey results and backlash

Newcastle season ticket holders and members were asked to complete a club crest survey earlier this month. The results found that 85% of voters understood the issues with the current crest and 83% were in favour of updating the crest to honour the club’s heritage.

The survey found that the castle is viewed by supporters as the most important element of the Newcastle crest, despite only taking up a small portion of it. The black and white shield is the next most important element, followed by the ribbon and then the seahorses. The flag and the lion holding it are viewed as the least important elements.

But the actual value and credibility of the survey was criticised by Newcastle United Supporters Trust for it’s ‘incredibly leading manner’. The club were also accused of breaching Clause M9 of the Football Association’s rules.

The rules read: “A Club must be in a position to evidence that the majority of its supporters are in favour of a material change to its club crest prior to making any such change."

The Supporters Trust argue that the survey does not produce a reliable conclusion that supporters are in favour of the change. But with the change still many months away from being made, it is an issue the club will be able to address further into the consultation process.

Eddie Howe reacts to NUFC crest change plans

Newcastle head coach Howe took the side of supporters when asked about his feelings on the crest change, stressing that no change should be made without the supporters’ consent.

“It was one of surprise, because I had no idea myself,” Howe admitted. “I’ll be interested to see it, what that actually looks like.

“I’ve said many times, whether talking about St James’ Park or whatever the theme, I’m a great believer in respecting tradition and history. But then, you have to try and move forward.

“If something needs to be changed for the betterment of the club, then I’m all for that. The great thing that I took from it was the collaboration between the supporters - that has to be there. It cannot be done without their consent.”

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