| bbfan1991 |
21-07-2013 04:14 PM |
Manchester United look to bring words 'Football Club' back to club crest, saying 'we are an FC, not a business'
Quote:
Manchester United are considering restoring the words "football club" - which were dropped 15 years ago in a controversial re-design - to their club crest.
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Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward confirmed that both he and Joel Glazer, United's joint-chairman, and the member of the Glazer family most closely involved in the day-to-day running of the club, were uncomfortable with the present design.
"I didn't like that change," Woodward said of the 1998 re-design which removed the words "football club" from the United badge. "Joel didn’t like that change. We will look at that and have a think about that.
"We are a football club. We are not a business. The way I described it to the staff was 'we are a 135-year-old club and that's what you have to remember. We are a football club. A club with a capital C: Club'.
"And strapped to that is a commercial business that's going to fund a lot of the player purchases going forward here and we have to be supportive of both. We've got to make sure they co-exist together and don't impact each other and that's where we are trying to balance it."
The design of a club's crest is a highly sensitive issue - as Everton have recently found out after changing theirs - with United having been derided when they altered a design that had been in place for 43 years. It led to accusations that the club was acknowledging it was becoming more of a brand.
Previously the club had "Manchester United" at the top of the crest and "Football Club" at the bottom - but this was changed to simply "Manchester" at the top and "United" below.
Woodward, who formally succeeded chief executive David Gill on July 1, the same day David Moyes officially took over as manager from Sir Alex Ferguson, is regarded as the driving force behind United's huge commercial growth under the ownership of the Glazer family.
He was also a key figure in the Americans' takeover of United in 2005 with the club having since outstripped all others in terms of its worldwide deals.
However, Woodward, 40, stressed that he was "sensitive about the past" and the "traditions of the club" - as was Moyes - and added: "The heritage is not just important it is central to what we are trying to do. As an example we will not re-name Old Trafford, the name is part of the fabric of the club. It means something to our fans."
Woodward confirmed that there was "absolutely no prospect" of the Glazer family relinquishing their ownership.
"They are long-term owners, together with our other shareholders," he said. "They first bought the club eight years ago and there won't be any change for many, many years."
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In with the old: what United's badge looked like before the change
He said he spoke "every day to Joel Glazer and have done for eight years", adding: "So I have not necessarily discussed every transfer with Alex but I have with Joel - around the transfers that were happening throughout those eight years."
Woodward also revealed his shock when Ferguson informed him he was retiring.
"I was out for lunch with him when he told me and I was absolutely gobsmacked," he said. "I was looking forward to working with him. I was thinking to myself 'I've got one, two, three, however many years it is working with the greatest manager arguably football has ever seen'. And then that rug was pulled out from underneath me.
"There was a sharp intake of breath and then there's a pause, think about it, totally respect his decision - if it was something where we could have thought 'hang on is that right?' and talking to him and try to persuade him, but we completely agreed with it the moment he sat and explained it.
"So it was really then thinking about the future. As both the old manager and new manager have said, Alex was the best person out there to give advice as to who we should look at.
"He (Alex) has always in his mind had David Moyes right up there and I totally understand why because there are many things in which they are similar. They have that steely determination, extraordinary broad shoulders and in some respects taking on all this responsibility, taking on what is the biggest sports team in the world and taking it in his (Moyes) stride, step by step. It's impressive."
Woodward said the priority for him was to build a "very close relationship" with Moyes: "We will meet every week face-to-face, I'm going to be at every game, I'm going to be around and hopefully we can start building that relationships towards something similar to what David Gill and Sir Alex had.
"It's important to have someone you can completely trust and who you can call up, or let some steam off too, or share a problem with about something that is going on within the team, or within football, and trust to go and deliver things in the transfer market."
United are keen to make a mark in the transfer market this summer - including a £26m bid for Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas - with Woodward quitting the club's pre-season tour to work on deals.
"We have got huge, record revenues, our wage bill is going up because we are bringing in top players - the Robin Van Persie deal was a good example that hopefully dispelled the myth that we have policies on age or amounts.
"If a star player is there we will go after him. We are all aligned on that. I would rather we had 11 of the best players in the world on the pitch than not. These things don't happen overnight but we want to be competing for the best players alongside the other top clubs in the world."
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Great news! I shall look forward to seeing the new badge.
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