Aston Villa provide update on future of club crest after fan survey

Aston Villa have provided an update on the future of their club crest after conducting a fan survey.

The Villans confirmed they had 13,500 complete the survey, while 24 supporters were randomly selected to continue to share their views on the update, including those international fans.

Those selected discussed the future of the club’s crest with Villa officials and the Fan Consultation Group.

Following the consultation, Villa came up with the following seven conclusions regarding the fans’ thoughts on an updated club crest.

In a statement on their official website the Villans confirmed their supporters believe their current crest ‘does not represent Aston Villa well’ and there is ‘no emotional attachment from supporters to the current crest’.

They added that fans told them that ‘they think there should be a better way of representing the club and our values in a crest’, while they outlined ‘the Lion, name Aston Villa and our colours of claret and blue were fundamental to the crest’.

Moreover, the club stated that some of their supporters ‘liked the idea of the date of our foundation being included’ and the star currently on the crest which represents their European Cup win ‘was welcomed, but not viewed by some as essential’.

Finally, the Villans concluded ‘there is room for exploration in the shape of the crest to balance our history while remaining unique’.

In a statement of the club’s official website, they said: “These insights have been used to directly support the creative development of possible new and evolved crest designs, and on Tuesday, September 20 we invited fan groups, including the FCG, to preview the progress that has been made.

“During the meeting the groups were given an overview of the feedback collected from the initial phase of fan consultation, along with variations of multiple work-in-progress crest designs.

“The purpose of these fan sessions was not to present final versions of possible crests, but instead to present variations in order to get feedback on the preferred use of elements, possible lion variations, the crest shape, use of our name and colour.

“The comments and contributions made were insightful and constructive, and whilst, as expected, a broad range of views were shared, there were also consistent themes that materialised, particularly around how the lion should appear on the crest, how the name ‘Aston Villa’ should be used and the balance of colour.

“The feedback provided will now be used to further guide the creative process and the design of refined crest options.”

Villa have had their current crest since 2013 after making slight changes to their 2006 by removing the word prepared from the design and making the lion bigger.