Aston Villa unveil new crest, but deny £2m price tag

ASTON VILLA has denied amending its crest has cost it £2m, although admitted it will “will not be spending significant sums on changing the branding in the ground this summer”.

The relegation-threatened club, which is all-but certain to be using the crest as a Championship club next season, put the price of the redesign at less than £80,000.

The club – which described the redesign as both a “comprehensive visual identity rebrand project” and “subtle” – sees the lion grow in size, and gain claws, while the motto “prepared” has been removed.

“Like all football clubs, Aston Villa has updated the way it looks from time to time – it’s part of our evolution,” the club said in a statement.

“When we asked about the design of the lion in fan focus groups, the feedback was that it did not adequately capture the heritage of the club.

“The lack of claws on the lion in the current badge was something that fans commented on specifically.”

Artist and engraver Christopher Wormell designed the revised heraldic lion for the badge.

The word “Prepared” has been removed because it “did not perform as well at very small sizes, notably in some digital applications”. It has not always appeared on the crest, and the club said fan focus groups did not see it as essential, although it will continue to be used in other ways by the club.

Aston Villa has had at least eight iterations of its badge over its 142 year history, with the most recent refresh happening in 2007.