Manchester United Football Club: History of the Emblem (Logo)

When it comes to football, the Manchester United crest is as iconic as the club itself. Its history is as intriguing as a derby day match at Old Trafford, and its evolutionary path has been going on for two hundred years.
Regardless of whether you are an ardent Manchester United fan or just wondering why the crest of the most titled team in the Premier League has a ship hovering on it, and the lord of hell posing underneath it, this article will dispel all doubts and shed light on the mysteries of the symbolism. Let’s figure out what the Manchester United crest means, how it came to be in its current form and what transformations it went through before acquiring its current design.

The beginning of the story

The Manchester United FC brand is characterized by its unusual execution, memorable design and easy identification. The bright color scheme and the mascot in the form of a red devil, which represents a truly frantic fight for victory, complement the visual effect.

For reference, it is worth recalling that Manchester United is a professional English football club from Trafford, organized in 1878 under the name Newton Heath LYR. Its origins are associated with the initiative of railway workers who, out of passion for the game, created a working football group.

Playing semi-professionally, the team joined the local league in 1888. However, already in 1902, faced with financial difficulties, Newton Heath owed £2,670, and creditors demanded a decision on the liquidation of the club. Captain Harry Stafford and four local businessmen invested £500 in compensation to save the team from bankruptcy and subsequent disbandment. To begin a new chapter in the team’s history, they renamed the club “Manchester United”. This concludes the prologue, let’s move on to the main point.

An overview of the genesis and meaning of the Manchester United crest

Newton Heath never used any brand attributes, although they had a branded coat of arms. And even after the name was changed to Manchester United, the club’s logo remained unrealized for a long time. The fact is that distinctive signs on T-shirts of that time often appeared temporarily and only on the occasion of significant meetings in the finals of major tournaments. And since United won the FA Cup for the first time in the 1908/09 season, the team’s debut emblem first adorned the players’ uniforms in this match. It was the red rose of Lancashire, which became more of a tribute to the local flora than a serious claim to branding.

The subsequent chronology of “redesigns” can be conditionally divided into three stages:

• The period between the First and Second World Wars was unfavourable for the team. The players stopped reaching the championship finals, so the shirts were left without symbolic patches.
• Thirty-nine years after celebrating their first FA Cup triumph, Manchester United reached the pinnacle of the competition again, their latest being a 4-2 thrashing of Blackpool. The Manchester crest served as the club logo, which was featured on the Mancunians’ kit for that game.
• In 1948, when Manchester United stormed the FA Cup final again, fans were treated to a new version of the crest, borrowed from the Manchester Army Consulate. Apparently, they decided that if the coat of arms protected the city, why not protect the football goal? The same logo, which had become almost a club relic, was also worn by the Red Devils in the 1957 final against Aston Villa.

For those who don’t know, the coat of arms of the port city of Manchester depicts a ship, which has remained an invariable companion of all the Red Devils’ logos since the adoption of heraldry. By the way, the red and yellow palette is also taken from the municipality’s symbol, so these are historical colours and a tribute to cultural heritage.

It is curious that even having acquired a common concept, the emblem of the Manchester United football club repeatedly “mutated” until the 1960s, when it finally acquired a more or less permanent brand sign. Its sketch, reminiscent of today’s, was developed by a team of artists invited by the team’s management. Only a ship and a range of colors remained from the coat of arms of the city in northwest England. The updated emblem features the name “Manchester United” and the inscription “Football Club” underneath.

The most observant of you have probably already noticed that the previous discussions have missed the answer to the pressing question: what the hell is the horned lord of the underworld doing on the Manchester United logo? This feature deserves special attention.

The Devil in the Service of Good: The Paradox of the Manchester United Emblem

It is quite obvious that the devil on the Manchester United emblem is not hidden in the details, but is clearly waving a pitchfork, being the center of attraction. Was the club founded by atheists in honor of Satan? Considering that the team’s predecessors in the person of Newton Heath were called “pagans” from English “the Heathens”, the theory seems interesting, but in fact it is far from the truth. Everything is much more prosaic.

When the club adopted a new name in 1902, fans dubbed it “the Reds” or “United” for short. In the second half of the 20th century, the team was nicknamed “the Busby Babes” because the average age of the players at the time was 22 and they were coached by Matt Busby. However, this nickname has fallen out of popular usage, becoming a grim legacy of one of the most tragic pages in football history. In February 1958, the Munich air disaster claimed the lives of members and staff of the legendary Manchester United team. Of the 44 people on board, 23 died.

In the early 1960s, Salford Rugby Club toured France, earning the nickname “the Red Devils” among the people. Sir Matt Busby, who survived the plane crash and remained at the helm of the Manchester United coaching staff, appreciated the phrase. He subsequently publicly announced that the club would henceforth be called “the Red Devils”, and soon the image of the devil began to appear on match programmes and scarves. The idea was so successful that by 1970 the image of the devil had replaced the yellow and red diagonal stripes on the Manchester United logo.

The new Manchester United emblem, which took the place of the permanent one, was born in 1998. However, it was not very different from the previous one. By means of small “cosmetic operations” the inscription “Football Club” was removed, and the word “United” was placed at the bottom. The designers also slightly reworked the lettering, shades and outline.

What the Manchester United logo has looked like over the years

Interestingly, the devilish club used “demonic” symbols even before Sir Matt Busby’s proposals. Meanwhile, the team has been searching for its identity for a long time, experimenting with different logos from season to season.

1878-1902

The green and yellow shield features a train, as the club was founded by the Manchester Newton Heath Railway Authority, and the first team included railway workers. Above it are the team name (Newton Heath L&YR FC) and the year it was founded (Established 1878).

1902-1940

At the turn of the century, Manchester United adopted the coat of arms of their founding city as their logo. It features an ornate design with a variety of symbols, from a golden lion to a ship (still present in the current logo). At the base of the crest is a ribbon with the Latin motto “Concilio et Labore”, meaning “By Council and Labor”, highlighting the fundamental values of the people of Manchester.

1909

For a short period in 1909, a unique logo was used that did not contain any of the usual features of the traditional Manchester United football crest. The shield-shaped emblem depicted a red rose framed by a light beige background.

1943-1960

In the 1940s, Manchester United first introduced the Red Devil crest. In many ways, the logo resembles the one we know today, although the color palette is simpler and some of the details are less sophisticated. It was officially introduced to the Mancunian team’s shirt in 1948, and was used for the next 12 years.

1960-1970

In the 1960s, the club updated its logo again, once again taking inspiration from the city’s coat of arms. Instead of the devil on the shield, there were three diagonal stripes. Instead of balls, flowers were drawn. And they were painted white, like Yorkshire roses, although Manchester is in Lancashire.

1970-1973

In the 70s, Manchester United returned to the classics, but modernized the color ensemble, adding contrasting touches. Roses again replaced footballs, and the font was switched from black to gold.

1973-1998

The striped shield has finally sunk into oblivion, and its place has been taken by a red devil with a trident. The overall design has undergone minor adjustments.

1998-today

Shortly before the new millennium, the inscription “Football Club” quietly left the logo, as if tired of long years of service. Its place was taken by the proud word “United”, which was supposed to make the brand more international. But judging by the reaction of fans, the decision had the effect of throwing a stone into the water – circles went, but in the wrong direction. As a result, the owners of the football club promised to think about returning the old emblem.

The lettering on Manchester United’s new 1998 logo is in a sans-serif font similar to ITC Stone Sans SemiBold, which American typographer Sumner Stone developed while toiling away at Adobe. The palette of the emblem, as if referencing the club’s roots, echoes its official colours: stark black (#000000), royal gold (#FFE500) and furious red (#DA020E).