Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury Town at loggerheads with fans over badge

Shrewsbury Town is at loggerheads with hundreds of fans after they signed a petition to change the club's badge – a campaign that team officials have called 'extremely disappointing'.

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Shrewsbury Town is at loggerheads with hundreds of fans after they signed a petition to change the club's badge – a campaign that team officials have called 'extremely disappointing'.

More than 760 Shrewsbury Town supporters backed a call for the club's badge to revert to its traditional loggerheads emblem. But an official statement from the club has said there are no plans to do so.

The petition said fans remained unhappy about the change in logo, which happened at the start of the 2007-08 season with the move from the Gay Meadow to Oteley Road.

It said: "We feel that given the scale of the transition the club has gone through during the last decade, it is important it remains connected to its history and that of the town and county – in which it is the only Football League club – by returning to the true historic emblem which represents them."

But club officials said the petition had drawn attention away from the team's recent promotion success.

In a statement they said: "Following the public euphoria of the successful league promotion the first in 18 years, it is extremely disappointing the focus on the outstanding efforts of all involved from the club in achieving this goal has to some extent been curtailed and demeaned by yet another debate about the club badge.

"The club's position on the badge, which was introduced on our move from the old stadium to this debt-free first class facility, has been well documented and remains unchanged. We needed to own the image rights to our badge.

"This was a business decision by the board of directors bearing in mind the importance of sustainable revenue streams from merchandise sales for STFC in helping to finance the increasingly expensive future prosperity of the club.

"Our decision was not made with a sentimental view on the past, it was strategic and financial, we have no control over the 'loggerheads' image rights and would continue to suffer mass copying of our merchandise, loss of revenue and exploitation of the club by third parties.

"The existing badge has many supporters, particularly our youngest fans who relate the lion on it to our mascot Lenny the Lion."

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