Popular Sheffield Wednesday change ratified as new look appears
It’s no secret that Sheffield Wednesday’s new future arrives with a refresh of an old look.
The ‘retro owl’ badge at Sheffield Wednesday is officially retro no more after its ratification as the club’s new badge by football authorities.
Eagle-eyed Wednesday fans noticed that on Monday, the club website had a new look, with the ‘Ozzie Owl’ badge - originally designed by Rotherham art student Robert Walker in 1973 - was positioned alongside a uniformed font and tweaked format. The Star is told that the font, which aligns with that seen standing beneath the Owls badge as released on takeover day, will stay uniformed across the club’s future output as they look to adopt a consistent branding.
The official adoption of the ‘new look’ Owls crest was subject to the formality of ratification by the EFL and FA after rulings put in place ahead of the 2022/23 season were designed to protect clubs from any changes that would stand to threaten a club’s heritage - including any material change to a club crest or home colours.
These rulings made it necessary to carry out a formal consultation process ahead of any change to the badge, which was undertaken ahead of the completion of the Wednesday takeover by US consortium Arise. That consultation was undertaken by an email poll to season ticket holders, which of course returned an overwhelming response with fans voting to rid the club of the crest associated with Dejphon Chansiri’s time as Owls owner and take on the famous Owl once again.
That process is understood to have been completed and ratified with the FA, who held the power to veto any change in crest should they have had reason to believe a requisite consultation had not taken place. The formality was one Wednesday were always going to pass through - but its ratification represents another formal milestone in the club’s new dawn.
The FA ruling reads: “A club must also be able to evidence that a majority of its supporters are in favour of any proposed changes (such as via an independently-run poll of season ticket holders, the club’s Community Benefit Society, and supporters that have attended a certain number of home matches).
“In the event a club is found to be in breach of the rules, The FA is able to take appropriate action, such as ordering a club to revert back to a previous crest or home shirt colour combination. The aim of the new rules is to put supporters at the heart of the decision-making process regarding these important club heritage matters.”