Manchester United Badge - The History

The Manchester United badge is one of the most recognisable logos in the world, but have you ever wondered how it came into being, the history behind it or why it's got a devil on it? Well, if you have, you've come to to the right place.
The Manchester United crest you see today was based on the coat of arms of the Manchester City Council. Indeed the arms were embroided into United shirts for big games such as the victorious finals of the 1963 F.A. Cup and 1968 European Cup.The ship which you can see is a reference to Manchester's trading prowess and the ship canal. The globe is another reference to the city's world trading power. The globe is covered by a swarm of bees. Bees? I hear is ask. The Council adopted the bee in the 19th century because the creature is known for it's industry and endeavour - Manchester was the birthplace of the industrial revolution, so this symbol seemed quite fitting. The two animals on the coat of arms are an antelope and a lion, the former wears a gold chain, which refers to the city's inovative engineering feats, the latter wears a castle crown - the city of Manchester grew up around the Roman settlement of Castlefield. Both animals wear the red rose, which is the official symbol of Lancashire. Underneath the arms is a motto " "Consilio et Labore" which basically translates as "Wisdom and Effort"
During the 1960's Manchester United programmes and merchandise featured the newly designed badge, which took the shield and ship from the Manchester City Council coat of arms, with the words "Manchester United" on the top banner and "Footbal Club" on the bottom banner. This new badge was designed in line with the inovative style of play that Matt Busby brought to Manchester United.
In 1970 the Manchester United badge featured it's famous devil symbol for the first time, replacing the three yellow stripes.. This had been the team's nickname ever since Matt Busby adopted it for the club a few years earlier. He wanted to strike fear into his opponents with a new nickname as he felt the Busby Babes would not do this. He actually got the name from the Salford City Reds rugby league team who were givien the nickname Les Diables Rouges (The Red Devils) by the French media after a tsuccessful tour of the country in 1934 .

In 1972-73 the Manchester United badge become a permanent feature on the football shirt. Up until then the club would only use the Manchester City Council coat of arms on their shirts in cup finals.
The badge pretty much remained unaltered for 28 years - United's kit manufacturer in the mid-eighties adidas did briefly replace the curly bits on the top banner with a pair of football boots, but the club quickly returend to the more traditional banner soon after. In 1998 the badge lost the "Football Club" from the banner and replaced it with "United" which of course was taken from the top banner. The new design was created in an effort to turn Manchester United into brand, it seemed like the club no longer wanted to known as 'just' a football club, a school of thought that didn't sit well with many United fans at the time.

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