Petition to the Board of Solihull Moors Football Club

 

Solihull Moors Football Club formed in 2007 as a result of two local football clubs merging their history to create one club. Solihull Borough formed in 1953 and Moor Green in 1901. The Moors however now have a history of 15 years, in that time a lot of history has been written in to the books, from cup tie record breaking fixtures to league promotions and the verge of breaking in to the football league last season. The two sets of fans from Solihull Borough and Moor Green have joined since 2007 to support together and witness these great achievements. 

The club rebranded the original 'football' crest with a unique and instantly recognisable badge featuring many components of the forming club's crests and retaining the visible links to the local area. Something many clubs have done for years and years. It is what has partly made the club stand out when meeting the big clubs in cup matches or football league dropouts in the national league. 

The club has decided that they wish to build on the brand they are building as the work continues on and off the pitch to try again to climb in to the football league in the 2022/23 season. Part of this has been to rebrand the badge.

This however has caused ripples of discontent through out the fanbase and ridicule nationally at the cheapness the new crest displays. Gone are the Warwickshire bear carried from Moor Green , the following three are found on the Solihull coat of arms The fleur-de-lis associated with the Digby family (Fordbrige), The Greyhound from the Greswolds family, however retaining the black griffin of the Earl of Aylesford coat of arms. Also gone is the founding club's colours and the moors' established year. The likes of which are still retained by Man City, Stevenage and Bristol City when moving to a simplified circle crest

The new crest loses the roots of the club, and looks horrific. There is a claim that the new bade will be able to focus on the social media aspects of the club and the simplistic griffin can be used as a sole logo... So where does the benefits to the football side of the club come in, everything in the club's justification for this design is all corporate. 

In a week since the crest was released there is still strong dislike to the new crest, which could be partly down to the club suddenly abandoning their strongly portrayed community engagement and undertaking this process behind closed doors. Unfortunately for the board etc the fans have been with the club before they arrived and will be here long after they leave. The fans are who make the club as without them passing through the turnstiles giving their hard earned money to the club to enjoy their team's football with the pride of the local area behind them, the club is nothing. 

So what next with this petition? 

Consideration from those signing to support the following

-Answers given to the fanbase why the club decided to ignore them and not consult on the new crest process 

-Why has the club abandoned the other elements of the local area from the old crest, including the ' Est 2007 ' 

-The club to now consult the fans during 2022/23 season on a rework of the crest to be implemented from the 2023/24 season via a consultancy programme. 

OR 

-Re-engage with the community aspect of the club and create a school crest design competition that can be taken and formalised into a reworked crest

 

- While unlikely, given the club has progressed to kit deals etc with the new crest, however to Look at returning the use of the previous badge were applicable in the meantime.

 

If the circle is the way forward then at least retain the whole elements to the background of the clubs roots, or do better with the 'pigeon' looking griffin.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND, THIS PETITION IS IN NO WAY ENDORSING ANY PHYSICAL OR VERBAL ABUSE TOWARDS THE CLUB OR OPERATIONS. THIS HOPES TO OPEN THE DOOR TO ALLOWING THE FANS TO ENGAGE IN THE LOOK AND FEEL OF NEW CHAPTER THE CLUB WISHES TO BEGIN. THE BOARD HAS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT WITH THE FANBASE.

 

Thank you for reading