wishywashy

I definitely reckon this has been brewing for at least a few months, as opposed to a sudden Heck decision. Dragon Rogue were claiming that the full "identity" work that they had done, including the crest, etc. would be unveiled in May. Here's an extract from an article in March with someone clearly talking to whoever was in charge of the Villa rebrand from Dragon Rogue: https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/6-march-10-march-2023/aston-villa-fc-rebrands-dragon-rouge/ You'd think Dragon Rogue would know what was happening with their own brand release, so it's safe to assume that this was definitely the plan in March. And yet none of this has come to pass and they've completely abandoned the digital identity redesign. Just so perculiar. I wonder if we'll ever get clarification on what happened between March and May, because it was clearly extremely significant.

Seriously wondering how the internal attitude towards this rebrand has been so strong against it. You have to imagine that it wasn't just Heck who held this attitude? The U-turn is just so, so aggressive: outright refusing to put the new crest and brand imagery on digital media, ultimately willing to put up with extremely disjointed branding for a year? It's utterly bonkers (coming from someone who really didn't like the new badge). Commercial team has been utterly humiliated here.

oh my god it is as well

oh my god

The kits are manufactured months in advance, but this decision must have been made quite recently. Hence this weird situation.

It's infuriating because the designers behind Lille's rebrand were also Dragon Rogue.

You're saying that they'll probably produce something better than the elite-level rebranding that was "we made the lion look the other way and that symbolises being modern and forward"? Impossible.

They'll hopefully go away for a few months and spit out a badge that's significantly better than both of the options that actually went to the fan vote (which, imo, is not a very difficult task), and the awful mishandling of this situation will be swiftly forgotten about. No god-awful surveys this time though, please. If they have to, at least do one where less than 80% of the questions aren't complete nonsense.

I blame Tyrone Mings

The kits are manufactured months in advance, so they have to go with it. But to dislike it so much that they outright refuse to rebrand anything else with it, they must LOATHE it internally. Probably should have seen this coming: Dragon Rogue's website actually makes my eyes hurt. For a graphic designer, that's probably not a good start.

President... Emeri-tus?

Odd

You can just visualise the 2 "creative writers" that compose the Football Insider workforce patting themselves on the back for coming up with this one. Guaranteed interactions.

Pretty sure he rejected the likes of United and Barca when he was at Brescia as he solely wanted to go to Milan. Would be odd if he left for Newcastle after not even 100 league games.

From reading the article, they're also looking at the Toulouse/Milan and the Brighton/USG connections. Assume it's just standard procedure for UEFA to have a look when a combination of clubs that have shared ownership both qualify for Europe for the first time under the multi-club rules to make sure they don't fall foul of them. Given how V Sport don't even have a majority share in Vitoria, I don't see how there should be a problem.

Sweden. Golf. Aston Villa.

Was wondering that too, but definitely this season coming.

Confirmed.

I wonder if we're after Abdessamad "Abde" Ezzalzouli from Barcelona? His agent posted an Instagram story at Bodymoor Heath around April but it was assumed at the time that it was about Kang-In Lee. Now a journo for Real Betis (who are in for the player) claims that a Premier League side has made an offer for Abde. More than likely connecting the dots when there isn't remotely a connection to begin with, but beats Todofichajes rumours, surely?

Went on the Bournemouth forum to see if there was a difference of opinion between outside observers and their fans, but nope. They're equally as surprised. Some were questioning whether O'Neil was a good long term fit though. Looks like they've already got a manager lined up today.

Must be one of the only Premier League clubs to be genuinely embarrassed by our PL top scorer. Why does it have to be the guy who has done nothing but embarrass Villa since 2010? Here's hoping that Watkins, or a new striker signing (Jonathan David? Go on then), can end up with that accolade over the coming years

Still can't believe we hired *the* Sporting Director. The brand name of Sporting Directors. Bloody hell.