As you may know, there is a vote commencing on whether the Imps should change the badge from the current ‘classic’ Imp to the older version worn in the late eighties and early nineties.
I think this is a really important thing for us to consider. Not because the badge is hugely important; it isn’t. It’s like a kit – you can hate a kit (especially if it looks like a Kwik Save bag), but when you win matches in it, it is a classic. In my eyes, one of the best kits we’ve had was in 2012/13, but it’s one that will never be a classic, as Colin Larkin and Dan Gray don’t conjure up images of success. To a degree, you can say the same about a badge. With art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and whatever badge we have, someone will dislike it, and another person will like it. A badge and a kit are just like art.
No, it’s not the outcome that is important in my eyes; it is the fact that we’re voting on it. I’ve seen some statements around the club ‘already having made up its mind,’ which is rubbish. If they had, why wouldn’t they just have changed it? There’s no EFL mandate that says when you want to change the badge, you can’t, not as far as I’m aware. They’d just have done it if they were dead set on the idea. They didn’t, which underlines their commitment to including supporters in major decisions.
We don’t vote on kits because it lowers sales. If you have two kits in front of you, and you vote on one that is not picked, you’re less likely to buy the one that is. That’s the reasoning I’ve been given before, but the same doesn’t apply to the badge. Few people will boycott buying a shirt because they don’t like the badge, but the club still doesn’t need to give us a vote. They have, and like a General election, you should make your vote count. You’re a fan – if you like the proposed badge, vote for it; don’t just assume it will win.
Remember, the voting period opened at 12 noon today and will close at 12 noon on Friday, 8 December. All gold, silver, bronze, young and junior Imp members and shareholders will have the opportunity to vote – those emails should be in your inbox now.
Why I’m a Yes
I’m voting yes, and I wanted to let you know why.
Firstly, the Imp that is being proposed (let’s call it the retro Imp) was the first I ever knew. It was on the first shirt I bought, and I learned to draw it so I could have it on my school books. I know some associate it with back-to-back relegations, but for me, it’s all about the GMVC win and the uniting of my family on the terraces. I was gutted when it got taken off the shirt in 1993.
Let’s not forget it also made a comeback on the kit when Keith was in charge for a second time, albeit as part of a messier badge. That Imp was on flags at the Millennium Stadium; it was also a subtle but definite part of that era. I confess, other than football, there’s not much I remember about 2001 until 2007, for various reasons, but I remember that badge.
I have nothing against the current badge; it’s the Imp in his original state, but it isn’t ours. It belongs to the cathedral and the city, and whilst we’re a part of that, I like to differentiate the club’s branding from the rest of the area. I like to see the retro Imp and think ‘Lincoln City’, not just ‘Lincoln’. That’s what this proposed badge is – it’s ours, our identity, our personality.
Also, whilst I love the current design, I think if something stays about for too long, it begins to lose its identity within an era. The current Imps is very much 1976, and of course, now 2017, but it wouldn’t have that link for future generations. I like to think in 20 years time, if we’ve changed this time around and the club considers another rebrand, they turn to the current Imp, and we all go, ‘that’s so 2017 FA Cup run, let’s do it’.
In my humble opinion, which is neither right nor wrong, it is time for a change and what better to change to than something we’ve had before?
Also, if you don’t have strong views one way or the other, consider this – if the club really want to change it, and yet they’ve given us a chance to have our say, then why not give them a mandate to do so? They don’t usually do something without a good reason, and if they feel commercially there’s more that can be done with the retro Imp, why not give them that chance to do it?
I understand that Lincoln City fc would like to have the new design then they can copyright it. Anybody can use the old one. But if we vote for new one then nobody can use it only the club.