Never mind, it's only a badge...

Pictured left is Cardiff City Football Club’s official crest for the 2012/13 campaign. Absolutely dreadful, isn’t it? The new badge is akin to a 1970’s beer mat. It was described to me by an old school teacher of mine as looking like it belongs on a tin of Welsh fudge. Even the majority of the fans who are in favour of Vincent Tan’s ridiculous re-branding exercise seem to think it looks terrible. In my opinion, it is far and away the worst emblem in the club’s entire history. 

This cheap, nasty and embarrassing effort was produced by Bluebirds officials after several months of planning. At no stage during that process did they see fit to consult with the supporters about their ideas, which is a great pity as there is a considerable amount of talent within the fanbase. Much more talent than there is within the confines of the Cardiff City Stadium, it seems. 

On Friday, the South Wales Echo asked its readers to come up with alternative badge designs. The most popular of the seven options in the newspaper's online poll was submitted by graphic designer Tim Haughton from Cardiff-based public relations and marketing agency Working Word. 

On the same day, another excellent effort appeared on Annis Abraham’s message board. It was designed by City fan Karl Payne and was published in the South Wales Echo on Saturday. That badge has proved very popular with supporters on the internet forums and is easily the best of the new designs that I have seen. 

Those emblems took a pair of talented supporters a matter of hours to produce. The woeful badge which will adorn the team’s shirts next season was designed by Bluebirds officials after deliberations dating back to March. 

Vincent Tan apparently wanted an emblem that was symbolic of a fusion between Welsh and Asian cultures. He’s ended up with an emblem which is symbolic of nothing more than the incompetence with which his football club is run. 

Hopefully, lessons will be learned by club officials following this latest fiasco, but I won’t hold my breath. After all, football is a business, Cardiff City supporters are viewed as consumers, the club’s identity is considered a brand and its crest is unimportant.