It is fair to say that Newcastle United fans are a proud bunch. The badge has always been used to represent the club and its supporters, which has, as we’ll learn, led to a backlash against the club when changes have tried to be made that are not widely approved of.
The purchase of the club by the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, done in order to facilitate the sports-washing of the nation’s appalling human rights record, may lead to further changes to the badge in the future, which is something that it will be interesting to look out for as the years go by.
The Club’s First Badge
Although Newcastle United shirts had the Coat of Arms of the city emblazoned on them as early as 1911, it took until 1969 before the football club decided to adopt it as its official emblem. The Coat of Arms itself can be dated back to the 14th century, being formally recognised for the first time in 1954. It is, in many ways, a story about the city’s history, seeing a blue banner along the bottom running with the words ‘FORTITER DEFENDIT TRIUMPHANS’ in black and surrounded by a thin black border. The Latin motto, of course, means ‘Triumphing by Brave Defence’.
It is above that where the nature of Newcastle’s history as a seafaring nation can be found, however. There stands a Norman-era castle in the centre, which has a red border and three castle keeps in white. There are yellow flourishes on the outside, with a seahorse on either side seemingly holding the crest in place. The seahorses have black and white tails, white bodies with a black border and yellow mains, as well as yellow horns. There is then another white Castle Keep, out of which is a yellow Demi-lion, holding a yellow flagpole from which flies the red and blue swallow-tailed pennon of the Arms of Saint George.
Bringing in the Black & White
The original crest that used the city’s Coat of Arms was used until 1976, at which point the first club-specific badge was brought in. It kept the Castle Keep, which was in blue at that time and was standing on a yellow-ish background. In front of it stood a magpie, looking like it is ready to take flight. The magpie is, of course, black and white, standing on green that looks like it is supposed to represent grass, which is above two wavy blue lines, which represented the water that was so important to the city. Those blue waves lines were separated by thin black lines.
The new badge was round in nature, seeing a thick black border run around the outside of the Castle Keep and the magpie. On either side, in the centre, were two white dots, whilst on the top of the surrounding border were the words ‘NEWCASTLE UNITED’. Along the bottom were the words ‘FOOTBALL CLUB’, all of which was in white writing. It was the first time that the club’s famous colours of black and white were introduced to the crest, but they have remained in place ever since in one form or another, linking the club’s playing kit to the badge that adorns it.
Opting for Simplicity
In 1983, Newcastle United decided to introduced a new badge that was bold for its simplicity. It continued the circular shape that the previous badge had introduced, but it brought in what can only really be described as a very 80s-feeling looking thanks to some big, bouncy letters. A C on its side formed something of an arch on the bottom of the badge, looking like a thick black bridge. Underneath it was the return of the black and white magpie, boasting a similar design and style to the one that had appeared in the previous badge, only much smaller in nature.
On top of the C that was on its side stood the other letters that spelled out the club’s initials. On the righthand side was an N, which had a curved lefthand side of the letter in order to accommodate for the circular nature of the badge. In the middle was the U, which had a curved bottom to allow it to stand on the C, whilst on the righthand side was the F. The only part of it that looked normal was the lefthand straight edge, with the entire rest of the letter curved and bowed in some way in order to either fit inside the circular badge or else stand on to of the C.
The Modern Badge
The circular Newcastle United badge using only the letters and a magpie was introduced in 1983 and abandoned in 1988, becoming something of a cult classic along the way. It was towards the end of the 1990s that the modern badge was brought in for the first time, which is the one that will be recognisable to anyone who has ever seen the club play its games. In many ways, it was something of a combination of everything that had gone before, with the only thing missing from it being the magpie. Along the bottom is a banner, with a gold top and black edging above a blue background.
On the background are the words ‘NEWCASTLE UNITED’, whilst above the banner is a shield with a gold and black border. In the middle of the shield are the black and white stripes that have become entirely synonymous with the the club, whilst the shield is held in place by a seahorse on either side. The seahorses have gold manes and a gold tip to their tails, whilst the body of the creature is grey with black outlines. Above the shield is the Castle Keep, out of which is emerging a Demi-lion that is holding up a flagpole, from which flies the swallow-tailed pennon of the Arms of Saint George.
The 125th Anniversary Crest
Although a monotone version of the crest has been used on occasion, the 2017-2018 season saw the club bring in a one-off badge to commemorate its 125th anniversary of its existence. It was based on the designed that had been brought in in 1988, but used more gold and silver in a celebratory manner to tip the cap toward’s the club’s history. The banner, which is blue in the modern badge, was silver on the anniversary edition, matching the colour used for the Castle Keep as well as for the two seahorses holding the badge and the flagpole that the Demi-lion was holding.
The top of the banner continued to be gold, whilst the words ‘NEWCASTLE UNITED’ were also still black. It is underneath the banner that the real difference between the anniversary badge and the other one can be seen, however. The numbers ‘125’ were in gold with a black border, whilst those numbers sat on top of the word ‘YEARS’, which was also in gold with a thin black border. On either side of that were two extravagant gold leaves, almost as if they were pointing towards the celebratory nature of the ‘125 YEARS’ exclamation. The badge was only used for the one season.
Trying to Make Changes
🚨 Newcastle United plan to change their club badge to ‘bring it in line with the modern era’.
🗞️ @SkySports pic.twitter.com/Msu0Yt3Ydl
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) May 10, 2025
In 2024, Newcastle United revealed that they were planning to bring in a new badge for the 2026-2027 season. They began a fan consultation, asking supporters to complete a survey before introducing some of the details at a Fan Consolation Workshop at the club’s home ground. The club decided to work alongside ‘the world’s largest marketing and sponsorship consulting practice’ in Octagon for the redesign, but the news did not go down well. Part of the drive behind the desire for change came down to the feeling that the current design is ‘too complex’ in the modern age.
The feeling is that the badge isn’t ‘asymmetrical’, meaning that it isn’t ‘fit for purpose’ when compared to the sleek designs used by rivals. The aim was to ‘refine, revive or reinvent’ the badge moving forwards, with fans letting Newcastle’s hierarchy know that ‘reinvent’ should be completely out of the question. With Newcastle United themselves removing any option of ‘retain’, there will be a new-look Newcastle badge at some point in the future. Quite what that will look like remains to be seen, but it isn’t likely to leave anyone pleased if it sees the end of a badge that has been in use since 1988.