LFC Badge: The history and changes to Liverpool FC’s crest over the past 125 years
There are some things that you associate with certain football clubs that it would be odd if they changed. If Everton stopped playing in blue, for example, or Manchester United fans showed some class when they travelled to different parts of the country. If Chelsea fans started coming up with some decent songs or Manchester City supporters said, “Yeah, we didn’t win fairly actually”.
For Liverpool, the use of the Liverbird on the club’s badge is something that seems as though it is set in stone, but has that always been the case? Is there an extent to which the Reds have actually chopped and changed the club’s crest and badge?
The First Club Crest
The first time that a crest of any sort for Liverpool was mentioned in print came during the club’s inaugural season. Field Sport wrote a report about the match and said,
“A new man – beg pardon, a flag – floated on the old staff, bearing the letter L.F.A., surmounted with the liver. Right proudly did it wave over the field of battle and seemed to beam on its patrons with a hopeful smile”.
That original crest was based, at least in part, on the city’s coat of arms, upon which the Liverbird is a prominent feature. They were granted in 1797 and showed a cormorant with some seaweed in its beak, whilst Triton and Neptune stand either side.
The cormorant itself developed and changed once it began to be associated with the city and the football club. A medal that was given to Tom Robertson after he won the First Division title with Liverpool in 1901 had Liverpool Football Club around the outside, with a virtual replica of the city’s coat of arms in the middle.
The image remained in place for some time, being used on the club’s programmes in the 1935-1936 season, which the moment that the Reds stopped sharing a programme with Everton. In fact, the first change didn’t really come about until after the Second World War, albeit in reluctant fashion.
Badges on Kits
In terms of the actual kits worn by the players, it is worth bearing in mind that there wasn’t a badge of any sort until the 1955-1956 season. At that moment, a decision was taken to put a white oval with red trim onto the kit, complete with a Liverbird standing above the letters L.F.C.
It is important to remember that the club was still in its formative stage at the time, with the all-red kit, for which we are now famous, not introduced until the 1964-1965 campaign. The badge that has been used nearly a decade before remained, with a new one not brought in until 1968, when it was decided that a more modern version was needed.
| The evolution of Liverpool Football Club’s crest over 125 years#LFC
— Watch LFC (@Watch_LFC) April 27, 2017
That badge was significantly more simplistic, with the Liverbird embroidered straight onto the shirt. In the same way, the letters L.F.C were also embroidered straight onto the shirt and there was no background. It was rendered in white for the first seven years, then in 1976 it began to be embroidered in gold, with nothing else changed.
In 1985 the club moved from Umbro to Adidas as the kit supplier, reverting back to the white Liverbird and lettering. Another change to the badge came about two years later, which was when a red background had a white shield on top of it, in the middle of which sat the Liverbird.
@singletond8 Anfield under the lights at night #Anfield #liverpoolfc #home #mainstand #LfcCrest #beststadiumever #homestadium
The word ‘Liverpool’ was all but split into two on either side of the bottom of the shield, whilst ‘Football Club’ ran along the bottom. In 1992, the crest changed again. Along the top of the shield ran the words ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, with the livery of the Shankly Gates in place as well as a miniature version of the crest.
‘Liverpool Football Club’ was in the top of the shield, with the words ‘100 Years’ in the middle to celebrate the club’s centenary. Another miniature version of the badge with the Liverbird in the middle sat under it, whist the years 1892-1992 were in the middle of a yellow scarf-style item.
I’m going to be a grump about the fact that Liverpool ditched the more detailed crest for general use. The liverbird by itself looks great in the shirt, definitely, but the full crest has so much meaning. Let’s not go too minimalist here!
— Nick (@nickwidzowski.bsky.social) 2024-08-29T12:51:06.535Z
In 1993, no longer able to celebrate the centenary, the badge was changed to become all red and white. It remained larger the same, apart from the fact that 1892-1992 was replaced with ‘Est. 1892’. There was also the addition of the eternal flame either side of the shield, commemorating the 96 supporters (later becoming 97) who lost their lives in the Hillsborough Disaster because of police negligence.
The crest was sometimes embroidered straight onto the shirts, whilst on other occasions it was put inside a larger shield or even an oval lozenge. This remained the case with the crest over the next few years, regardless of the design of the crest itself.
The Modern Era
In 1999, the badge was updated and initially appeared in two colours before becoming full colour. The design at the top of the crest became more elaborate, with the words ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ still appearing underneath it, all in green.
The shield was there in red, with ‘Liverpool’ written in white on top of a red background and ‘Football Club’ and a large Liverbird in red on white background. The eternal flames were still there, this time in red and yellow, whilst the ‘scarf’ along the bottom was green, with ‘Est. 1892’ written in white. This badge remained in place until 2012, after the club had been taken over by FSG.
They signed a kit deal with the US-based Warrior Sport, who decided to introduce a really simple design to the club badge. It was back to being just the Liverbird as well as the letters ‘L.F.C.’, appearing in yellow on a red background.
Many were upset with this design as it resulted in the Hillsborough comparative crest being moved to the back of the shirt. For the 2017-2018 season another crest was introduced, this time celebrating the club being in existence for 125 years. The Liverbird still stood on top of the ‘L.F.C.’ letters, with the years 1892 and 2017 on either side and ‘125 Years’ came underneath those club letters.
Just revealed our new away kit via Liverpool official WhatsApp channel.I really like it except for the turquoisey bits, should have made them white like the badge! #LFC
— John Mc (@johnmcnwoods.kawaii.social) 2024-08-02T08:14:57.080Z
The club reverted to the 2012 badge in the season that followed, with the more simplistic design being used since.
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