Rebranding....... and the future.

Following on from the FA Cup thread and reading some of the beautiful and lyrical team names it got me thinking.

Will rebranding ever take place on a wide scale in our football? Both rugby's have embraced it. Cricket went in with both feet. A couple of clubs recently, Hull and Cardiff, tried and failed. So why football? Is it just fan power?

In this modern era marketing is key, a huge generator of cash with some clubs making obscene amounts from it. If it's not ally yet due to tradition then look at YCCC, without checking probably older than most football clubs. Are they contractually obliged in order to play in those leagues?

Thoughts please. I can feel a 3 pager coming on.

 

Unfortunately, I can see it going further than simply changing or adding names. I can see the PL trying to sign-up/Annexe EFL teams like they do in other countries. Imagine Barnsley cutlasses or Barnsley Hoots as both the massive hit the PL heights. Bolton Red Devils, Oldham Citizens etc, etc.

 

Yorkshire Tykes is already taken isn't it?

 

Battling Barnsley or has it changed to Bottling Barnsley.

 

Brave Barnsley

 

In the wake of the Conway and Lee era and up until the Hex crisis I would have gone with belittled Barnsley, now I will go with the Grove Street Raiders.

 

The issue i always see with football is generally fans are stuck in a bygone era and "tradition" takes precedence over change.
Any change has got to be publicised in the right way but a large amount of fans think going back yester-year is the way forward.
Not that it will happen, but look at the west stand (not the holes) any fancyful talk of renovating and modernising the stand usually gets derided, even though the wooden seats, restricted views and facilities of the stand are appalling.

I think other sports, cricket for example, have newer formats that allow for the rebranding and change, whereas football is broadly the same and hasnt changed in years. (Aside from the introduction of some technology) goal line tech was resisted for years.

Maybe a new football format, such a 5/7 a side (like the old masters tourniments) could allow the rebranding and innovation to take place?

 

Barnsley Nil.

 

Can we afford another name?

Or why don't we utilise the past branding of the town?



Barnsley Bargains

I'm sure some of our fans would think it's quite apt given our recent transfer dealings

 

Get tu tarn and grab thisen a bargain
They're all cut-price to suit your profit margin
Call int office, Khaled's on his computer
Undisclosed fees and an interest in their future

 

The only reason to attach a suffix is to create a brand and distance the club from the town. The Barnsley Bears start doing well and attract a new owner. But after a couple of seasons he realises attendances will never be higher than 16,000. So he moves The Bears, for that is the brand he bought, to Dudley. And decides that The Dudley Dynamos sounds better than The Dudley Bears and so rebrands and the Dynamos kick off the season in the championship. If Barnsley want a club they start from scratch with nothing, at the base of the pyramid.

I've no doubt it'll happen, it's just when. And there is zero chance the FA and FL will protect a club. The rules in place will simply be changed to accommodate it when enough money is given to facilitate it.

 

I can see it happening in re branding of tournaments tbh.
Although the parent club keeps its name in the bread and butter league but enters teams on the EFL cup or FA cup separately as the Yorkshire Vikings do in certain cricket comps .

 

I think its because historically football clubs have been intrinsically linked to a sense of community in working class areas. Cricket and Rugby Union are solidly middle class sports at the elite level - I reckon 90% of pro-cricket players come from Public schools. No one in Wakefield gives 2 shts what Yorkshire call themselves, but when they become the northern Superchargers, I think it turns a lot of people off and rightly so. For football - its harder for the bigger clubs ironically I would say - if you Global Brand is Manchester United, changing your name to the Manchester Devils would be a huge undetaking risking your Global name and local name with your traditional fans, its a lose lose imho. Rugby League did go down the name re-brand but it was pretty limited - most people I know never, ever referred to Wakefield as the Wildcats or the Wakefield Wildcats, they just carried on calling them Trinity - and this reality was recognised when they reverted back to it in 2016.

 

I could see that in years to come tbf.