Badge Focus: Newcastle United

Unlike many teams, The Magpies have taken a rather conservative approach to the business of designing and wearing a club badge. Though they adopted the city's coat of arms towards the beginning of the 20th century, a version of it didn't appear on the team's shirts until Newcastle's appearance in the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final.

It was a good time to be a Magpies fan. The St. James' Park club went on to enjoy top-12 finishes for several seasons in the old First Division, won the Texaco Cup in 1974 and 1975 and reached the 1974 FA Cup Final. Players such as Bobby Moncur, Terry McDermott and Malcolm MacDonald brought much success to the club but going into the second half of the 1970's, Newcastle were starting to see their league form slip. A defeat to Manchester City in the 1976 League Cup Final was the last achievement of any note for The Toon for several years and the 1977-78 season saw them drop into the Second Division.

A new circular badge had been brought in the season before and appropriately enough, it featured a magpie standing in front of a castle above some water (the River Tyne, evidently). Unfortunately the badge would become synonymous with a less successful period in the club's history, but the arrival of players such as Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle and Kevin Keegan ensured a return to the top flight was never far away.

The 1983-84 season saw the introduction of yet another club badge and it very much fell into the 'love-it-or-hate-it' category. Out went the detail of the previous design and in came a simple circular composition featuring the club initials 'NUFC' and a small magpie. Reminiscent of Leeds United's classic 'LU' badge of the mid-70's, this modern design would always have a limited shelf life before looking outdated, but if nothing else it brought an extra bit of luck to help Newcastle United win promotion back to Division One at the end of that season.

Ultimately the radical new design didn't light everybody's candle and with a degree of inevitability, it, too, was replaced just five years after its introduction. As if to show an immense craving to return to the halcyon days of the club, the new badge took elements of the original club crest and built a new sense of history around it.

Retained from the first crest were the two seahorses either side of a shield, but the shield now had black and white stripes to reinforce the legendary club colours. A castle and pennant also stayed in place above the shield and the whole thing was finished off with a distinctive blue ribbon bearing the team name at the bottom.

A great example of an old crest reworked in a modern way, the badge has now been in place for well over 20 years and doesn't look like changing any time soon. It has seen Newcastle enter the Premier League, Champions League, UEFA Cup and more and has been worn by players such as Philippe Albert, Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer.

The badge has undoubtedly become a fans' favourite in the modern era and rightly so. Whether the team's current high-flying position in the Premier League will last as long remains to be seen.

Anyway, enough of all that. We want to know what your favourite Newcastle United badge has been over the last four decades. Do you prefer the intricate detail of the original crest or the modern simplicity of the NUFC circle? Leave us a comment below or take part in our online vote below. And don't forget - we've got a similar vote for you to take part in on the subject of Crystal Palace too, so check that out as well!