THE BEAUTIFUL BADGE

I am not going to be able to spend a lot of time on this one....I'm off to the Peak District today; might visit Tideswell FC but more importantly I am going to Sheffield United this evening to see the Blades take on Birmingham City in the EFL. The plan is to show three Kiwis, English football in a big stadium, so this happened to be the best available and hopefully will live up to expectations.

Somewhere in this book, (Pitch Publishing) there will almost certainly be an explanation and history of the two club badges that will be worn on the shirts tonight.

I am not going to say much more because I am just about to drive into the National Park, but suffice it to say this book, "The Beautiful Badge" is a little cracker, great coffee table book, superb history and eccentricities.

Any football enthusiast would be fascinated to know that the latest AFC Bournemouth badge is based on a male model! Well, Dickie Dowsett (I have always been good with my head) whose career spanned Spurs, Southend, Palace and then Bournemouth as commercial manager. The back header was a famous goal that he scored and as you can see the whole thing has been modernised, probably by the "commercial department" to help make the club more attractive to the punters! The long hair was "artistic licence" and helped spice up the old badge that was based on the town coat of arms. The gold represents the Cherries recent success....great story reaching the P.L. and the red and black stripes as part of the club colours, introduced by ex Manager John Bond in the '70s styled on AC Milan.
(remember Juventus styled their shirts on Notts County FC).