Latics have finally lifted the lid on the club’s ‘Evolution’ project – a new club crest which comes into force next season.
Following weeks of speculation through the club’s website and matchday programme, the new logo was unveiled on Wednesday night at the club’s presentation evening.
The crest (pictured above) is the club’s first change of identity since 1983 and marks the end of a project undertaken by the club, in association with lifelong fan, Eden Design Solutions’ Ric Dennis.
It will be introduced on the club’s training kit and away strip for the 2011/12 season, during which it will be phased in gradually across club merchandise and corporate branding.
It will then be brought onto the home and third strips for the 2012/13 campaign.
Chief executive Alan Hardy said: "It has been a long and thorough process to come up with a new and easily recognisable image for the club.
"I’d like to thank Ric for the patience and professionalism he showed throughout this process."
The principle behind the new design was to have an easily identifiable shield, featuring a curved line to denote the landscape surrounding the club.
It keeps the diamond which has been part of the club’s identity since 1983, while it has a more modern-looking owl compared with previous designs.
Mr Dennis added: "The new brand is such a big change from the original design, which the majority of Oldham fans, including myself, have grown up with that it is bound to be a big talking point.
"Being a Latics fan, I found the design process to have been enjoyable and rewarding and I’m going to be very proud to see the design displayed on the shirts worn by both players and fans, along with club merchandise, for years to come."
As for the awards themselves, Kieran Lee was the night’s main winner by claiming both players’ and supporters’ player of the year prizes.
Cedric Evina was the players’ young player of the year, Ryan Brooke was named Community Player of the Year, while Dean Furman received an award for scoring the Football League’s goal of the year against Notts County last August.
Gary Davies was the supporter of the year for attending more than 100 first team, reserve team and youth team games.
Latics’ presentation night: who won what:
Players’ player of the season - contenders
- Dean Furman
- Jean-Yves M’Voto
- Kieran Lee (winner)
- Dale Stephens
Young player of the season - contenders
- Paul Black
- Kirk Millar
- Cedric Evina (winner)
- James Tarkowski
Community player of the year - contenders
- Ryan Brooke (winner)
- Josh Ollerenshaw
- Dean Furman
- Kieran Lee
Football League Goal of the Year
- Winner: Dean Furman
Fans’ player of the season - contenders
- Oumare Tounkara
- Reuben Hazell
- Chris Taylor
- Kieran Lee (winner)
- Dean Furman
Supporter of the season
- Gary Davies (Club citation: How do you select a supporter of the year when we have so many loyal and diehard fans? Well, this season it has been relatively easy as one fan has clocked up over 100 Latics games this season. He expects to make it 110 before the end of the season – a remarkable achievement.)
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Whilst the old club badge has become established for many years, I'm beginning to like the look of this "new owl"... who looks quite powerful and to be honest a"nasty piece of work"... which hopefully will pass on to the team, with a new mean look for the next season.
A season which could either see us finally get out of this awful league or in fact possibly the end of Oldham Athletic, hopefully Paul Dickov will be given a fair chance to build and strengthen his side and get rid of the "Penney cast offs" he got lumbered with, which should see "his team"....go onto success.
Despite the cuts in the income to the club from TV rights etc... there are at least 5 more "Derby matches"... thrown up and some of the far flung places disappearing from the scene, hopefully the C.E.O. will see these good points before he starts bleating and moaning about the massive losses and the possibility of the club not being able to meet their obligations and indeed pay the players and staff their wages ON TIME !
Perhaps it's the time for me to have a "truce" with A.H. and simply ask him to try and save his more stupid comments for the Boardroom ... rather than the back pages of the MEN or Oldham Chronicle ???....
I finish this season with a summary, a new feeling came into the club, huge initial success only soured by negativity, whic must have had some effect on the players, the obvious lack of a striker or two was too obvious from day 1, hopefully P.D. will resolve this and we all look forward to a season of more solidarity and success in 2011-2012.
Good luck Latics, hopefully the Micah Richards situation will get sorted at City and the share of the fee handed to Boundary Park....which is how football should be, not rely on TV money all the time.