BADGES
Manchester City
The Cityzens
The current badge features a golden ship symbolising the city’s commercial history and the Manchester Ship Canal. Three blue diagonal stripes represent the rivers Irwell, Irk and Medlock, while the red rose reflects Manchester’s historic connection with Lancashire.
THE STORY
Manchester City’s crest is interesting because, throughout its history, it has largely returned to the same local symbols: the ship, the red rose of Lancashire and the motif of the three rivers. The ship is not a random decorative element; it represents the Manchester Ship Canal, which connected the city to the Irish Sea and helped it become an important industrial and commercial centre. It is also linked to a key year in the club’s history, 1894, when Ardwick AFC changed its name to Manchester City.
The biggest break with this tradition came in 1997. The club introduced a completely new crest featuring a golden eagle, a shield, three stars and the Latin motto “Superbia in Proelio,” meaning “Pride in Battle.” Unlike the ship, which was a concrete symbol of Manchester and its commercial history, the eagle appeared more generic: it was intended to represent strength, ambition and a fighting spirit, but it did not have the same direct connection to the city.
The eagle was introduced at a time when Manchester City was trying to position itself as a more modern and ambitious club. The design abandoned the traditional circular shape and local symbols, relying instead on classic sporting heraldry. The three stars did not represent specific trophies, but mainly served as decorative elements. As a result, many supporters saw the crest as a design break with the past rather than a natural development of the club’s identity.
There was also an additional irony in the fact that the eagle crest was introduced shortly before one of the most difficult periods in the club’s modern history: Manchester City were relegated to the third tier of English football in 1998. The crest was, of course, not responsible for the club’s sporting decline, but in the collective memory of supporters it became associated with a period that did not match the message of strength and dominance it was intended to convey.
In 2015, following extensive consultation with supporters, the club unveiled a new crest that came into use from the 2016/17 season onwards. Manchester City returned to the circular shape and to symbols that felt more authentic to its supporters: the ship, the three rivers and the red rose of Lancashire. The year of the club’s foundation, 1894, was also officially included on the crest for the first time.
