Success has little to do with it. Alongside us, they’ve probably been one of the most successful clubs in the UK for much of the last ten years. Club colours and the tradition of those are very emotive subjects for fans of clubs and the change of club colours causes fractures between owners and fans, quite obviously. A complete lack of consultation with organised fan groups or with season ticket holders is not the way to go about a rebrand that includes changing the traditional club colours to an animal that the incumbent owner quite likes.
I think it’s woeful all round. The implementation has been horrendous. There’s some really good stuff for Leigh and the sport that have come out of yesterday. They made ten signings, many of which aren’t the usual dross that floats between promoted teams each year, they want to start a women’s team, they want to start disability teams, they want to get an academy and are going for an A licence. All of that is lost amongst a sea of negativity and people laughing at them as a club. Even Specsavers have had a pop.
The jersey is shambolic. The front isn’t awful but the back is the back passage and it’s going to look as though the leopard is depositing the players names and numbers. That’s without even acknowledging that is a snow leopard on the shirt and rather than just a leopard.
It looks like a kid has knocker the whole thing up, which makes me think Beaumont has done all the work himself.