Should Manchester United modernise their branding?

After the biggest club in Italy shocked the world with their new club branding, can this be a precedent for other clubs to follow their steps?

With news this week confirming that Manchester United has reclaimed first place in Deloitte’s rankings of the world’s top 20 revenue-generating clubs, there is no doubt that the club has now established itself as the world’s biggest football brand. Manchester United announced a record revenue of £515.3 million for 2016, becoming the first English club to earn over half a billion pounds in a single year.

While Juventus’ drastic re-branding left some football fans claiming that the club has flushed it’s history down the drain, a more subtle re-branding exercise will be less risky but might still make a big impact. A subtle re-branding can help the club to keep increasing it’s fan base, by appealing to younger generations, even during a time where the club is not winning major trophies year in, year out like it used to up to a few years ago.

The club’s most drastic and famous re-branding was when it changed it’s name from “Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club” to “Manchester United Football Club” in 1902. The team previously played with green and gold jerseys.