Seal of approval for new Peterborough United identity given by owner with designs finding 'the perfect blend'

Peterborough United’s new rebrand and club crest appears to have moved a step closed after owner Darragh MacAnthony gave the plans his seal of approval on his Hard Truth Podcast.

MacAnthony was speaking after a zoom call this week with the man Posh have entrusted to design the new badge, Chris Payne, in which he was shown a final design.

It is this design that has convinced MacAnthony of the importance of the project and he has urged fans to get behind attempts to modernise the club’s identity.

The design is expected to be revealed to fans in the coming months ahead of appearing on shirts for the first time in the 2026/27 campaign, if approved.

He said: “I was cynical about the whole thing but they gave me a bit of a big reveal and I was pleasantly very surprised by it all.

“I always said I would let it play out and see where it’s going and I have the ultimate veto on anything but I now understand where its going.

"We need to modernise, we’re going to go international. I’m going to open academies outside of the UK and to do all those things, branding has to play a huge part in that. You can’t be stuck wallowing in your cement forever. I really, really liked what I saw, I wasn’t expecting to.

“I think most people will like it. There will be real hardcore traditional fans who won’t want to change anything but even if they look in the mirror they have to understand that times are changing and we have to modernise. We need every advantage we can get, we can’t be frightened to make tough decisions.

“I think his best work is our thing and that’s going to get rolled out to our fans in the coming months. I was really intrigued and I get it now. He’s found the perfect blend and I like it a lot.

“I look at the Premier League and I look at the big clubs, how they’ve evolved their logo and their branding. This is the world we are living in now, it’s tech-driven, everything is online, the visuals are important.

“I am a bit of a traditionalist and a modernist. I’m not against change but it takes me a while to get there. I sympathise with fans who don’t want anything to happen but I can also side with the fans who say that we have to move into the 21st century, which is what my staff keep telling me to do. They are absolutely right because our biggest batch of fans are born this side of 2000.”

On Friday (May 2), Posh will be in touch with fans who have applied to be part of the club’s focus groups to give them a date and time slot to attend on Monday (May 5) and Tuesday (May 6). These groups will be led by Head of Media & Marketing Clive Edwards and Lead Designer Chris Payne to Explore new ideas for how the new crest might look, talk about ideas, design themes, symbolism of Peterborough and to hear more about the process for the potential roll out of any new identity.

Posh recently published results of a second supporters survey on the new identity, completed by what the club described as “around 1000 fans.”

65.75% of those fans voted a nod to club history and heritage as the most important factor in designing a new identity, being recognisable was voted for by 19.7% and 9.5% said being unique. Just 1.5% of those who responded said the badge being a unique shape was the most important thing.

Fans were also asked for the words that most came to mind when the heard Peterborough United with the most popular responses being youthful, family friendly and progressive.

Fans also gave their opinions on what shade of blue is actual ‘Posh Blue’ and these results can be seen on the club website.