ITT: Taking inspiration from Leigh Genesis FC, we come up with more ideas for the rebanding of football teams

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Tradition goes out of the window as Leigh RMI Football Club launches its new Name, new Crest, and new Colours; a predominantly new Team playing in a brand new Stadium…

Recently appointed, visionary Chairman Dominic Speakman, 32, explains the thought process behind this radical move to give the club an all-embracing brand for the future.

‘I became Chairman in January this year and apart from the possibility of a move to a brand new 12,000 seat stadium, the club was struggling and its future was stagnant.

I could see that there was potential to build an appealing, prosperous and competitive club which would be capable of growing and climbing forcefully up the football ladder.

Logo

The club had adopted the generic Leigh town crest which did not give it any real identity; I believe the Club needed to develop it’s own personality and as part of this there needed to be a strong, individual emblem of association. Ideas of colour were professionally developed into a striking, versatile and contemporary logo which formed the core of the new brand.

Name

I began with the name; ‘Leigh RMI’ (Railway Mechanics Institute) had followed the Club from its roots in Horwich where there actually was a R.M.I., Leigh on the other hand could not even boast a railway station! Research confirmed that there was little loyalty or attachment to the old name which would make the decision more welcoming than controversial.

Genesis fits perfectly with the club image on several levels; a meaning of ‘New Beginning, Origin & Creation’ being the most important, it has a contemporary edge and is unique in the world of football. It is miles away from the American ‘animal’ and doesn’t join the usual ‘Cities or Uniteds’ which gives it a chance of making a real mark in non-league football.

Kit Colour

The Club is surrounded by ‘reds’ from both football and rugby; our red and white stripes simply merged with the crowd so a radical makeover was essential if we wanted to distinguish ourselves in the area. The alignment of football to fashion is pretty well recognised now, and in order to give the new Leigh Genesis FC an appealing, attractive image, the kit had to become less fussy and more modern. The result was a fresh, white shirt with black shorts and socks supplied by established sports brand Nike whose image complimented perfectly the effect we wanted to achieve

Future

The new 2008/09 season will see Leigh Genesis playing in the Unibond Premier League which is a mere three jumps away from the football league. Genesis is aiming high and has ambitions ‘to be the best that it can be’.

Already in place is a highly qualified coach, Steve Bleasdale who comes with his assistant Brett Harris, Coordinator James Standing and Physio Terry O’Brien. Running the club off the pitch are General Manager, Mary Croasdale and Commercial Manager Donna Middleton who come with experience from Premier Club Blackburn Rovers; the structure is designed for stability and growth.

Supporters

The club aims to appeal to all types of fans and has priced its tickets competitively to encourage families with children. Premiership football has become an incredibly expensive hobby; we can offer a family of four a day out at an impressive stadium at every home match of the season for just £18 per game. Now that’s value! Replica shirts will be less than £30 which for a Nike brand is a fantastic deal; we want to be part of the community but more importantly we want the community to be part of us and keeping prices reasonable will definitely help.

Andy Burnham MP for Leigh and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said, ‘We have sporting participation like never before at our magnificent Sports Village and we can now look forward with optimism to a professional football club providing the sort of entertainment on the pitch that supporters will want to see. I am absolutely delighted that Leigh Genesis will be flying the football flag for the town and am sure that this town will respond to the challenge and get behind them in their bid to climb swiftly up the football ladder’