There are lots of reasons for clubs bringing out new badges. Some do it to get a modern badge, others want a new look for a new era, but the reason for a rumoured new Reading badge might just be the most unusual yet.
Reports in the Thai press suggest that the club's owners were inspired to give the club a new badge when they met two Reading fans in a restaurant who proudly showed them their tattoos. Sumrith ‘Tiger' Thanakarnjanasuth revealed the inspiration to the Thai press:
"We were in a restaurant when two middle aged bald men came over to us to say they were massive Reading fans.
They showed us their tattoos. One had the current badge and the other an old badge.
After they left we all agreed that the old badge looked much better but we like the circle shape of the current badge. So we thought why not combine the two and give it a modern twist."
And a twist is what they have done. They have used the design from the old 1987-1996 badge that was rumoured to have been designed by the club's then manager Ian Branfoot's daughter, but put it in a similar circular outline as the current badge.
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It's a smart design though the question that was often raised when these colours were last used as our badge are still relevant: what do they have to do with Reading FC here on April 1, 2017?
The same could of course be said of the inclusion of red in our current badge. When it was introduced in 1998 the club's away kit had included red for most of the decade. Not it just seems a bit random.
The nod to the past is nice but it will be interesting to see what the fans make of the new badge.
Then there is the debate whether we really want to be the club whose badge was inspired by the tattoos of two middle aged bald men!?