What is a badge, anyway? It's a complicated question to answer.
Perhaps a football club's most ubiquitous symbol is a storied, heraldic design harking back to the local coat of arms—or a sleek, modern emblem created to look effortlessly stylish on contemporary sportswear.
But why is there a tree? Or a bee? Or a devil? Is that an elephant? SQUIRRELS!
Manchester City's badge in the mid-1990s was quite old by football standards. Round in shape, it featured a white outer ring with the club's name, "Manchester City F.C." at the top and the Latin motto "Superbia in Proelio" (Pride in Battle) at the bottom. Inside the circle sat a sky-blue shield, decorated with a red rose of Lancashire—symbolizing the club's historic county roots—and three diagonal blue rivers, representing Manchester's waterways such as the Irwell and the Ship Canal.
This design was simple, traditional, and instantly recognizable to English fans, embodying Manchester's industrial and regional identity.
