Last month, Leeds United caused a storm by announcing a new badge.

The club had consulted with fans and gone through a process of updating their crest, which is one of the most sensitive things an English football club can do – the depth of fan feeling is so great, and the reluctance to break with tradition so strong that this is never an easy fix.

The club went to great lengths, understanding the delicacy of the issue: they spoke to thousands of fans in a wide-ranging consultation in order to do it properly. But sure enough, when the new logo was announced, featuring the ‘Leeds Salute’ in homage to a popular fan gesture, an outrage ensued and the club were forced into a rethink. Last week, they postponed the introduction of their new badge for an entire year, planning to bring it in the season after next.

Leeds United scrap new badge following furious backlash from fanshttps://t.co/QEZAOWAXOP

— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) January 30, 2018

Just one glance at the proposed badge is probably enough to see what the issue is. The fist beating a chest isn’t a normal football symbol, and when their club strays from both tradition and the herd, football fans tend to get anxious.

The first problem from the club’s point of view, just as it has been for so many other clubs fighting for mindshare in the modern world, was that the old badge didn’t actually include the name of the club. To fans, that matters little (and the LUFC on the crest tells them all they need to know anyway), but to anyone looking to sell the club to a new audience around the world, it poses a much bigger problem. The second problem was the emblem, as the white rose is a symbol of Yorkshire as a county, but not unique to the city of Leeds.

It’s not difficult to see the issue with that particular badge, but explaining why it’s a problem to showcase the ‘Leeds Salute’ on a badge is hard. But it might have something to do with something which is fundamental to football fandom.

Essentially, fans of anything – a club, an organisation or a political party – want to feel like they are part of something bigger: a club with an identity beyond winning games and players who fight for that cause. A particular style or play, a certain history or even a regional identity are ways of creating that passion. Over time, fan culture grows out of this: songs become anthems, routines become superstitions. At the Elland Road club, the ‘Leeds Salute’ was one of those traditions that just grew over time and has become part of the fan culture at the club.

But to put it on the badge is to take away the foundation on which that culture was built. Fans want to support the club and what it stands for, but if a club’s badge makes it clear that they stand for them fans themselves, then what’s the point? Are the fans supposed to cheer for themselves?

This is a clash which could only have been possible in the modern world where the internet, social media and a globalised economy mean that football clubs are marketable all over the world. The executives at the club would be doing their job badly if they didn’t explore ways to monetise the club, and one of their biggest assets is a huge fanbase who come in great numbers to support their club even in the lower leagues.

On the other hand, a club can’t be defined by its fans – because the fans need something to support. It’s clear that the club had the best of intentions, aiming to include its fans in any badge refresh, but maybe football teams shouldn’t actually reflect their fans, just give them a reason to keep supporting.