Final voting is now open to decide whether Watford should adopt a new club crest from next season – or retain the current badge.

Supporters received an email in June inviting them to design a new logo for the club that could "best represent Watford FC in the future."

The email said that the idea was to make the Hornets "instantly identifiable to fans of football worldwide."

After narrowing the initial submissions down to a final 20, a shortlist of five was created from which the winner was voted for.

Hornets fans received a new email this evening asking them to choose between that winner or the existing badge.

Votes can be cast for clicking on a link at the bottom of the email where supporters will be asked to confirm their first name, surname, email address and Fan ID number. The deadline for voting is midnight on Sunday (November 17).

From the outset, the club have stated fans would have the opportunity to vote for the current crest if they felt the competition winner did not fulfil the criteria better.

The two options

Watford Observer:

Watford Observer:

The email states: “All Hornets supporters with a valid Fan ID from 5pm Wednesday November 13 have been allocated one vote so please choose carefully before submitting your chosen design. Additionally, any voting forms submitted with false or incorrect details will be considered an invalid entry and won’t count towards the final tally.

“The vote will be open to supporters aged 13 or older and anyone with a Fan ID created after 5pm Wednesday November 13 will not be included in the process. Despite the desire to accommodate everyone, these measures have been taken to ensure the process is as fair and genuine as it can possibly be.”

It continues: “Once again, we’d like to thank everyone who has voted and helped us get to this stage. It’s been a fascinating process and, whether the badge changes or not, we have seen some very interesting creative ideas and identified some talented designers that we may work with moving forward.”