White poppy / old logo

An extra two badges made to compliment the set of 5 produced in 2013. Looking at Wiki, "The white poppy is a flower used as a symbol of peace, worn as an alternative to, or complement to, the red remembrance poppy for Remembrance Day" so there you go....

Travelling Alex #2

The pink version here is the third colour released featuring the styalised club logo that has been adopted by the Travelling Alex - presumably to meet a demand.  I always think that pink and red are somewhat awkward together but hey that's just my opinion!  The other version of the badge is a raw version without any colouring at all - not sure if this was ever supposed to be released or if many were made but its nice to have in the collection.

2011-12 Promotion Contenders badges

 

These six "promotion to League One" badges feature the logos of the 2011-12 League Two season's automatically promoted teams plus the four playoff contenders (of course this is where CAFC fit in).  I first saw these today (on ebay) so I don't think that these were made back in 11/12 so its a bit of a mystery as to why someone would produce them now.  As seems typical these days there are too many colour varieties to want or indeed be practical to collect them all.  I went with the red one for my collection. 

Colchester match badge - Sep 2014

Yet another match badge from our friend in the Ukraine.  Thin metal as normal but a different design to previous issues and also the first for a regular league game.

Northern Ireland friendly vs Qatar - May 2015 match badge at Crewe

Three different badges (two designs) available at the NI international friendly held at Crewe on 31/5/15.  Unless I am mistaken, I think these are the only badges ever made for a game at Gresty Road not involving Crewe.

Chesterfield v Crewe 14/15 match badge

Produced by 'Terrys Badges', it was certainly a surprise to suddenly see these appear from Chesterfield.  They are apparently officially endorsed as they are available in the club shop.  For the 15/16 season they will apparently only be produced for teams new to the division.

Wolves v Crewe 2013/14

This is an effort that came out for the Wolves v Crewe game in 2013/14.  Unlike many of the others produced for these Wolves games over the years this has a very unofficial look about it with its generic style and lack of logos. 

JPT Trophy Final 2013 badges not yet featured

For some reason I neglected to post about this set of three JPT final badges when I posted about all the other varieties.  This set is simple yet attractive with a nice selection of three colourways and a broach fitting.

Another 'missing E' post

I picked up this beaten up old version of the infamous 'missing E' set a short while ago.  Apart from the obvious missing E I do wonder if this was an early run as the lettering just seems to be a little poor in its quality.  This particular badge is very grubby and the pin is broken so must have had a fun life to this point!

Cufflink Style!

 

Something a little different here and I am a little confused with myself as to whether this counts as a badge or not...  The first question is whether it started life as a badge.  The design is one certainly seen on other badges and there is the strong possibility that someone pulled off the pin fitting and stuck on the cufflink style fitting, however it could also have been made like this in the first place to accompany the pin badges made at the time.  Who knows? Not me anyway :)  As to whether it belongs in a badge collection - well its in mine so I guess it does!

Wolves pre season friendly 2014 badges

Certainly an original looking set produced for this Wolves friendly - surprisingly with 2 in Crewe colours vs just the one in Wolves black & gold.  Produced mainly for the large band of Wolves collectors it was nice to have this set added to the collection.

Also available from that July 2014 game was this Wolves pre-season tour badge, similar to one produced in other years that includes our logo.  Limited to 100 badges, it came on its own individual backing card which includes the number (mine is 96/100).  The number 96 is also stamped onto the back of my badge.

2014-15 Fleetwood v Crewe badges

This lovely set in two colourways was produced by Fleetwood supporter and collector Paul (Codbadges) as part of his match sets for a select number of teams visiting Highbury in the 14/15 season.  This Aug 2014 visit was Crewe's 1st ever league trip to Fleetwood and ended in a 2-1 defeat which would go on to be fairly typical of the season to come!

Blue logo badge

Simple and classic logo badge from the early 90s but the slightly rarer blue and white trim version.  One of my favourite Crewe badges.

Madjid Boughherra player badge

Algerian international Madjid Bougherra became an instant Alex favourite when he arrived from French side Gueugnon in January 2006.  He was a class player that the club would have loved to keep but after 11 games (and 1 goal) he was off to bigger and better things.  This badge is a from his time at Glasgow Rangers and is a fun addition to the collection.

Ex Crewe Player legend badges

Four badges from other club's legend series featuring some players who also played for the Alex at some point in their careers.  Three are from Stoke (Conroy, Mahoney and Greenhoff) and one is from QPR (Stan Bowles).

It's in the blood

I don't buy all these insert badges due to the low quality but I do have a few in my collection.  These four claim the Crewe Alexandra is in our blood!

Eat..Sleep..Crewe Alexandra

 

Trio of insert badges suggesting that there are only 3 key things you should be doing to live your life...

Crewe v Sheffield United 2014/15 FA Cup 1st Round Badges

Thin, pressed metal badge for the FA Cup first round game against the Blades.  Very nice design produced in multiple colourways.  Like all these recent cup badges, its from abroad - Germany I think for this one.

 

And this one is from the Ukraine in similar design to previous cup badges

1877 insert badges

Set of four on ebay featuring either "Crewe Alexandra" or "The Railwaymen" with the phrase "Pride of Cheshire since 1877".

CAFC button pin

Fun little CAFC button badge from the seller 'MadAboutFlags'

Crewe v Bolton 2014/15 Capital One League Cup Rd 2 match badge

Nice large (about 2'' across) resin style badge from an ebay seller 'daveinbrum'.  Interestingly the fastening on the back is a very long broach type rather than the butterfly pin type on most badges nowadays.

Gresty Road End insert badges

 

 

Two of the insert type badges found on ebay that reference the Gresty Road end.

 

Crewe v Bradford Match Badges 2014/15

One of the 12 colourways produced for the Crewe v Bradford games in 2014/15 and the first Crewe set of the three produced for 14/15 that I have already featured on the blog.  The photo below is the one the seller ("Danny from St Neots") sent me to show me the full set of 12.

Triple logo badge

Another new official badge, this one seems to be of lower quality than those usually produced by the club. Fairly small in size, it features a bigger (approx. 1cm) logo flanked by two smaller ones.

Crewe v Oldham match badges 2014/15

The second of the three Crewe match badge sets produced by the same seller during the 2014/15 was the set of 12 colourways for the games against Oldham.  Once again I only collected four of the varieties due to the excessive cost.

Crewe v Sheffield United Button Badge - FA Cup 1st Round 2014/15

Small size button badge from the FA Cup 1st round game against Sheffield United.

Raised logo badge

Nice new official release from the club - slightly larger than normal size for these logo badges and also features very nice raised lettering.

2014/15 Resin Kit Badges

Picked up off ebay, these kit badges in both home and away colours are the sticky resin type and clearly feature the Mornflake detail but do not show the club logo detail at all.  Still nice to fill the kit badge gap when no official ones are produced by the club.

Doncaster v Crewe 2007/08 insert badge

I thought I had captured most of these in previous posts but here is another one I picked up a few weeks ago.  Its from the 2007-08 season for the game at Doncaster Rovers.

Crewe v Preston Match Badges 2014/15

So these are four varieties (of the Twelve available) of the Crewe v Preston 2014/15 match badges that came from a seller named "Danny in St Neots".  This was the third Crewe game in the 2014/15 season that this style of badge was made for (Oldham & Bradford being the others).  Quite frankly these were the straw that broke the camels back regarding collecting every colourway as a)12 varieties is ridiculous and b) at £5 a pop, it is ridiculously expensive for one badge release.  Four or even six varieties would have been OK...  I collected the four in this set that most resemble Crewe colours, 

The other bizarre thing about this seller and these badges was that he claimed they were being made for foreign collectors and that I would have to buy quick to guarantee getting them...  amazingly they are still available on ebay :)  Not sure who or why there would be 'foreign collectors' of these either.

Regarding the badges themselves, they are actually really nice (if a little unoriginal) with good quality manufacture and design. The badges include the dates of the two games, both club logos and the league one trophy.

'Sky Bet' League One 2014/15 badge

Coming from a seller in Germany, these large (and pricey at £15) map badges appeared on ebay mid way through the 14/15 season and were available in 6 colours.  These badges feature the logos of all the teams in league one and supercede an earlier version of this badge that had the wrong league sponsor! The price tag (especially if you wanted all colours) started some serious debate on a badge forum I am on about no longer being able to collect all badges because of the high prices and multiple colourways.

JPT picture badge

Another badge emerging from our friends in the Ukraine...  from its ebay picture it looks like its one of the thin pressed badges with some kind of insert of a low quality photo of the 2013 JPT winning team.  Not sure of the size but it looks like it may be a little larger that the match badges coming from the same seller.

NI v QATAR friendly badge from Gresty Road

There was a nice set of two badges produced for the Northern Ireland v Qatar friendly held at Gresty Road in May 2015.  The one shown here is the green version and there was a red version too.  A sell out on the day!