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One of our running themes at You & Yesterday is a series of articles on coats of arms, badges, logos or slogans which are linked to Derbyshire. One of the most instantly-recognised symbols in the county must be the celebrated Ram logo of Derby County Football Club. Here Peter Seddon - author of the 'Little Book of Derby County' - charts its birth and progress.

This fearsome Ram was the type used on the badges first worn by Derby County in 1924-25- eyes straight ahead ready to tackle the opposition head-on

The 'old' Derby County badge introduced in 1946 after the club had won the 1946 FA Cup Final against Charlton Athletic

John O'Hare in 1968-69 shows the Ram's head shorn of its embellishments

How the new Ram logo was first unveiled in 1971, in this copy of The Ram newspaper-programme

Suitably adorned for a foray into Europe - eyes right, forward march!

Eyes left on the front cover of 'The Little Book of Derby County'. When it was published in 2006 that was the Ram's preferred direction - not the first time the wilful creature had staged an about-turn

The Ram depicted in the red-and-white of Nottingham Forest - no wonder he looks ready for a fight

Although Derby County were one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 - and as such one of the world's most historic clubs - there was at least one respect in which they spurned tradition for many years.

We are talking badges. While countless clubs sought to establish their identitiy through the age-old tradition of adopting a badge and motto, Derby County were slow to react.

By the start of the nineteenth century, most of the leading football teams had their own recognisable badge, and some clubs had added a Latin motto for grand effect. Not so the Rams - their company livery and team shirts remained unadorned for fully forty years after their formation, and not until season 1924-25 did they wear a badge on their shirt.

Even then it was only by way of experiment, and to a design submitted by members of the supporters' club who felt Derby County needed to get in step. Not surprisingly it included a ram even then, for the town had long been associated with that feisty creature. The badge was a three-section shield depicting a ram's head, the rose and crown emblem of Derbyshire, and the Derby Borough Arms of 'the buck in the park'.

Perfect surely? One would have thought so, but the team wore it on their shrts for only two seasons. So from 1926-27 the players' strip remained unadorned until after the Cup Final of 1946, when a surge of pride led to a new design being unveiled and worn on the shirts for the very first time in the cup winners' official team photograph.

That badge incorporated what Derby fans now consider to be the 'old ram' logo, simply a realistic depiction of a ram's head. When it first made its appearance it was part of a shield-style badge which included the intertwined lettering D.C.F.C. But by the time Derby County had romped away with the Second Division Championship under Brian Clough in 1968-69, the shirts displayed the ram's head alone.

And that brings us to the current logo of Derby County, often labelled 'the snorting ram'.

During the Brian Clough era at Derby County change was in the air. Clough felt the club were languishing in the past, and little escaped his attention. It seemed to him that the swinging sixties had passed Derby County by, so when the seventies dawned with Derby County playing in the top flight of English football, it was time for action. And time for a new badge.

The Ram logo now recognised throughout Britain - and indeed by many fans abroad - was created in 1971. It took 250 hours of hard thinking - through more than 40 trial sketches - to transform the cuddly old Ram mascot of yesteryear into a snorting, head up, horns-aquivering Ram emblem fit to lead Derby County into the sizzling seventies.

At the time, club director Michael Keeling - who with secretary Stuart Webb spearheaded the campaign for a new emblem - told supporters via the club's newly-launched Ram newspaper-programme:

"We want to project the 1971 image of an attacking progressive Derby County. The old Ram was part of the club's history. Our problem was how to replace it, and by what?"

Stuart Webb added: "Clearly we had to go to a local firm to see if they could update the Ram figure for us ."

The company they approached was Product Support (Graphics) Ltd. in Slack Lane, whose Commercial Manager Brian Coxon told them: "It's a tough one but we'll tackle it."

The firm's creative Manager, Jim Lewis, admitted that the designer who worked with him on the new Ram was a Leeds United fan - before trotting out a cheery line in spin: "But that only made him more determined to conjure up a little fella who would endear himself to all Rams fanatics around him."

In the end, after more than 40 tries, the Leeds-mad artist Tony Hoyle produced the emblem which the club chose to run with. He liked it, and so did his boss Jim Lewis, but more importantly it got the vote of the Derby County hierarchy - Mike Keeling, Stuart Webb, the Board of Directors, and of course 'Cloughie'.

The designer Tony Hoyle later explained his difficult task:

"The Ram as an animal is a curved curly and wooly chap, apart from the two-pronged effect of his horns. This cuddly image is exactly opposite to the character of a Ram which is pugnacious and aggressive."

"We decided to use the character of the animal for our caricature, rather than project the animal itself. Bit by bit, through those 40 drawings, we changed the Ram in to what we finally produced. We believe the final product exactly typifies the Derby County of Brian Clough."

So there it is - and it hasn't changed since. Or has it?

In fact it has been tweaked a little here and there, shifted around and dressed up from time to time. In some seasons it faced left and in others right - going forwards, going backwards, not quite sure which direction to go in - it suited the Rams perfectly.

When Derby County played in European competitions in the 1970s (unbelievable but true!) the Ram was given a 'Union Jack' coat in much of the publicity material.

After great successes it has appeared in the press 'rampant' and snorting steam, and in troubled times has shed tears. In the occasional ribald cartoon it has also been depicted shedding something else emitting steam - is there no respect?

Countless Rams fans have had the beast tattooed on various body parts, not always with the greatest artistic accuracy. Doubtless it seemed a good idea at the time - and after ten pints of Pedigree there was no pain at all.

The Ram also appears on a surprising number of house signs throughout the county - keep an eye open, and you'll see a 'Ramsden' or a 'Dunrammin' before too long.

And opposition supporters have fearlessly flouted the copyright laws by featuring it on T-shirts and in fanzines, usually doing unspeakable things to Derby County fans - and vice versa. After all, we Rams supporters do have our informal nickname to live up to.

But despite it all, the Ram survives - 37-years-old in 2008 and still up for it. Yet curiously thereby hangs a tale.

An informal canvassing of supporters' opinion suggests that the Ram logo isn't regarded with a particularly fierce degree of affection. It isn't old enough to be truly historic. It's all rather 'graphic design' in a Seventies retro way. And it doesn't have a deep and meaningful motto with it.

One certainly gets the feeling that if it were to be replaced, there wouldn't be too much of an outcry - as long as a ram of some sort replaced it, that's the one essential.

Let's face it - the day Derby County appear without a ram on their shirts will be the day someone has got it seriously wrong.

Then again - how many times have we said 'it could only happen at Derby County'?

What do you think of the Ram logo? Do you have any stories about it? And might it be time for the club to have a new badge? Would you object if the snorting Ram were put out to grass? If you have anything to say, you can say it here. Just click on 'edit' and start writing below.

• Derbyshire - Coats of Arms, Badges and Crests

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