You make a lot of very valid points Jack and I respect your opinions as you are clearly cut from the dedicated Leyther cloth.
I am not so sure we won’t see a nod to our Cheery and White heritage in the future (this season or next) and I do personally wish our first team shirt was closer to the bash shirt, but rugby league’s future and our future, will be based on financial and commercial strength. The new sponsor (whoever they may be) seem to see that in our new iteration.
The consult of the fans is a very valid point and I honestly think that it would have been a significant percentage of us saying Cherry and White, me included. But that I believe, would maybe not have been the best for the future strength (financial and commercial) of the club.
If we are to be a Catagory A club in the future, this is the beginnings of a true push for that. I believe Derek knew what the reaction would be from many and was ready to take that on the chin, believing that the change was the right thing for the future strength of our club.
Another angle on our colours. My 20 year old son has had many Leigh shirts bought for him over the years. He has only known Cherry and White. I recently asked him which his favorite shirt of all his shirts is. This was before the rebrand. He didn’t pause when he said “the black and gold one”. He is the person that will be buying Leigh shirts in the future when I am no longer around. Does he like the new shirt, yes he does !
And yes Bongser I do remember as you do re the DB interview.

Well here is Charlie’s opinion, I hate the new shirt , I won’t get one , but that’s my choice , I haven’t bought a replica shirt for a couple of years now , I do like the polo shirt design , and will get one .
The Leopards name doesn’t bother me , we are still Leigh , Derek is a Saviour to the Club , we will have a very good squad next season , I can’t wait to see them , I feel maybe a big robust prop is needed, but without Dereks money we would be watching low quality players , playing for at best a mid championship team , in front of a crowd of a 1,000 fans .
Look at the squad we have , the Coaching Team we have, and apparently the new sponsors ready to invest , folk want to involved with Leigh , look at our lower division neighbours , no disrespect to them , but not really offering much in the line of quality Coaching , Playing Staff , or crowds , we have this strong squad , Lammy ,Chester ,and Clubb, and an Owner who has promised success , I’m happy to let these guys do the Business , let’s all back them , if you like the new shirt then Buy It , if you don’t don’t buy it , I’ve been a Leigh fan for over sixty years now , a change of name , or a shirt I don’t like won’t make me change .Over to you Bongser .

I have given myself a few days to digest the changes and Charlie has pretty much summed up my thoughts. To be fair, I don't mind the name change or the badge or the sentiment behind it. I can see the vision given IMGs proposals. This is Derek's take on getting us to a Cat A situation. Change is inevitable and always takes time to bed in. Remember the issues moving away from Hilton Park, taking on the centurions moniker. They took time to get used to but importantly they are all steps on the way to taking us to where we are today. I have issues with change in colours (this probably bothers me more than anything else) but the shirt is absolutely awful. Its issue is in its design Derek has gone to the line and then jumped 4 steps past it and as a result has foregone any nods to stylishness (fashion is transitory but style is permanent). The best shirts are those which pander to both. It could have been done with more subtlety (see the bash kit and the merch) and been much better received. However, who knows? We may reclaim it in 4 months time and it be a sense of pride (but i doubt it). Taking the end off the back would improve it immeasurably in one easy step.
We have the best squad we have had in a generation (if a little older than i would have liked) and the season ahead looks exciting. Lets get on it and support Leigh into the future.

White field for the back with squad number and player name in Cherry.

White socks with Cherry turnovers.

At least pay lip service to our trad colours.

Then perhaps a leopard on the front rather than a jaguar!

Oh no, you had to unpeel the Leopard vs Jaguar onion

Surely this is a wind up and great marketing scheme?!

It can’t be true with how amateurish the whole presentation was.

The bad photoshop of the players, the explanation of the owner liking leopards, it being a picture of a jaguar from Google.

Surely not true.

So much buzz and publicity about it the actual rebrand will be class.

Some great and honest opinion expressed on here. I was at the launch - it was very professional. It was also explained that things had been a bit rushed to get the new name to the RFL for the fixture list, ie dont want fixtures saying Centurions coming out with a bottle of tippex, and the brochure only went to print that morning 1.30am, and the squad hadn't had the photo shoot yet.
Over the next few days I hope we play around with Cherry and White on the home shirt and liven up the badge, but everything else made me very proud to be a Leyther and motivated to support the vision of the future.
Can't wait for 2023

Don't think there is anything wrong with the name change. Would have just done a redesign of the centurions brand myself, but no problem with the Leigh Leopards think it will have more traction with younger fans. Think the badge needs a bit of work, be good to have a more fierce Leopard and some mire dynamic typography, think a stronger badge would help drive the brand. Shirt wise think we need options that have the cherry and white, black and white probably good for magic weekend. May be good to swap the Jaguar for a Leopard and would keep the back clean. These are all tweaks that can be made given a bit more time season doesn't start til Feb 2023 so we have some time to take onboard fan feedback. Understand we are not RL fans favourite team that is what comes of being a smaller team that disrupts the status quo at times, Can't see what is so bad about the name, we have tigers, wolves, rhinos, wildcats, bulls why not leopards.

Both Leopards & jaguars are Panthers which we already have. Americans also, wrongly, sometimes use Panthers to mean Cougars (which we also have - and which has a negative association with women of a certain age with certain needs).

Cornwall have been taking it up their Choughs all year.

Thank goodness, bearing in mind our head coach and one of our halves, we didn't go with Leigh Lam(b)s!

All said and done, Bongser would rather be a Leigh Leopard than a Wigan Cheetah! Spelling here is atrocious.

Now that a few days have past I'm more than happy with the re-brand countless digs from wolves , warriors and even a wildcat being a leopard doesn't even sound strange anymore I've even found myself defending the shirt but that's more a case of sticking up for Leigh than actually liking it, the flak and negativity will subside and we,LL be ready to jump on the ride of a great season , even the headlines after the 1st win wil be gold- ie leopards show their teeth leapards give a mauling ( maybe not that one )etc I'm sure the writers know what their doing ! Either way I for one am counting the days down already.

If we lose, a leopard can't change it's spots.

And the good news keeps on coming.
Leigh Leopards have announced a merger with the Leigh Rangers Ladies team, with the new team retaining all the staff and players currently in the Rangers setup in their current roles. They will also take up the Rangers position in SL 2 for next season.
This is a another huge positive, and another box ticked in the IMG re-imaging of rugby league.
(I have also read in an unofficial comment, that the new member/season ticket packages may include entry to the games.)

Vanners, you live a few more streets away from LSV than Bongser does. How is it you hear everything sooner?

Keep Elvis!