“The Impact will never die. Never, never, never. »
Posted at 12:09 p.m.
This is the promise made by Gabriel Gervais the day after the announcement of the CF Montreal logo change. And this, even if the current name “is here to stay”.
The president of the club appeared on Thursday in front of the media on the occasion of the opening of the community gardens of the organization Projet Harmonie, located in the Mercier-Ouest district. After working on deconstructing a wooden pallet to reuse the materials, he explained to reporters the decisions behind the announcement of CFM’s new branding change.
“I lived my best years with the Impact,” said Gervais, as wheelbarrows and hammer blows went behind him. I want it to stand out more, with the elders, with our history. We have work to do. »
The new logo will see the light of day “before the end of June”, and will be used from the 2023 season. Not before, “to avoid creating confusion”.
“Any unveiling must be done in concert with the league, with the equipment supplier Adidas. We are in talks with them. As soon as we get the green light, we’re going to reveal it. »
But the logo is already ready. “It’s in the hands of MLS,” explained Gervais, who wore a CF Montreal jersey.
“I was at the meetings in Dallas a few weeks ago,” he adds. Even the commissioner was there. We had meetings about that. Their point of view is that we know our market best, what we need. »
We already knew that the work in this direction had been started even before his appointment. The new president mentions that “meetings” have been held between Joey Saputo and fan groups, as well as with “our key corporate partners”.
Were these partners calling on the club to back down?
“There was no ultimatum, as they say, from our corporate partners,” he says. They want to work with us. They trust the club and the management. »
“We are constantly listening. There are things that kept coming back to the existing logo. We had to come back with an image with more history, with our past. I am completely in line with that. »
He is asked if the name Impact will appear on the branding. If the fleur-de-lis will be represented there in a more important way.
The name CF Montreal is there for good, insists Gabriel Gervais. ” To be continued. All I can tell you is that we are bringing back several elements of our history. »
It is this notion of the club’s history that pushed the former Impact defender to return to the team’s environment.
“I really saw signs that we wanted to come back with our story. Yesterday’s announcement goes in that direction. »
Still in the theme of the story: it was the Pigeon agency that worked on this new brand image. The same one who had designed that of 2001-2002, “the logo that [Gervais a] proudly worn” on the jerseys. It is also this same team that worked on the 2012 logo, when the Impact entered MLS.
“We went back to basics,” says Gabriel Gervais.
And the Ultras?
We learned this week at the microphone of Olivier Brett at 91.9 that the 1642 MTL group had met the new president of CF Montreal. Did he do the same with the Ultras, who still totally oppose the rebranding of the team ?
“Yes, I spoke to all the supporters, confirms Gabriel Gervais. I hope I can work with them to bring all of our fans back, because our players just want that. […] I work very hard on this. It’s going to take some reconciliation on both sides. But I feel good energy and openness. »
An opening. Here is the keyword.
“They were happy,” he adds. Especially since we’re going back to base, if we want. To our story. »
“We will work to bring the Impact back in different ways,” adds Gervais, again mentioning this idea of bringing all the groups of supporters back to the same section. And to baptize it “the Montreal Impact section”.
And hey, one last one. What about sports director Olivier Renard’s contract, which expires at the end of the year?
“Me, I said it on day 1: we want Olivier to stay with us for the long term. All I can tell you is that we are working on it. We want him to stay. Discussions continue. »
“On the mental side, on the stability side, of course we would like to do it as quickly as possible. »