It was the whole reason in my opinion, when Sky Sports, BBC and the Liverpool Echo remove elements to fit into their designs, you know your logo isn't working. The article on the BBC website about the change of crest, didn't even show the 'original' crest correctly, they removed the word 'Everton'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-22679092
When I have added to crest to video games (Football Manager/PES), I'd remove the 'Everton' and '1878' because it wouldn't look like right and the logo would look tiny in comparison to the others.