What are your sources for the above statements? Design 2 was said to be the most popular at the public viewing and everybody I spoke to down there voted for it as their preferred choice.
Incidentally design 1 is way OTT.
An interesting Scotland on Sunday Q&A with Neil Doncaster and Ian Blair about whether the SPL are soft on sectarianism:
http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/sport/football/soft_on_sectarianism_not_us_say_spl_1_1975952
They sound like a couple of half wits to me and disagree with UEFA going after Celtic.