You gotta be good to wear those!

For those of us of a certain age football boots were only ever available in black leather with mainly white detailing. During the summer months you’d find yourself stood staring and coveting the coming seasons boot releases on the wall of your local sports shop. In those days black was the colour that stood out (or rather it didn’t). Sometimes the 3 stripes, swoosh or formstripe may be in a bold orange, yellow or green but that was as adventurous as it got. Very occasionally a brand would take what felt like a bold step at the time by releasing a boot that wasn’t black. I can vividly remember the day in 1986 when our left back pulled out his grey New Balance SC1986‘s – proudly proclaimed as ‘possibly the worlds most expensive boot’ by New Balance – from his bag in the changing room to a stream of what would now be described as ‘banter’.

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But New Balance weren’t alone, adidas decided to offer the Profi, their top of the range boot at that time, to the market in navy blue leather.

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A few years later and coloured boots became more and more prominent both at pro level and at the grass roots. Anyone daring to wear anything but mainly black boots was instantly singled out as a ‘fancy Dan’ and possibly even a marked man and it wasn’t uncommon to hear shouts of “You better be good to wear those!” from the touchline. But these ‘out-there’ boots no longer look quite so extreme compared to what the boot companies are putting out today and its rare to find, at any level, a player wearing black boots.

As a slow, ponderous centre half who kicked people there’s no way I’d ever feel comfortable wearing any of the boots below (unless my sponsors paid me handsomely) so I guess I’ll just stick to my black Copas, Kings and Morelias and, until he starts relentlessly badgering me for something a little brighter, so will my son – as long as the brands keep producing them…

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