Striker Tony Cottee will be fondly remembered by West Ham and Everton supporters for the 6 years of service he put in at each club, but the pacey striker played for no less than 6 other clubs before retiring in 2001.
But did you know that Cottee also had a football boots collection as diverse as his range of clubs?
We caught up with the former England international ahead of this weekend’s Carling Cup final to see chat about football boots old and new, and this weekend’s Carling Cup final!
You’ve lead a long and distinguished career and worn football boots from brands like adidas and Arrow – which were your favourite ever pair football boots and why?
From what I can remember, I wore Adidas, Puma, Hi-Tec and Arrow.
My 2 favourite pairs were the adidas L2000 and, of course, the Puma Kings. Both pairs were just so comfortable and I loved the soft leather.
Did you put any importance on the wearing the right football boots?' 
I mentioned in the last answer about the comfort factor and that was the key element for me in choosing which ones I˘€žËd wear. If my feet were happy, then I was in the right state of mind to perform to my best.
Preferentially Kangaroo leather if I was being picky which I suppose is a trait all pro˘ possess, just some a little more than others!!!
Do you keep up with modern football boots technology? If so what do you think of the lightweight, brightly coloured footwear today’s players wear?
I dont really keep up with the technology of today’s boots but obviously with the pundit job I do, I notice and observe the different colour boots that are worn.
In my day it was rare to see coloured boots and always prompted the “You need to be a good player to wear them” comment!! That obviously doesn`t apply nowadays!
If you had to compare yourself to a current pro footballer, who would it be?
I always think that it is for others to compare you with modern players but if I had to do it, I would love to think that I would be compared with Michael Owen or Jermaine Defoe?
The domestic Cups has been undervalued in recent years with many teams fielding ‘weakened’ sides – but this season the Carling Cup seems much different, why do you think the Carling Cup is now so keenly fought?
I think when you see teams like Arsenal take the competition a lot more seriously it sends a strong message out to other teams. You˘€žËre obviously going to get the odd club who just can˘€žËt afford to pick their strongest eleven due thread bare squads.
The league will always take precedence but I think managers are starting to realise that players measure the success of their careers through the medals they have won. Similarly the way that fans do for their club; winning the Carling Cup will both bring jubilation to the fans and alleviate pressure on the managers.
The Carling Cup is the first piece of silverware to win of the season – as a professional can you ‘put a price on’ the confidence boost that comes with getting a trophy?
For teams like Birmingham it can be used as a spring board for their league campaign. Since the semi final victory over West Ham they have pushed on with results against Man City, Coventry and proved to be a real thorn in the side of West Ham by beating them at Upton Park.
You can therefore see the confidence boost it has given the players by just getting to the final, if they were to take home the trophy I˘€žËm sure they will scale the table even further.
We’ve got to ask – did anyone else own a pair of Arrow football boots like Tony?
If you did, leave us a comment below and tell us what they were like!
I used to gave a pair of ‘Arrow’ astro turf boots.
From what I can remember, they were very comfortable & reasonably priced, especially as the main branded models at that price range had man made uppers; horrible!
Interestingly, I also had a pair of Adidas 2000 and a couple of pairs of the Puma ‘SPA’ Kings (these had a heel long before the likes of ASICS et al had thought of this concept).
Infact I still have them and can even relate that the standard Puma ‘King’ boots of that vintage were called ‘Royal’ and not King. There is of course historical precedent for Puma calling them ‘Royal’, certainly for the UK market, but more of this at a later date, perhaps.
i had a pair of puma spa king and royal they wer great boots, puma shud bring the spa king back, can you remem the puma menotti, hard ground, came ouy in 1979, never had any arrow boots tho’
Adidas L2000s were my first ever pair of proper boots, though the dumbed-down high street version had anything but soft k-leather from what I remember.
I always associate arrow with Rod Wallace and David Platt.
Anyone remember Brooks and Ligne 7 boots? Along with arrow and Quaser they were the 1980s/early 90s to me; can’t find any images of them now though.
bring back the puma spa king!!!!!, the puma ‘royal’ was also a good boot,
Puma also had a boot in the mid to late 70’s based on the King/Royal which had small rubber suction pads around the toe and forefoot area. These were distinguished by the classic top portion of the tongue coloured dark red/burgundy instead of the classic white colour. So Adidas weren’t the first manufacturer to market with rubber additions to the upper for helping with control and grip of the ball.
Unfortunately I never knew what they were called. I think Mick Channon of Southampton & England may have worn such boots.
For those who want to see what they may have looked like, Google “Puma Sienna Training shoe”. I suspect the original boots were their inspiration. Enjoy!