A person’s taste in fashion says a lot about them. Footballers wear a uniform for most of their attire making individuality difficult. Fortunately, this isn’t the mid-90s when an athlete’s choice in boots were limited to a pair of black and white Nike's or a pair of black and white Adidas. Today’s boots (or cleats for the Americans) come in a variety of colors that range from black to white to fluorescent orange and neon green, not to mention hot pink.
Anyone that’s followed me on Twitter for at least a day knows that I’m a total boot nerd and much like everyday clothes, I believe that the boots that a player wears can say a lot about who they are on and off the field. Chungy has recently switched into the Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly II’s while Martin Petrov wears the bright orange (Adidas calls the color “warning”) F50 adiZero. Boots that are worn by players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi respectively that emphasize style and trendiness.
Our skipper, Super Kevin Davies on the other hand is a different kind of boot wearer. Davies wears (and has worn) the Adidas adiPure I’s for the last few years. The adiPure is a boot known for its touch and comfort but most importantly, how basic it is. Kev’s boots suggest that he’s a man that knows what he likes and isn’t influenced by what’s hot on the streets.
SKD has stuck with something that he knows will work for him. Much like his playing style, his boots aren’t the flashiest but they put in long hours of support. Davies has not scored in months and has been somewhat invisible on the pitch lately but it’s not like he’s doing nothing. The little flicks and hard tackles have been instrumental to Bolton’s success thus far this year and just like his refusal to change boots, Super Kev has no reason to quit.
On a related side note, being the boot freak that I am, I asked Emma Davies (Kevin's wife) a question on Twitter about his boots. Since they are a shoe that hasn’t been produced in years, I wondered what would happen if he ripped out of his pair. She said that Matty Taylor had bought him 10 pairs of black and white adiPure I’s on a trip to the States. Looks like he’ll be sticking with them for a while!