These boots in the Club’s collection are nearly 100 years old. We believe they were worn by Adam Black, a full-back who made a total of 557 appearances for Leicester City between 1920 and 1935.
They bear little resemblance to modern day boots. They were heavy, each weighing the equivalent of a kilogram bag of sugar.
The boots had strong uppers made of flexible leather to give free play to the player’s foot. These uppers were double thickness in the ankle area in order to protect players from the very hard toe-caps prevalent at the time.
These toe-caps were made of solid leather. They were very hard, described in adverts at the time as ‘unbreakable’. The cork studs were nailed to the sole of the boots. They were fixed at the best points to prevent slipping.
The strap gave ‘necessary grip across the joints’ and the specially designed heel area prevented the player’s heel from riding up inside the boot.
Boots like these were sold by Freeman Hardy & Willis, a major national chain of shoe retailers with over 500 branches in the United Kingdom. In the 1920s, their shops in Leicester were situated in Cheapside, Granby Street and High Street.
Adverts from the 1920s, some of which we have in the Club’s archive, indicate that boots like these were priced at 15/9d for men and 14/9d for youths. In today’s values, they would cost approximately £65 and £48 respectively. Quite often, a seven-and-a-half per cent discount was offered for orders of 11 pairs or more.
