Watching superstars such as David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo growing up, Ben Andrews often found himself gravitating to what was on their feet rather than the football.
Over a decade later, it was that love of football boots which motivated him to get back onto the pitch after two ACL reconstructions.
Andrews turned his passion into an Instagram account to share his passion and, earlier this year, became a fully-fledged business as he founded the first-ever dedicated football boot marketplace, The Boot Bible.
“I’m Ben Andrews, otherwise known as ‘Mr Boot Bible’,” he jokes.
“I’ve played football all my life - five-a-side, 11-a-side, mucking about with my friends, and I think growing up in the late 90s, early 2000s, we had some football boot royalty.
“You look at the likes of Brazilian Ronaldo and his Vapors, Zidane and Beckham with the Adidas predators, Rooney and Ronaldinho with the Total 90s and Tiempos.
“I all of a sudden had a passion for football boots and found myself gravitating towards the boots rather than watching the games at times.
“In 2017 I set up the Boot Bible Instagram account, and it was just going to be a football boot media outlet initially, bringing content on new boots, old classics and getting a feel of all things football boots.
“I then got fit and started playing football again after two ACL reconstructions, and my collection grew to more than 50 pairs of football boots at that stage.
“I used it as motivation really for my mental health to keep the page running and keep growing the followers, but also using my own collection to get back playing football.
“I thought, ‘actually, I can get fit, wear a different pair of boots every game’. Last year I got fit, in and out of the team and thought it was time to hang up the boots and step away from playing.
“I sold a few pairs of boots on eBay, was buzzing the first few weeks, then all of a sudden got hit with the fever.
“I thought, ‘actually, there’s a place now for a dedicated football boot marketplace’.”
After having something of a lightbulb moment, Andrews launched his marketplace in February this year.
The site has already sold hundreds of boots to customers in over 20 countries and continues to grow at a rapid rate.
By appealing to a close-knit community of boot lovers and football fanatics, it offers a more specialist and niche service than other marketplace options.
“It’s been amazing, to be honest,” he explains. "It’s bringing sellers to buyers to sell their boots, being the go-to place for retro, match worn or some of the rare limited edition boots.
“It’s grown from there, really. There’s been no really backing or financial investment to it, just the passion for it that exists.
“There have been a few people try it before and never got it off the ground, so that kind of motivated me to become the first dedicated football boot marketplace.
“The feedback has been great - we’ve had all sort of boots from entry level, quite low-budget boots up to some really expensive, match-worn, limited edition boots.
“It’s been brilliant and I can only see it growing as we expand across the board to accessories, training gear and stuff like that.
“We’re using that Instagram following to really drive traffic to the website and introduce buyers and sellers.
“It’s specialist, it’s that go-to for football boots. Having a dedicated market place that’s all things football and especially boots, it caters for everyone - either selling or buying.
“It gives the platform to showcase the product to the specialist audience, and also driving it through our social media which is more than just a marketplace.
“You can set your own price, list your own boots, have flexibility as a seller and that’s what we want to appeal to the masses.”
The boom in retro football shirts reached a new level during Euro 2020.
It is now time for retro boots to make their major comeback - with several models in-demand as players look for a slice of nostalgia when stepping on the pitch.
“Adidas Predator Mania’s from 2002, the Accelerators, quite a few Total 90s people love,” Andrews explains.
“I think it’s that nostalgia feeling that people love. It’s the idea of, ‘I played in those Total 90s. I loved playing in them when I was 10 or 15, and I’d love them again now I’m in my 30s’.
“It appeals to kids who want to sell their boots, and also the older generation who can afford to buy back the boots they used to play in back in the day.”
