Adrian Forbes came through the ranks at Norwich City, in a side which boasted the likes of Bryan Gunn, 
Danny Mills and Ade Akinbiyi. Since then he has been terrorising full-backs during spells at Luton, Swansea, Blackpool, Millwall and, more recently, Grimsby Town.
He arguably played his best football at Kenilworth Road, where he helped them clinch promotion to League One in 2001/02. He then moved on to Swansea City, where he not only helped them move up to League One but almost into the Championship. However, he was left out of the squad for the play-off final at the Millennium stadium as the Swans lost out on penalties to Barnsley.
Nevertheless, his successful trend continued as he moved to Blackpool in 2006 and helped the Seasiders clinch promotion to the Championship with 2-0 win over Yeovil at Wembley in the play-off final. He struggled to get regular football in the Championship though and dropped down to League One to sign for Millwall.
This season he enjoyed a successful loan spell at Grimsby Town and helped the Mariners avoid dropping out of the Football League. He is now without a club, after Millwall opted not to extend his current deal and it is expected that Mike Newell will bring him back to Grimsby later this summer.
Ransacker’s Chris Galea spoke to him about which boots have made this prolific Football League star tick over the years.
Q. What boots do you wear?
A. I’m wearing Puma Kings at the moment.
Q. Have you always worn them?
A. Well, honestly, the wife told me that I needed to go back to basics when I was having a bad spell and so I went back to the Puma Kings, which I was playing in whilst at Luton, and things started to work for me again. So, that is why I have gone back to them! It sounds silly, but they were the boots I had when I was playing well and scoring goals at Luton, so I tried them out again at Grimsby and they’ve done the trick again.
Q. How many pairs of boots do you tend to go through in a season?
A. You are probably looking at six pairs during a season, with three pairs of moulded and three pairs of studs. The ones that I wear for training will definitely be worn out quicker because you wear them every day and they don’t tend to last as long.
Q. Coloured boots have
come on leaps and bounds over the last five to 10 years, with a variety of different colours available now. Are you a fan of them or do you prefer the more traditional black boots?
A. It is all about individual preference at the end of the day, but for me as long as the boots are comfortable then I don’t care what colour they are really. I think you find a lot more white and coloured boots on the pitch these days than the more traditional black and white boots, but many players go for boots which match their kit. A lot of players see it as a fashion statement to get their boots matching their kit colour, but I focus on how they feel more than anything.
Q. You started out at Norwich City – were you a boot boy there and if so whose boots did you clean?
A. Yes, I was a boot boy at Carrow Road and I used to clean Ade Akinbiyi and Darren Eadie’s boots, so it could have been a lot worse because they were two really good players in their day.
Other Recommended Reading
- Boot Room Banter: Preston North End’s Jon Parkin
- Boot Room Banter with Cheltenham Town’s Andy Lindegaard
- Boot Room Banter: Barnet’s John O’Flynn
- Boot Room Banter: Pablo Mills of the Millers
- Boot Room Banter with Adebayo Akinfenwa
About the author
James is an experienced football journalist who edits two leading Premier League club mags. He has worked for Sky Sports and is endlessly complaining about shin splints. And Mark Lawrenson. His favourite boot is the Adidas Predator Powerswerve. Although it's rumored that he once owned a pair of Nicks boots!
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