It takes a village to raise a superstar.
David Beckham, Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo; the procession of names that spent a large part of their careers at Old Trafford during the Sir Alex Ferguson era is a who’s who of modern football. From his arrival in 1986 through to his departure in 2013, Fergie was the figurehead for one of the most consistently dominant teams the game has ever seen.
The players that honed their skills on the pitches at Carrington owe much to Sir Alex, but in truth there were hundreds of people working quietly behind the scenes that helped make Manchester United and their players into the dominant force they became in the 90s and 00s. Ferguson himself was acutely aware of the importance of his backroom staff and the United staff at large, speaking often about the culture he tried to establish as he himself took time to get to know the people at the club:
“I wanted to form a personal link with everybody around the place. Not just the players, the coaches and the backroom staff but the office workers, the cooks and servers in the canteen and the laundry ladies…All had to believe that they were part of the club.”
Earlier this year one staff member who was present throughout the entirety of Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure reached out to us about his collection of kits and boots which he was looking to sell. This is the story of when we met him.
Thanks for everything - Boss
On a slightly cool sunny morning late in May, we drove over to Carrington. The quiet village on the outskirts of Greater Manchester is best known as the home of Manchester United’s training ground the Trafford Training Centre; so much so that most people will simply refer to “Carrington” when talking about the facility.
No more than a mile away from the training ground lives Tony Heywood. Tony has a deep connection with Manchester United which stretches back almost half a century. Curiously though, if you were to google his name there’d be virtually no trace of Tony or what he did at the club.
After Tony reached out to us earlier in the year we did exactly that. This was a man who was supposedly looking to shift tonnes of matchworn shirts and boots worn by all sorts of Manchester United players. It was hard not to get excited about what he had to offer, but we had to approach the situation with a degree of scepticism given the fact that he was off the grid. Almost immediately as Tony answered the door to us though, our fears were relieved.
Walking into the front room of Tony’s home, it was clear that he was exactly who he said it was. A huge collection of shirts and boots sat in the front room, and Tony began to talk us through what was in each box. Sporting an Umbro England tracksuit top, he points us to a photo on a nearby cabinet. And sure enough there he is, hair a little darker, but stood next to the unmistakable Sir Alex Ferguson. Just above Fergie’s arm, which is wrapped around Tony’s shoulder, are some words scribbled in sharpie which read
“Thanks for everything
Boss”
Ping pong for Fergie
With the cameras rolling and Tony sitting on the sofa alongside a selection of his favourite pieces from his extensive collection, we began the interview proper.
He started by talking about his role as a cleaner at Manchester United. It would be no exaggeration to say that Tony, an undercover Liverpool fan, saw it all. Starting at Old Trafford in 1976, he preceded Sir Alex by a decade and would continue working almost a decade after the legendary manager retired. As Tony recalled himself, he witnessed United’s famous 2-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday in 1993 which was pivotal in what would be a league-winning campaign. He was in the background for countless finals and he built relationships with the players and staff who participated in those matches.
Tony was particularly close with Ferguson, and even said “he was like a dad to me”. On one occasion, he and his fellow cleaners went round to SAF’s house to power wash his driveway. Once that task was complete, they set to work putting up a ping pong table for his grandkids to play with. It was all part of the job as Tony described.
When he wasn’t power washing driveways, Tony would be working quietly across Old Trafford and Carrington. And this is where the boots and kits came in.
Though Tony wouldn’t work directly with the Man United players, he would regularly interact with them. Be it in the corridor, the dressing room or at the training ground, the cleaner built up the trust of the legends of the pitch and saw them in a light most would never be able to. As Tony got to know the players and vice versa, there would be opportunities to pick up the odd piece of priceless memorabilia. Cue the pile of goodies next to Tony on the sofa.
"They're Ronaldo's boots, I want them"
Sometimes a kit or pair of boots would be passed to Tony directly by one of the players or the kitman. Other times he had to improvise.
Tony told us of one occasion when a young Cristiano Ronaldo came in from training and threw a pair of his gold Mercurial Vapor’s in one of the bins. Anyone who watched football in the 00s would be able to picture the boots, which had famous runouts at the FA Cup win against Millwall and at Euro 2004. Seeing the discarded, player worn boots, Tony figured “I want them. They’re Ronaldo’s boots, I want them.” and so he waited until the players had all left, and fetched the boots out of the bin mud and all.
As Tony talked us through the matchworn Vapors (it used to be more common for players to keep the same pairs of boots for training and matches, often for several weeks at a time), he shared a fascinating titbit of information which we’d previously never heard before. According to Tony, Ronaldo wears size 7 or 7.5 boots instead of his actual size of a 9 so that the boots would stick closer to his foot, allowing him to control the ball better. As Tony remarked, “That’s done him no wrong in his career”.
Other boots which Tony shared with us included personalised, worn pairs for the likes of Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand and Mikael Silvestre. A number of these were acquired at the end of the season, when the kit room staff would offer up the boots to whoever wanted them. Tony, the avid collector that he was, took every opportunity he could to bolster his stash.
"This is for you"
Alongside the boots was a pile of kits and top of the pile was a shirt from Ryan Giggs’ testimonial match. Of the many players Tony got to know during his time at Old Trafford, Giggs was one of the ones Tony was closest too. And so, on the occasion of his testimonial, the Welsh legend made sure to seek out Tony and deliver him a precious, one-of-one relic; Eric Cantona’s matchworn shirt from the game, signed by the great man himself. Seemingly unphased at just how special the kit in his hands was, Tony recalled the story of Giggs saying
“This is for you, I’ve known you a long time and this is for you.”
Before we could even catch our breath at what we were seeing, the next act was up on stage. It would’ve been easy to think Tony had gone too big, too early, but in reality he was just warming up. Jumping a few seasons later in the timeline, a long sleeve black United away shirt is held up by Tony who exclaims that this was worn by Ronaldo during his early days in England. With a wry smile, Tony detailed how the shirt was worn in an away win for United against his beloved Liverpool. All the matchworn elements are beautifully preserved, from the flocked name and number to the Premier League badges on the sleeves.
As we talk through the kits, Tony gives more context as to how he acquired so many incredible kits. The kitman wasn’t just mates with Tony; he was the best man at Tony’s wedding. With this in mind, it was no surprise that some of the better items made their way into Tony’s hands over the years.
Though many of Tony’s shirts were Manchester United ones, a sizable portion of the haul were shirts swapped with United players. One example which was impossible to miss was a 99/00 Fiorentina shirt. By this point we had to assume it was not just a replica but a matchworn, and indeed it was a long sleeve matchworn shirt from former defender Andrea Tarozzi swapped at the end of a European fixture. The iconic Champions League starball, which decorated the Fiorentina kit and several others which Tony talked through, was a wonderful sight.
Taxi for Tony
With the interview beginning to draw close, there was time for a couple more stories. Speaking more about his relationships with the players, Tony shared of how well he knew Roy Keane. On more than one occasion Keane would give Tony’s wife a lift to work, even shouting “your taxi’s here!” in the direction of the Heywood household. Similarly, Tony told us how Paul Scholes had offered him a lift to training, only for Tony to politely decline on the basis that he would’ve only been in the car for a few seconds given how close he was to Carrington.
It was time to head off. As we loaded the boxes into our car boots, there was time for one more nugget. Though Tony had shared dozens and dozens of kits with us, he mentioned that there were a few more items stashed away. These included some rare pieces arguably even more treasured than what we had seen, as if that were possible. He said he’d be in touch, and so we left with a tantalising teaser.
Round 2 in Carrington
A few months later, we were back in Carrington. After the excitement of the first trip, we got to experience the buzz all over again.
Tony had been back to his old tricks, gathering together more boxes of matchworn kits collected throughout his years as a cleaner. And, true to his word, there were some unbelievable bits of fabric which would be hard to put a price on.
Everyone remembers the green and gold ‘Newton Heath’ kit, and Tony had a particularly special edition of the kit; an Andrei Kanchelskis match prepared shirt from the 1994 League Cup final. Kanchelskis had worn long sleeves in the final, and the shirt that made its way into Tony’s possession was the short sleeved version. Had Kanchelskis wanted to wear short sleeves, he would’ve worn the exact shirt Tony was holding.
The shirt was resplendent in its green and gold colours but as with our first visit there was little time to bask in the glory. A Manchester United home shirt was brought forward next, and once again this was a match prepared shirt for a legend of the game. Before he wore #7, David Beckham was #24, and Tony happened to own Beckham’s #24 shirt prepared for him at the 1996 FA Cup final. This was a shirt prepared for one of the biggest superstars the game has ever seen, lifted from history in what was the culmination of a breakthrough season. And here it was, in a living room in Carrington, about to make its way down the country to the Cult Kits HQ before making a further journey to its next destination somewhere around the world.
Before we left for a second and final time, Tony signed a stack of papers to verify the authenticity of the items. And as he wrote, he exclaimed how he was glad the shirts “were going to a nice place”. This was a man who collected shirts and boots for the love of it at a time when it was easier to do so. The unique position he was in and the bond he had with the players set the stage for an accumulation of some pieces of kit most could only dream of seeing let alone owning, but it was all part of the job. Now it was time to part with them, but this wasn’t quite the final chapter.
As we packed the final box into the cars, Tony teased us yet again. “There’s even more, you know, but I’m keeping some of it”. Given the calibre of what had already passed through our hands, you could only imagine what he’d held onto.
Items from Tony’s collection are available to buy now. There’s everything from the matchworn shirts discussed in this article to replicas and player issue shirts from Tony.
Leave a comment