Soccer Cleats and Players: QPR’s Rowan Vine

Hearing what professional players think about the cleats that they are wearing is always interesting! Professional players need to be confident in what they wear. It is funny, but there is a lot of positive psychology behind feeling “right” in the cleats you are sporting. One player that recently shared his thoughts on the professional game, and the cleats he wears, was Rowan Vine, who plays in the English Championship for promotion hopefuls QPR (or Queens Park Rangers).

Q. What soccer cleats do you currently wear?
A. I am wearing the Nike Tiempo Legend III at the moment.

Q. What’s the story behind you choosing the Nike Tiempo Legend III?
A. I’ve actually not long come back to them. Wearing the Nike Tiempo Legend III coincided with my best ever run of form, and maybe mistakenly I switched to Lotto Zhero Evolution boots instead. I think as a footballer it’s good to try new things, but ultimately you’re dealing with very fine margins of success and failure, so I’d always recommend that if you find the boot that you believe is the right one for you, why not stick with it?

Q. Why did you change to and from the Lotto Zhero Evolution boots?
A. When they first came out I just thought they were really comfortable. I also had a go in the lighter Nike Mercurial Vapors for a bit. As footballers there is often a lot of influence over club sponsorship deals, and obviously with the likes of Flavio Briatore at Rangers there is a strong Italian voice. That’s where the Lotto link came from and, to be fair to the boots, they ticked all the right boxes when I tried them on. However, I felt like a change a couple of week backs, so I went back to the Nike Tiempo Legend III.

Q. There are a range of different colours and styles available in soccer cleats now, but are there any horror shows in the QPR dressing room when it comes to footwear?
A. That’s a tough one really because they all stand out these days. The black boots are pretty rare, it seems, with white, blue, yellow and even pink available now. So, it’s a pretty colourful mix and there isn’t really one in particular that I can pick out as a bad egg.

Q. You came through the ranks at Portsmouth; were you a boot- boy there, and if so, whose boots did you clean?
A. Yes I was a boot boy at Portsmouth and I was quite fortunate in that while I was a YTS because I was looking after another young pro, Luke Nightingale’s, boots. He didn’t complain too much because he knew how hard the job could be when you got a player who liked to make a fuss. However, I did Russell Hoult’s boots and he wasn’t very nice some times when he couldn’t kick the ball straight in them, so I got a bit of grief off him occasionally. To this day he’ll still say it was my fault but I think we both know different!

Thanks to our friends over at Ransacker for sharing this article with us! The interview was conducted by Chris Galea.