A pair of limited edition football boots, made to commemorate Steven Gerrard’s time at Liverpool, have been sold at auction for £40,200.
The eBay bidding war for the signed boots, which are one of just 17 pairs ever made, ended last night with the proceeds going to charity. There were a total of 185 bids.
The boots were supplied by The Anfield Wrap (TAW), a local football podcast and website, to Liverpool-based music event Sound City. TAW said that Adidas sent the boots as a gift after Gerrard’s last match in May and they were certain that they “wanted to somehow do something different with them”.
A TAW spokesperson told JMU Journalism: “We had a call from Sound City asking could The Anfield Wrap help support their ‘Love from Liverpool’ refugees benefit gig and we thought it was a good way use the boots, so we offered them up.
“We contacted a mutual friend of Steven to see if he would sign them, which would massively add to their value. He was aware of the reason why he was signing them.”
The boots were originally to be offered up as a prize but Sound City quickly decided to put them up for auction as they would raise more money.
They are red and white, with YNWA –‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ – written across the heel. An inside message reads: “You leave a legend, you’ll return a hero. The City of Liverpool is always with you. You’ll never walk alone.”
The boots also have Gerrard’s shirt number 8 alongside the names of his children, Lourdes, Lexie and Lilly, embodied on them.
The Sound City refugee’s benefit gig, which was held on September 19th was in aid of the British Red Cross Refugee Appeal. The event was held at the Echo Arena and raised over £30,000 with the help of comedian John Bishop.