Inside the Dressing Room: The Cult Kits Series: The Tony Heywood Manchester United Collection
Shirts on rails as far as you can see. Boots laid out on tables. Boxes stacked with decades of football history waiting to be opened. David Furzer-Jones and Robert Kocur invited David Convery from BUDDS to their Swindon warehouse. As the team behind one of the UK’s most respected names in vintage and classic football, Cult Kits, they were ready to talk him through it all.
In his own words, David felt like a “kid in a sweetshop”, and for the day, one collection held his attention.
Cult Kits acquired Tony Heywood’s collection knowing it deserved more than a retail listing. After almost five decades inside Manchester United, they entrusted it to BUDDS to bring it to auction.
Tony Heywood at Manchester United
Tony Heywood joined Manchester United after school. His first role was as a cleaner - working around the dressing room, helping out wherever he was needed. He stayed for 47 years. By the end, he was assistant to the kit man, and the kit man was the best man at his wedding.
That detail, more than any other, explains this collection.
Heywood was not on the periphery of Manchester United during one of the most dominant periods in English football history. He was inside it - trusted, familiar, and over four decades, genuinely woven into the fabric of the club.
His house was owned by the club and sat on the road to the training ground, which meant players passed it daily. His wife worked at the club too. His children, after school, would sometimes end up playing football in the street with Cristiano Ronaldo or Ryan Giggs. These were not fan encounters. This was just Tuesday.
Ferguson built a culture at United that extended well beyond the players and the coaching staff. The people who kept the place running were part of it - and Heywood, for almost half a century, was one of those people.
Players knew him. They spoke and trusted him. And over time, they gave him things.
How the Collection Came Together
Some items came directly. Some came at the end of seasons, when the kit room would offer up boots or shirts to whoever wanted them, and Heywood - the avid collector that he was - rarely said no.
Some came from shirt swaps: after matches, a player's locker might hold the opposition jersey they had exchanged at the final whistle. When those shirts were no longer wanted, they were passed on.
That is how a collection that is almost entirely Manchester United also contains shirts from Arsenal, Chelsea, Dortmund and Benfica.
Ronaldo, Cantona and Beyond
And then there are the boots.
The gold Nike Vapor II boots in this sale were worn by Cristiano Ronaldo during the 2003–04 season - his first at the club. On the tongue of each boot: R9, a reference to the Brazilian Ronaldo, his hero at the time. The soles had been customised, blades shaved down and metal studs screwed in. Ronaldo wore a size seven or seven and a half despite his actual size being a nine, a deliberate choice to keep the boot tight to his foot and sharpen his feel for the ball.
After a training session, he threw them in the bin.
Heywood waited until the dressing room had cleared, retrieved them, and took them home. A second pair - blue and silver, with CR7 self-embroidered on the tongue, before that name meant what it now means - also made their way into his collection.
The Cantona shirt arrived through an act of friendship. On 1 August 2001, Ryan Giggs held his testimonial at Old Trafford. Celtic won 4-3. Eric Cantona, four years into his retirement from football, played - and wore a red No.7 short-sleeved United shirt, signed across the front.
After the match, Giggs sought Heywood out and gave it to him. A gift between two people who had known each other for a long time. It is, by any reasonable assessment, the last Manchester United shirt Cantona wore in a match at Old Trafford. It is Lot 33 in this sale.
The Bag Under the Bed
Perhaps the most remarkable part of the collection came to light only after Cult Kits' first visit to see Heywood at his home in Carrington. As they were leaving, he mentioned there might be a few more items in the loft. He would have a look.
Weeks passed.
Then he called to say he had found the bag - not in the loft, as it turned out, but under his bed.
Inside was an Andrei Kanchelskis long-sleeved shirt from the 1994 League Cup final in United's famous Newton Heath green and gold. And a David Beckham No.24 shirt, match-prepared for the FA Cup final - the number he wore before he became No.7, in the game United beat Liverpool.
A bin bag. Under a bed. In a house in Carrington.
The Collection Today
Tony Heywood has now retired from Manchester United.
In partnership with BUDDS X Cult Kits, this collection now comes to auction for the first time.Its release marks the close of a long chapter, decades spent inside one of football’s great institutions, and this is what remains.
This is not a curated archive or a calculated investment portfolio, but a deeply personal accumulation. These are the items that came to a man who was trusted, who was there, and who recognised, even then, that some moments and objects were worth holding onto.
Each lot is offered with a certificate of authenticity from Cult Kits, alongside a signed letter of provenance from Heywood himself, anchoring every piece in its unique and unrepeatable story.
The Cult Kits Series: Tony Heywood Collection is offered as part of the Made in Manchester Live Auction on 28 April at 11am. Register at BUDDS.COM to bid.
Who are Cult Kits:
Cult Kits are a UK-based retailer and curator specialising in authentic vintage and classic football shirts from around the world. Founded by passionate collectors, they’ve built a strong reputation among fans for sourcing rare, nostalgic kits that celebrate the culture, history, and identity of the game. From iconic 90s designs to obscure lower-league gems, Cult Kits blends football heritage with streetwear appeal, creating a space where supporters, collectors, and fashion enthusiasts can connect over the stories woven into every shirt.
