THE legendary boots that fired Newcastle United to three FA Cup final victories are to go under the hammer.

Geordie hero Jackie Milburn wore the same battered pair throughout most of his career as a striker for Newcastle and England.

The former coal miner hung up his boots in 1957 and thought no more of his famous footwear until 1965, when an 11-year-old boy wrote and asked him for them and he agreed.

Two years later, Milburn was awarded a long-overdue testimonial match at St James' Park. Not wishing to break the routine of a footballing lifetime, he contacted the schoolboy and asked if he could borrow his old boots back for one last game.

The lad obliged and watched his hero in action for the first time from the stands.

After the game, Milburn, good to his word, returned his famous footballing footwear.

More than 35 years on, the anonymous owner, who now lives in Longframlington, near Morpeth, Northumberland, has decided to put them up for auction at Sotheby's in London on September 11.

A pair of Milburn's shorts fetched £2,400 at Sotheby's in February and the boots are expected to fetch up to £15,000.

Born in Ashington, Northumberland, in 1924, Milburn played football only for Newcastle United and remains their top goal scorer, with 199 goals in 395 League and Cup appearances.

During Newcastle's golden age, Jackie Milburn, known as "Wor Jackie", helped fire the club to victory in the FA Cup in 1951, 1952 and again in 1955.

He notched up a goal in every round in 1951 and scored what was then the quickest goal in cup history against Manchester City in the 1955 final.

When he died in 1988, huge crowds lined the streets for his funeral parade all the way from his home in Ashington to St Nicholas' Cathedral, in the centre of Newcastle.

His ashes were scattered over the Gallowgate end of the pitch at St James' Park.

* A documentary on Jackie Milburn will be shown on BBC2 at 7.30pm on Wednesday