Stanley mathews statue @stoke city fc...............

Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the English game, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards. Matthews' nicknames included "The Wizard of the Dribble" and "The Magician".

A near-vegetarian teetotaller, he kept fit enough to play at the top level until he was 50 years old. He was also the oldest player ever to play in England's top football division and the oldest player ever to represent the country. He played his final competitive game in 1985, at the age of 70. Matthews was also an inaugural inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 to honour his contribution to the English game.[4]

He spent nineteen years with Stoke City, playing for the "Potters" from 1932 to 1947, and again from 1961 to 1965. He helped Stoke to the Second Division title in 1932–33 and 1962–63. In between his two spells at Stoke he spent fourteen years with Blackpool; where he became an FA Cup winner in 1953 (known as the Matthews Final), after he was on the losing side in the 1948 and 1951 finals. Between 1937 and 1957 he won 54 caps for England, playing in the FIFA World Cup in 1950 and 1954, and winning nine British Home Championship titles.

Following an unsuccessful stint as Port Vale's general manager between 1965 and 1968, he travelled around the world, coaching enthusiastic amateurs. Most notable of his coaching experiences came when he established an all-black team in Soweto known as "Stan's Men" – this was despite South Africa's harsh apartheid laws at the time.Despite Port Vale being Matthews' favourite team growing up, and despite rumoured interest from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, and West Bromwich Albion; Tom Mather convinced his father to allow Matthews to join the Stoke City staff as an office boy on his fifteenth birthday for pay of £1 a week.[5] He played reserve team football in 1930–31, coming up first against Burnley; after the game his father gave his usual realist assessment: "I've seen you play better and I've seen you play worse".[6]

He played 22 reserve games in 1931–32, shunning the social scene to focus on improving his game.[6] In one of these games, against Manchester City, he attempted to run at the left-back and take him on with a deft swerve as the defender committed himself to a challenge, rather than follow the accepted wisdom of the day which was to first wait for the defender to run at the attacker – his new technique 'worked a treat'.[7] The national press were already predicting a bright future for the teenager, and though he could have then joined any club in the country, he signed as a professional with Stoke on his seventeenth birthday.[8] Paid the maximum wage of £5 a week (£3 in the summer break), he was on the same wage as seasoned professionals before he even kicked a ball. Despite this his father insisted that Matthews save this money, and only spend any winning bonus money he earned.[9] He made his first team debut against Bury at Gigg Lane on 19 March 1932; the "Potters" won the game 1–0 and Matthews learned how physical and dirty opponents could be – and get away with it.[10]

After spending the 1932–33 pre-season training intensely by himself (as opposed to playing golf with his teammates), Mather selected Matthews in fifteen games, enough to earn him in a winners medal after Stoke were crowned Second Division champions, one point ahead of Tottenham Hotspur.[10] On 4 March 1933 he scored his first senior goal in a 3–1 win over local rivals Port Vale at The Old Recreation Ground.[10]

He played 29 First Division games in 1933–34, as Stoke secured their top-flight status with a twelfth place finish.[11] He continued to progress in the 1934–35 campaign, and was selected by The Football League for an Inter-League game with the Irish League at The Oval, which finished 6–1 to the English.[12] His England debut followed, and so did a further game for the Football League against the Scottish League.[13] Stoke finished the season in tenth place.

In 1935–36 Matthews continued to improve, and he added the double body swerve technique to his increasing arsenal of tricks.[14] Largely out of the international picture, he put in 45 games for the "Potters" as Stoke finished fourth under Bob McGrory – the club's best ever finish. He played 42 games in 1936–37, including the club's record 10–3 win over West Brom at the Victoria Ground.[15] At the end of the season he was paid a loyalty bonus of £650, though the Stoke board initially insisted he was only due £500 as he had spent his first two years at the club as an amateur – this attitude left a sour taste in Matthew's mouth.[16]

Stoke slipped down the league in an extremely tight 1937–38 season, and, annoyed by rumours circulating the city of resentment in the dressing room against him for his England success, Matthews requested a transfer in February; his request was denied.[17] His request became public knowledge, and, disturbed by the attention and harassment he was receiving from Stoke supporters urging him to stay, Matthews decided to take a few days off from the club to relax in Blackpool.[18] Finding no peace there either, Stoke chairman Albert Booth told Matthews he would not be allowed to leave the club, and 3,000 City supporters organized a meeting to make their feelings known – they too demanded that he stay.[19] Touched by their strength of feeling and worn out by the attention he was receiving, Matthews agreed to stay.[20] Despite playing regularly for the national side, Matthews put in 38 games for Stoke in 1938–39, helping them to a seventh place finish – there would not be another full season of Football League action until 1946.

The war cost Matthews his professional career from the age of 24 to the age of 30. He instead joined the Royal Air Force, and was based just outside Blackpool, with Ivor Powell his NCO.[21] He rose to the rank of corporal, though he admitted to being one of the most lenient and easy-going NCOs in the forces.[22] He played 69 Wartime League and Cup games for Stoke, and also made 87 guest appearances for Blackpool.[3] In addition to these, he also played a handful of games for Scottish sides Airdrieonians, Morton and Rangers, and also played for Arsenal against FC Dynamo Moscow in extremely thick fog.[23] He also played 29 times for England, though no caps were awarded as these were unofficial games.[3] One of the last games of the period was an FA Cup Quarter-final second-leg tie clash between Stoke and Bolton Wanderers; the match ended in tragedy in what would be known as the Burnden Park disaster – 33 people died and 500 were injured.[24] Matthews sent £30 to the disaster fund and couldn't bring himself to train for several days afterwards.[25]

The Football League continued for the 1946–47 season, and Matthews played 23 league games, being a major contributor to 30 of the club's 41 goals in these games.[26] Stoke matched their record finish of fourth in the league, finishing just two points shy of champions Liverpool after losing to Sheffield United on the final day of the season. However, in February Matthews was returning from a knee injury when manager McGrory told him he was not in the first eleven for the game against Arsenal; the press reported this as a bust-up.[27] Relations between McGrory, the Stoke City board, and Matthews had indeed always been sour – though once again a story that the players sided against Matthews were untrue.[28] Recalled against Brentford, only after the game did he find out that this was only because he was a last-minute replacement for an injured Bert Mitchell.[29] Matthews put in a second transfer request, which the Stoke board eventually accepted.[30] He selected Blackpool as his next club as he still lived in the area following his service in the RAF; the Stoke board sanctioned the move on the condition that the deal was to remain a secret until the end of the season, so as to not disrupt the club's title bid.[30] The secret was revealed in a matter of hours, as an unknown person informed the press.[30]

Blackpool[edit]

On 10 May 1947, immediately after a Great Britain versus Rest of Europe match in Glasgow (Britain won 6–1),[31] he made the move for £11,500, at the age of 32.[32] The match itself raised £30,000 for the four Home Nations Football Associations, and since the eleven British players received £14 each, Matthews questioned where exactly this money ended up – he doubted that much of it ended up as funding for grass-roots football.[33]

"You're 32, do you think you can make it for another couple of years?" – Blackpool manager Joe Smith in 1947.[34]

Smith told Matthews "there are no shackles here ... express yourself ... play your own game and whatever you do on the pitch, do it in the knowledge that you have my full support."[35] He assembled a talented frontline in Matthews, Stan Mortensen, Jimmy McIntosh, and Alex Munro; with an emphasis on entertaining football.[36] The "Seasiders" finished in ninth place and reached the 1948 FA Cup Final. On 23 April 1948, the eve of the final,[31] Matthews won the inaugural Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award. Despite taking the lead twice in the match, Blackpool lost out 4–2 to Matt Busby's Manchester United in the final, with Matthews assisting Mortenson for Blackpool's second.[37]

Injury limited him to only 28 appearances in 1948–49, as Blackpool struggled to a sixteenth place finish. He spent the summer touring theatres in a variety act with his brother Ronnie, though he was troubled by an ankle injury he picked up in a charity game.[38] Blackpool finished seventh in 1949–50, and though they were never title contenders vast crowds still turned out home and away to witness the entertaining football they displayed.[39] At this time he received the maximum wage allowed for a professional player – £12 a week.[40]

In 1950–51 Blackpool stormed to a third-place finish, and Matthews played 44 games in league and cup. His cited his highlights of the season as a 2–0 win at Sunderland, a 4–4 draw at Arsenal, and a 4–2 defeat at Newcastle United.[41] They also reached the 1951 FA Cup Final, where they were favourites to beat opponents Newcastle; however Matthews ended up with a second runners-up medal thanks to a brace from Jackie Milburn.[42]

After picking up an ankle injury in November, he missed most of the 1951–52 campaign, and was forced to instead spent most of his time working at the hotel he and his wife ran.[43] It was during this time that he cut red-meat from his diet to begin his new near-vegetarian diet.[44] At this point new Stoke manager Frank Taylor enquired as to whether he might bring Matthews back to the club; all parties agreed to the idea in principle until Joe Smith put his foot down to ensure he stayed, with an inspirational speech he promised Matthews that an FA Cup winners medal was still possible, telling him that "a lot of people think I'm mad, but even though you're 37, I believe your best football is still to come."[45]

Despite spending some three months of the season out with a muscle injury,[46] the 1952–53 campaign proved Smith's words to be accurate, as a 38 year old Matthews won an FA Cup winners medal in a match which was, despite Mortensen's hat-trick, subsequently dubbed the 'Matthews Final'.[47] Bolton were leading 3–1 with 35 minutes to go, but Matthews had 'the game of his life' in 'the greatest ever FA Cup final' and spurred his team on to a last gasp 4–3 victory.[47] He always credited the team and especially Mortensen for the victory, and never accepted the nickname of the 'Matthews Final'.[47]

He helped the "Tangerines" to record a sixth place finish in 1953–54, though hopes of retaining their FA Cup title were ended with a defeat to Port Vale at Vale Park in the Fifth Round.[48] Matthews missed just eight league games in 1954–55, though journalists were keen to write him off with every occasional off-performance and missed game – "it was all balderdash", he replied.[49] Despite his age, and more pertinently the media's constant references to his age, Arsenal manager Tom Whittaker tried, unsuccessfully, to lure Matthews to Highbury with a lucrative, if somewhat illegal approach.[50]

As Smith began to establish a new side with talents such as Jackie Mudie and Jimmy Armfield, Blackpool posted a second place finish in 1955–56, though they ended up some eleven points behind champions Manchester United. Matthews believed that the performance he gave in a 3–1 win over Arsenal on the opening day of the season was the finest he ever gave.[51] At the end of the campaign Matthews was made the inaugural winner of the European Footballer of the Year award, having narrowly defeated Alfredo Di Stéfano 47 to 44 in the poll.

Remaining a key first team member in 1956–57, injury restricted him to 25 league appearances, though Blackpool claimed a creditable fourth place finish.[52] Matthews scored his eighteenth and final goal for Blackpool in a 4–1 league victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Bloomfield Road on 3 September 1956.[31] Blackpool finished seventh in 1957–58, after which Joe Smith left the club.

Smith's replacement was Ron Suart, who wanted Matthews to stay out wide, and did not value his contribution in the way that Smith had done.[53] Suart limited Matthews to 19 league appearances in 1958–59.[53] Matthews was then used just fifteen times in 1959–60, as Suart signed Arthur Kaye to take his place, and local lad Steve Hill also vied for the outside-right position.[53] He enjoyed more games in 1960–61, playing 27 league games as the club narrowly avoiding relegation by the odd point.

He started the 1961–62 season behind Hill in the pecking order, only getting his place back in time for a 4–0 win over Chelsea after Hill picked up an injury.[54] He made his 440th and final appearance in a Blackpool shirt in a 3–0 defeat at Arsenal on 7 October 1961.[31] It was a fitting final bow as he always enjoyed playing against Arsenal, and he had 'so many wonderful memories' at Highbury.[54] With former teammate and close friend Jackie Mudie at Stoke City, and with Tony Waddington keen to welcome Matthews back to the Victoria Ground, his return to his hometown club was sealed.[55] However Matthews was not impressed when the Blackpool board demanded a £3,500 transfer fee, with one director being so bold as to tell him "You forget. As a player, we made you."[55] Having kept secret from Stoke a niggling knee injury Matthews had been carrying, Blackpool got their £3,500 for the player.[55]

Return to Stoke[edit]

At Stoke, Matthews found himself playing Second Division football for the first time in 28 years. Despite Stoke being strapped for cash, Tony Waddington gave him a two-year contract at £50 a week – this was double the wages he received at Blackpool.[55] The signing was broadcast live on Sportsweek, as Waddington whispered in his ear "Welcome home, Stan. For years this club has been going nowhere. Now we're on our way".[56] Waddington delayed his return debut until 24 October 1961, when Stoke played Huddersfield Town at the Victoria Ground, the attendance was 35,974 – more than treble the previous home game – and Matthews set up one of City's goals in a 3–0 win.[57][58] He went on to score three goals in 21 games in the rest of the 1961–62 campaign.

Waddington signed hardman Eddie Clamp to protect Matthews in the 1962–63 season, and the two would also become close friends off the pitch.[59] Along with veteran teammates Jackie Mudie, Jimmy O'Neill, Eddie Stuart, Don Ratcliffe, Dennis Viollet, and Jimmy McIlroy, Stoke had the oldest team in the Football League.[60] Matthews scored his only goal of the season in the final home game of the campaign, as Luton Town were beaten 2–0, the result ensured Stoke gained promotion to the top-flight.[61] Stoke went up as Second Division champions, and Matthews was voted FWA Footballer of the Year for the second time in his career, fifteen years after he was made the inaugural winner of the award.

After picking up an injury, he missed January onwards of the 1963–64 campaign, and thereby missed the 1964 Football League Cup Final defeat to Leicester City. Discovering that niggling injuries which would have cost him one day out of action now required more than two weeks worth of rest to recover from, Matthews decided to retire after one more season.[62]

He spent the 1964–65 season playing for the reserve side. On 1 January 1965 he became the only footballer to ever be knighted (for services to football) whilst still an active professional player; though he never thought himself worthy of such an honour.[63] His only first team appearance of the season was also the last Football League game of his career; it came on 6 February 1965, just after his 50th birthday, and was necessitated by injuries to both Peter Dobing and Gerry Bridgwood.[63] The opponents that day were Fulham, and Stoke won the game 3–1.[64] Though he felt he had retired too early, and could have carried on playing for another two years, this brought an end to his 35 year professional career.[65]

Stoke City arranged a testimonial match in honour of Matthews; it was much needed as he had spent the vast majority of his career constricted to the tight maximum wage that had been enforced upon the English game.[66] The game was played at the Victoria Ground on 28 April 1965, by which time Matthews had decided to retire as a player,[67] and the pre-match entertainment consisted of another match of two veteran teams featuring many legends of the game. Harry Johnston led out a team consisting of: Bert Trautmann; Tim Ward; George Hardwick; Jimmy Hill; Neil Franklin; Don Revie; Stan Mortensen; Nat Lofthouse; Jimmy Hagan; Tom Finney; and Frank Bowyer (reserve). Walley Barnes led out an opposing team consisting of: Jimmy O'Neill; Jimmy Scoular; Danny Blanchflower; Jimmy Dickinson; Hughie Kelly; Bill McGarry; Jackie Mudie; Jackie Milburn; Jock Dodds; Ken Barnes; and Arthur Rowley (reserve).[68]

In the main game itself, two teams of legends were formed, a Stan's XI (consisting of Football League players) and an International XI. The International side won 6–4, and Matthews was carried shoulder-high from the field at full-time by Puskás and Yashin.[69] The two teams are listed below:[70]

 

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