Top facts about Stanley Matthews, the Stoke superman

Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE was an English footballer who played as an outside right. He was born on February 1, 1915, and died on February 23, 2000.

He is the only player to be knighted while still playing football, as well as the first recipient of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards.

He is widely recognized as one of the finest players in the British game. "The Wizard of the Dribble" and "The Magician" were two of Matthews' nicknames.

He played for Stoke City for 19 years, from 1932 to 1947, and then again from 1961 until 1965. In 1932–33 and 1962–63, he helped Stoke City win the Second Division Championship.

Between his two periods at Stoke, he spent 14 years with Blackpool, where, after losing in the FA Cup finals of 1948 and 1951, he helped

win the cup in the "Matthews Final" of 1953 with a commanding personal performance.

In 1956, he was declared the first recipient of the Ballon d'Or, an annual award presented to the finest European player. He gained 54 caps for England between 1934 and 1957, including appearances in the FIFA World Cup in 1950 and 1954, as well as nine British Home Championship wins.

He toured across the world, teaching passionate amateurs, after a failed term as

's general manager from 1965 to 1968. His most memorable coaching experience was in 1975 in South Africa, where he built an all-black squad known as "Stan's Men" in Soweto, despite the severe apartheid rules of the period.

A well-organized article of top facts about Stanley Matthews, the Stoke superman

Matthews stayed in shape until he was 50 years old, allowing him to play at the highest level. Matthews was also the oldest player to ever play in England's premier division (50 years and 5 days) and the oldest player to ever represent the country (50 years and 5 days) (42 years and 104 days).

In 2002, he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame for the first time, in recognition of his contributions to the English game.

Now let’s take a step back into his most fundamental information in the next part of

top facts about Stanley Matthews

.

Stanley Matthews information

Here's a rundown of his most fundamental facts to get you in the right frame of mind to digest the rest of the knowledge we've prepared for you in the next few sections of our

top facts about Stanley Matthews

article.

• Personal information

• Full name:

  Sir Stanley Matthews

• Date of birth:

  1 February 1915

• Aged:

  85 years

• Star Sign:

  Aquarius

• Star sign features:

  Progressive, independent, intelligent

• Nationality:

  English

• Place of birth:

  Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England

• Marital status:

  Married

• Religion:

  Christianity

Football information

• Position:

  Right Winger

• Total appearances:

  857

• Club appearances:

  803

• National appearances:

  54 caps

• Total goals:

  84 goals

• Foot:

  Right

Physical stats and appearance

• Height:

  1,75 m

• Weight:

  71 kg

• Skin color:

  White

• Facial hair:

  Clean

Now that you have obtained enough knowledge to make it much simpler for you to understand the future bits of top facts about Stanley Matthews, we should move on to his Transfermarkt specifics.

Stanley Matthews Transfermarkt

Like most of the old football players, Sir Stanley Matthews lacks a market value graph, which limits us to analyze only his statistics and transfer history in this part of

top facts about Stanley Matthews

. Now, as soon as you open his profile page on

you will notice his trophies by his picture.

What he has in common with most of the football legends is that he lifted the player of the year trophy twice. Additionally, he became the winner of Ballon d’Or once in 1956 and the English FA cup in 1953. Due to the lack of recorded transfer fees, his total transfer fee is inaccurately marked at 14 thousand euros.

Stanley Matthews childhood

Top facts about Stanley Matthews needs to cover all the essential parts of this gentleman’s life thus we would start from his childhood. was born in a terraced home on Seymour Street in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on February 1, 1915.

He was the third of four boys born to Jack Matthews, the "Fighting Barber of Hanley," a local fighter. Jack Matthews accompanied Stanley, then six years old, to the Victoria Ground, home of local team Stoke City, for an open race for boys under the age of 14, with a staggered start according to age, in the summer of 1921.

His father gambled that his son would win, and he did. Matthews went to Wellington Road School in Hanley and afterward characterized himself as "a model child" in many ways.

He also said that the kickabout games the kids played helped him improve his dribbling and that they prepared the kids for adulthood by providing them "a focus, a purpose, discipline, and in many ways an escape."

He also spent "countless hours" at home practicing dribbling over kitchen chairs in his garden.

Matthews grew up supporting Stoke City's local rivals Port Vale, despite later being inextricably linked with the club. Stanley's father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become a boxer, but at the age of 13, he decided he wanted to play football instead.

After a grueling training session that made Matthews vomit, Matthews' mother, Elizabeth, stayed firm and convinced Jack that his son, who still had one year of school left, should pursue his passion for football.

Matthews' father agreed that if he was selected for England Schoolboys, he may continue his football career; about this time, his school football coach chose Matthews as an outside-right instead of his chosen position of centre-back.

In 1929, Matthews played for England Schoolboys versus

in front of a crowd of 20,000 at Dean Court in Bournemouth.

Stanley Matthews club career

On his 15th birthday, Stoke City manager Tom Mather convinced Matthews' father to let Stanley join his club's employees as an office boy for £1 a week. During the 1930–31 season, Matthews was a member of Stoke's reserve squad, making his debut against Burnley.

For the World war part of the top facts about Stanley Matthews, Matthews' professional career was cut short between the ages of 24 and 30 due to the war.

Instead, he enlisted in the Royal Air Force and was stationed near Blackpool with Ivor Powell as his NCO. He appeared in 69 League and Cup games for Stoke during the war, as well as 87 guest appearances for Blackpool.

Matthews played 23 league games and was a big contributor to 30 of the club's 41 league goals during the 1946–47 season, when the regular Football League resumed.

At the age of 32, he moved to

for £11,500 on 10 May 1947, right after a Great Britain vs. Rest of Europe match in Glasgow. Matthews played 44 league and cup games for Blackpool in 1950–51, helping them reach third place.

Matthews' return to his hometown club was cemented with the arrival of former teammate and close friend Jackie Mudie at

, as well as Tony Waddington's eagerness to welcome Matthews back to the Victoria Ground.

Matthews was playing Second Division football for the first time in 28 years at Stoke. Matthews chose to retire after one more season, pushing his playing career into his 50th year, after discovering that minor ailments that would have cost him one day off of action suddenly required more than two weeks of rest to heal from.

Stanley Matthews after football

You might ask yourself what happened to him after he retired? Well in this part of top facts about Stanley Matthews we are going to answer this question comprehensively.

Matthews and his wife Mila returned to Stoke-on-Trent in 1989 after touring the world instructing in Australia, the United States, Canada, and particularly Africa.

He specifically relocated to The Views in Penkhull, a historic property that was Sir Oliver Lodge's birthplace. He went on to become the president of Stoke City and the honorary vice-president of Blackpool.

After getting unwell while on vacation in Tenerife, Matthews died on February 23, 2000, at the age of 85. Mila had died the year before.

It was a recurrence of an ailment he had had previously in 1997. His death was revealed over the radio shortly before the start of a friendly match between England and

. On March 3, 2000, he was cremated after a funeral service in Stoke.

Many of his fellow teammates, including Bobby and Jack Charlton, Gordon Banks, Nat Lofthouse, and

, attended his burial. His ashes were interred underneath the center circle of the Britannia Stadium in Stoke City, which he had formally opened in August 1997.

More than 100,000 people lined the streets of Stoke-on-Trent to pay their respects after his passing. Employees put down their work and youngsters stood silently as the cortège worked its way over the 12-mile route.

Hundreds of football superstars paid tribute to him after his death, and his autobiography's epilogue features many pages of quotes. Pelé described himself as "the guy who taught us how to play football the right way," while Brian Clough remarked, "he was a great gentleman and we shall never see the likes of him again."

Gordon Banks, a legendary English goalkeeper, stated "I don't believe anybody has had a name so synonymous with football in England since I can remember," remarked World Cup-winning German defender Berti Vogts, adding, "It is not just in England that his name is famous." He is considered as a great football genius all around the world ".

Stanley Matthews personal life

Matthews married Betty Vallance, the daughter of Stoke City trainer Jimmy Vallance, in the summer of 1934. Matthews met Vallance on his 15th birthday in 1930, on his first day as an office boy at the Victoria Ground.

Now, as the personal life section of the top facts about Stanley Matthews goes, Jean (born 1 January 1939) and Stanley Jr. (born 20 November 1945), who went on to become a tennis player under the instruction of John Barrett, were the couple's two children.

In 1962, he became the last English player to win the Wimbledon Boys' Championship.

However, he never continued his success in the senior game, instead of settling in Wilton, Connecticut to head the Four Seasons Racquet Club. Jean Gough, whom she met at their tennis club, became her husband. After Jean's son, Matthew Gough, was born in 1965, Matthews became a grandfather.

Samantha and Amanda, her daughters, would be her other children. When Gough and his wife had a son, Cameron, in 1999, Matthews became a great-grandfather. There were six more great-grandchildren for Matthews.

While on a tour of Czechoslovakia with Port Vale in 1967, Matthews met Mila, a 44-year-old translator for the group. Matthews was still married to Betty, but he divorced her because he believed he had discovered the genuine love of his life in Mila.

He and Mila lived in Malta (particularly Marsaxlokk), South Africa, and Toronto for the next few years. Matthews' coaching employment and guest appearances required them to travel considerably.

Matthews "was never the same guy" when Mila died on May 5, 1999, at the age of 76, according to Les Scott (who assisted Matthews in writing his memoirs.

Stanley Matthews legacy

All of the legends live even after their death, and in this case Stanley Matthews’ legacy continues years after his death, let get to the details in this section of top facts about Stanley Matthews.

The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame honored Stanley Matthews in 1995. In 2002, Matthews was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame for the first time, in honor of his achievements.

He was ranked the 11th greatest footballer of the twentieth century by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. In 1999, World Soccer magazine ranked Matthews’ 17th among the "100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century."

When Jimmy Armfield formally launched the Blackpool F.C. Hall of Fame at Bloomfield Road in April 2006, he was inducted.

Blackpool supporters from all over the world voted for their all-time heroes, which was organized by the Blackpool Supporters Association.

The Hall of Fame inducts five players from each decade; Matthews is from the 1950s. His West Stand at Bloomfield Road in Blackpool is named after him. When the Stoke-on-Trent Hall of Fame opened in January 2011, he was also inducted. Matthews is commemorated with a statue outside Stoke City's Britannia Stadium and another in Hanley's town center.

On the former, there is a plaque that reads: "His name is a symbol of the game's beauty, his renown is ageless and global, and his sportsmanship and modesty are generally praised. A fantastic player who works for and with the people."

The National Football Museum houses the Stanley Matthews Collection. Matthews' boots from the 1953 FA Cup Final were auctioned off in February 2010 at Bonhams in Chester for £38,400 to an unidentified bidder.

Because of their adoration for Matthews, Sierra Leonean football team Mighty Blackpool F.C., headquartered in the capital city of Freetown, changed their name from Socro United in 1954. Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy is a secondary school named after him near Blurton, Staffordshire.

Matthews, a documentary film on Matthews' life, was released in 2017 with Executive Producer Stanley Jr.

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