Stanley Matthews - 'The Wizard of Dribble' - was a superbly gifted right-winger and one of the greatest footballers to grace the world stage.

Blessed with dazzling skills, wonderful ball control, a magnificent body - swerve and speed off the mark (he would easily beat most defenders for pace over 25 - 30 yards), he could centre with pin - point accuracy. His close control was, at times, mesmerising, and he regularly bemused and bewildered the toughest of opponents and the tightest of defences.

He represented England schoolboys in 1929 and four years later won a Second Division Championship medal with the Potters, making his full international debut in 1934 against Wales and celebrating the occasion with a goal in a comprehensive 4 - 0 victory. In 1937 he netted a hat - trick for his country in a 5 - 4 win over Czechoslovakia, and then World War Two broke out he had already appeared in 17 matches for England. During the hostilities, as well as playing in several services matches and in 24 Wartime and five Victory internationals, he won a League North Cup winners' medal with Blackpool in 1943.

Injuries, however, started to interrupt his performances, and as a result he found himself out of favour at Stoke.Despite vigorous protests from the Potters supporters to keep him, he was sadly sold to Blackpool where he renewed his England partnership with Stan Mortensen. The Bloomfield Road club began to attract huge crowds wherever Matthews played, and Blackpool reached two FA Cup Finals in four years, losing them both, in 1948 and 1951. But then in 1953 the Seasiders made it third time lucky as they triumphed 4 - 3 over Bolton Wanderers, courtesy of some of the finest wing play ever seen on a football pitch and a Mortensen hat - trick. With 20 minutes remaining, Blackpool were 3 - 1 down and struggling. Then Matthews laid on the winning goal for Bill Perry right at the end after a brilliant piece of dribbling out on the right wing. Three years later he starred in the Blackpool team that finished runners - up in the First Division to Manchester United's Busby Babes.

In 1957, at the age of 42, the oldest footballer ever to play for England, Matthews won his 54^th and last senior cap - it should have been many more.He scored 11 goals at full international level. Surprisingly, he played in only one game in the 1950 World Cup Finals, two in the 1954 Finals and was left behind in 1958, to the dismay of the public.

In 1961 he returned to relegation - threatened Stoke City and the crowds at The Victoria Ground immediately increased ten - fold, leaping from 8,400 to 36,000. Within a year the Potters had escaped the drop and won the Second Division title. Matthews made his final League appearance in 1965 at the age of 50 and five days, having served the Potters, in two spells, for a total of 19 years.

Soon afterwards he received a Knighthood to add to the CBE, which had been awarded to him in 1957. He was voted the first ever Football Writers' Footballer of the Year in 1948, won it again in 1963 and also received the accolade of 'European Footballer of the Year' in 1956, again the first to be awarded with the honour.

Matthews appeared in almost 800 competitive matches at club level, 701 in the Football League (332 with Stoke and 369 with Blackpool). He scored 80 goals. Besides his record at senior/competitive level for the Potters, he also appeared in 69 World War Two games and netted a further eight goals.

He made his League debut for Stoke on 19^th March 1932 at Bury, but it was a further two years before Matthews established himself in the Potters' first team. His international career spanned almost 23 years, and he is the oldest player ever to win a full England cap, aged 42 years and 103 days, against Denmark in May 1957. The record books show that Matthews played in at least 2,000 football matches during a tremendous career, including 1,127 at a competitive level.

Tony Matthews