The Greatest Ever Sportsman
Matthews, Sir Stanley (1915-2000 ), English football player, who played professionally until the age of 50. He was born in Hanley, Stoke on
"..Greatest ever Sportsman... but an even greater man..." ..hmmm.. does that sentence make any sense to you? I don't know whether it does or it doesn't but on the morning after Stan died that was the sentence that I wrote across my scarf whilst traveling on the number 66 Bus from Brownlees to Hanley town Center to the place where I, and hundreds of others felt they had to be at such a sad, confusing and emotional time..."
"..Sitting on the bus, scarf clamped tightly in my hand time just appeared to stand still that morning, many thoughts went through my head during my bus trip, but probably my main thought was what led me to write the message on the scarf came from a memory I had of meeting Sir Stan in person..."
"At only 19 years of age I obviously would of never seen Stan play nor was I ever there to witness "The Matthews Final" nor to see him run down the right wing in a Stoke City Shirt at the Victoria Ground.. The only memories I had of "Stan the footballer" all came from legend, from newspaper articles, from my Grandfather's stories and from old, fuzzy black and white TV pictures.. One thing what I would of loved to have done was actually see a live match Stan played in, to be there in the flesh and throughout that 90 minutes to only watch Stan play on the wing, his movement, his touch, his skill and pace for a whole 90 minutes!!.. For me this would be the only way I could ever of really witness how great and inspiring he would of been to watch, but unfortunately this is now just an impossible dream. If anybody reading this ever actually saw him play then as far as I am concerned you are very lucky and very blessed to of seen a great wizard like Stanley at work.."
"..Anyway, as I said, my memory of Stan could not of come from his footballing magic.. no... My memory of Stan came from meeting the great man himself at the Jubilee Hall in 1994 I think it was. Basically the event was a chance to meet our then new chief executive, Jez Moxey (spit!).. and Stan had also turned up for the occasion as one of the guests on Stage... And so, as the organizers of this "Meet the Chief executive" event were waiting to start the evening they suddenly found themselves with a problem.. This problem being that they were waiting for Sir Stan to come on and take his place on the stage, but Stan was not interested , he was far more concerned in signing autographs for fans, both young and old in the audience, but not only was he just dishing out his signature to people, he was also taking time out to talk to them all individually, and I don't just mean a simple "Hello and goodbye", for each autograph he gave he also honored everyone of his fans with a deep, meaningful conversation.... Shaking Stan's hand and talking to him that evening was one of the highlights of my life that I shall always remember.. Stan had two gifts in life it seemed, one was with a football at his feet and the other one was with people in his presence. As I was lining up in the queue to meet him I was naturally nervous, to me Stanley Matthews was and still is the most well known celebrated person that I could ever possibly imagine, but as soon as he reached for my hands and spoke his words to me he instantly relaxed me.. The best way I can describe it is that Stanley Matthews was to me, and the hundreds of other people in the Jubilee hall that night like a "third" Granfather, Uncle or long lost friend, who made you feel like you'd known him all of your life and could talk to about anything and everything.. "
"..And so, we jump forward in time now from 1994 to the year 2000, February to be exact, and I am still on the 66 Bus, scarf in my hands, and slowly the bus is descending on 
You could feel it, the significance and the emotion around the perimeter of the statue that day was overwhelming. Approaching the statue was like stepping into a bubble of feelings, but being there by the statue on that day felt special, unique and significant.. It is beyond me to put it in to words as it was a type of awe that can not possibly described.. You just had to be there next to Stan and amongst the crowd... It was inspiring.."
"..Stan's statue was totally surrounded... Men, women, boys and girls of all ages, from an angle I bet it seemed a very poignant image, almost as if Stan was on a football pitch and he was being tightly man marked by hundreds of people around him, but there he stood on the platform of his Statue, head and shoulders above us all...yet in another way it looked like he was on the crowds shoulders, being held high in the sky, being lifted like a king. Eventually after much emotion I place my scarf down, and slowly began to read some of the other labels, mementos and cards from fellow well wishers..
Outside the emotional bubble of the statue life went on around Hanley as normal. People shopping and walking in and out of Woolworth's behind us, but ultimately the statue was like a magnet and the crowd continued to grow as more people from all walks of life, some in Stoke , some in Vale , others in Liverpool and Spurs shirts all turned up..All sorts of colours could be seen within the crowd, even a Berwick Rangers scarf was placed down at Stan's feet.
The time I think was around 11am in the morning, but around the statue time just appeared to be standing still, I can't really remember it at all but I was still standing around the statue by the time the afternoon came and the crowds began to die down.. Throughout this time I spent it hovering about the perimeter of the Statue, still inside the "bubble of emotion"
Looking back I think the reason I spent so long there was not only to pay my respects and read the cards, but also to bask in the unique atmosphere that surrounded me... Every so often I would eavesdrop on people telling other people who they had never met before until this day stories about Stan, it seemed everyone had a story to tell, some bought tears to eyes, others made people laugh out loud, but these stories were bouncing around the old statue like electricity, and you couldn't help but stand there amongst the crowd, and try to listen to every single one of them..."
"..On the day of the Stan's funeral everyone went their own special places where they thought was best to remember him from.. hundreds gathered at the church, others went to his Statue in Hanley, thousands of people gathered at the site of the old Victoria Ground whilst the whole population of Stoke on
"As it happens I went up to the Britannia Stadium for the funeral. Several thousand of us packed in to the West stand on this day to witness Sir Stan's final run down the right wing as the Funeral procession was sqeduled to begin with the coffin of Sir Stan being drove into the new stadium, down the ash path by the side of the pitch in front of us and finally out through the other side of the ground... "
"..As the coffin entered the stadium there was a hushed silence as all inside the West Stand rose to their feet in a mark of respect, there was not a sound as the service floated past us... but then from out of the crowd came a voice, then another, followed by another "There's only one Stan Matthews, one Stanley Matthews!.." the stadium erupted in spontaneous applause that kept on growing, louder and louder as we all said goodbye to Stan for the final time. Then as the coffin disappeared out the other end of the stadium we saw his famous number 7 shirt made up out of flowers on the tail end of his coffin.. and then, just like that the Wizard was gone.."
"..With Sir Stan laid to rest I now take you to Saturday 26th February 2000 and the JJB Stadium in
"..Okay, back to the game.. Wigan took the lead after half an hour or so, a Scott Green shot cannoned in off the upright and in to the back of the net in front of the huge Stoke away following, but Stoke went on to equalize just before half time when James O Connor's left wing cross was headed past Wigan keeper Roy Carroll by Graham Kavanagh.. The second half was tight and a draw seemed a likely result, as the team battled hard, pheraps with some of the spirit of Sir Stan inside of them, but neither team looked like conceeding a goal...
A few minutes after the goal celebrations had died down and with Stoke comfortably playing keep ball on the pitch several thousand Stoke fans inside of the JJB Stadium broke out in what was a deafening rendition of "..We Love you City! We do!"... then out of the blue this chant slowly but surely morphed perfectly in to a rousing chorus of "We love you
by Gareth Cooper (7/7/2000)
SIR STANLEY MATTHEWS
1915 - 2000
R.I.P