On this day, 17 years ago, the great Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000), legendary player for Stoke City FC and Blackpool FC, passed away at the age of 85. The winger's career is remembered thanks to his great dribbles, bankruptcies and crosses near the lime line. Despite living on the wings of soccer fields, he managed to score 91 goals in his career, a not inconsiderable number for the time.
« Many will say that I am crazy, but even if you are 37 years old, I believe that your best level of football is yet to come » and that is that the winger retired at the age of 50 with 710 games behind him.
And so, in 1956, at the age of 41, he became the first Ballon d'Or winner, ahead of the genius Di Stefano, recent winner of the first European Cup with Real Madrid.
His last game, at the age of 55, was a Stoke-Fullham. The crowded stands and tens of thousands waiting around the stadium to honor one of the most important banners in the history of British football, who would receive the Sir treatment that accompanies his name in the title of this very article.