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On this day 17 years ago, the great Sir Stanley Matthews (1915–2000) passed away — the legendary winger of Stoke City F.C. and Blackpool F.C. — at the age of 85. His career is remembered for his extraordinary dribbling, his feints and his crosses delivered right along the byline. Despite spending his entire career hugging the touchline, he still managed to score 91 goals — no small feat for the era.
«Many will say I'm mad, but even at 37 I believe your best football is still ahead of you» — and indeed, the winger retired at 50 with 710 appearances to his name.
And so, in 1956, at the age of 41, he became the first-ever winner of the Ballon d'Or, pipping the genius Di Stéfano — fresh from winning Real Madrid's first European Cup — to the award.
His final match, played at the age of 55, was a Stoke–Fulham fixture. The stands were packed and tens of thousands waited outside the ground to pay tribute to one of the most important figures in the history of British football — the very man who would receive the knighthood that gives this article its title.
