Stanley Matthews he helped Blackpool to win the cup with a formidable personal performance in the "Matthews Final" of 1953. Between 1934 and 1957 he won 54 caps for England, playing in the FIFA World Cup in 1950 and 1954, and winning nine British Home Championship titles. Following an unsuccessful stint as Port Vale's general manager between 1965 and 1968, he travelled around the world, coaching enthusiastic amateurs. The most notable of his coaching experiences came in 1975 in South Africa, where in spite of the harsh apartheid laws of the time he established an all-black team in Soweto known as "Stan's
Stanley Matthews damaged his cartilage during the match: "a promising career cut tragically short", he wrote in his autobiography. Having toured the world coaching in Australia, the United States, Canada and especially in Africa, Matthews returned to Stoke-on-Trent with wife Mila in 1989. Specifically he moved to "The Views" in Penkhull a listed building which was the birthplace of Sir Oliver Lodge. He later served as president of Stoke City and honorary vice-president of Blackpool. Matthews died on 23 February 2000, aged 85, after falling ill while on holiday in Tenerife. Mila had died the previous year. It was a recurrence of