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 international, his sportsmanship and modesty universally acclaimed. A magical player, of the people, for the people." The Stanley Matthews Collection is held by the National Football Museum. In February 2010, the boots worn by Matthews in the 1953 FA Cup Final were auctioned at Bonhams in Chester for £38,400, to an undisclosed buyer. Sierra Leonean football club Mighty Blackpool F.C., based in the capital city of Freetown, changed their name from Socro United in 1954 because of their admiration for Matthews. Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy is a secondary school in Blurton, Staffordshire named after him. In the summer of