Stoke City F.C. Jimmy McIlroy were all players signed in the latter stages of their careers. Matthews was awarded a knighthood for services to football in the 1965 New Year's Honours list. This was followed by his final appearance for the club against Fulham in February 1965, shortly after his 50th birthday. Gordon Banks, England's 1966 World Cup-winning goalkeeper, joined in 1967 for £52,000 from Leicester. Regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world, Banks proved to be a shrewd signing for Waddington as he helped the club maintain stability in the First Division. During the close season of 1967, Stoke City played
FC Torpedo Kutaisi FC Torpedo Kutaisi FC Torpedo Kutaisi is a Georgian professional football club based in Kutaisi, Georgia's second largest city. ‘Torpedo Kutaisi’ was founded in 1946 and in just three years the club became the winner of the Football Championship of that time. By the end of 1964, the Football Federation of the former Soviet Union published a list of the best soccer players and 5 among them – "R. Urushadze, I. Losaberidze, S. Kutivadze, J. Kherkhadze, and V. Chkhartishvili" were from the Torpedo Kutaisi team. Furthermore, Torpedo Kutaisi players of different times were always named among the Top Ten footballers