Stan the man and the football legend

MY LaTE father, Tom, was a schoolboy friend and neighbour of the footballer Stanley Matthews. In their early 20s, they courted girls from the west side of Stoke-on-Trent. My dad used to relate how, one Saturday night, he met Stan at the bus stop to make their way home to Hanley, one of Stoke’s ‘five towns’. Stan had been injured that afternoon, and my dad had to help him on to the bus, then down the steep Bucknall New road and on home. Years later, in the mid-Sixties, I was a young cashier at Lloyds Bank in Stoke where the majority of Stoke’s players used to call in every Friday to draw their modest wages. I was still there when Stan, aged 50, had his testimonial. about £50,000 was raised, from which various expenses had to be deducted. I am biased, but seeing Stan perform in his mid to late 40s was infinitely preferable to watching the likes of Neymar, Messi or ronaldo. The icing on the cake was when Stan became general manager of my team — and his own family’s team — Port Vale. David K. Whalley, Birmingham.