Some
of my favourite players. |
| I've now met my three
boyhood hero's. Sir Stan, not only the World's greatest footballer but a thoroughly nice
bloke as well. Sir Geoff Hurst and Gordon Banks - the World's greatest goalkeeper. Gordon
tells the story of his great save against Pele as a bit of a fluke - apart from this, he's
a wonderfully decent chap - the save was the best piece of footballing skill ever filmed. |
GORDON BANKS OBE
Born December 1937. |
Considered by many people as the greatest
goalkeeper ever, Gordon Banks joined Stoke City in the summer of 1967, from Leicester
City, aged 29 years, for a mere £52,000. He made 293 League outings for Leicester City,
and played for them against Stoke City in the 1964 League Cup final, and in two losing FA
Cup finals. He won the first of his 73 full England caps in April 1963 (against Scotland)
having already played twice for the Under-23 side. A year before joining Stoke City he
gained a World Cup winners' medal when England defeated West Germany at Wembley. He made
37 appearances for England while with Leicester. He made a further 36 appearances for
England while with Stoke City making him Stoke's most-capped player at full international
level. He was awarded the OBE in 1970. He played a total of 246 senior games for Stoke,
gaining a League Cup winners' tankard in 1972, when he was also named both Footballer of
the Year and Sportsman of the Year. On October 22, 1972, Banks was involved in a road
accident, when his Ford Granada was involved in a head-on collision with a van. The
accident cost him his sight in his right eye and forced him into an early retirement from
League football in this country. He went on to play football in America for Fort
Lauderdale Strikers. He also had spells coaching at Stoke City, Vale Park before becoming
general manager of Telford United. He later ran his own sports promotion agency. |
PETER SHILTON MBE,
OBE
Born September 18, 1949. |
Peter Shilton, rated as one of the best
goalkeepers in the world, joined Stoke City in November 1974 from Leicester City for a fee
of £300,000. He made 120 appearances for the Potters before being transferred to
Nottingham Forest for £270,000 in September, 1977. 'Shilts' became the first footballer
in history to appear in 1,000 Football League games, playing professional football for an
amazing 31 years. He made 125 appearances for England at full international level, and was
captain of his country on 15 occasions. |
SIR GEOFF HURST
Born December 8th, 1941 |
Geoff Hurst of course has left an
indelible mark on the history of football both in this country and in the game worldwide,
as he was the first and to date the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final
starring in the 4-2 win over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley.
Geoff's father was a professional footballer (Charles) who came South to play for
Chelmsford City. Geoff started his football career in Essex playing for Halstead and
Chelmsford City before joining West Ham where he signed full forms in April 1959. He was a
wing half who gained 4 England under 23 caps and 49 England caps where he scored 24 goals.
He was signed by Stoke in August
1972 for £75,000 from the League Cup windfall profits and with one eye on the possible
retirement of John Ritchie. He was almost 31 at this time but he maintained his very high
standards and Stoke were blessed with Hurst, Ritchie and Jimmy Greenhoff as strikers over
this period. Made his debut for Stoke in the F.A. Cup Third Place Play off game at St.
Andrews against Birmingham City in August 1972 (it had been carried over from the previous
season).
In his younger days he played cricket for Essex
in the County Championship.
When at Stoke he owned a pub in Whitmore and had
insurance interests later becoming a director of Motorplan.
Hurst was knighted in 1999 |
SIR
STANLEY MATTHEWS CBE
February 1, 1915 - February 23, 2000
|
SIR STANLEY MATTHEWS CBE
The son of Hanley's famous boxing-barber, Jack Matthews, Stan was the greatest
footballer the world has ever seen. Born in Hanley, on leaving school he did general
office work, while also on the ground staff at the Victoria Ground. He turned professional
on his 17th birthday, having represented England at schoolboy level in 1929. He made his
League debut for Stoke on March 19, 1932. Occupying the right-wing position throughout his
career both as a club player and England international, he won the first of his 54 full
England caps in September 1934 (Wales), scoring in the 4-0 win at Cardiff. During World
War Two, Matthews appeared in 24 wartime and five Victory internationals, and also
represented the Football League, the Football League XI and the FA XI. His first stay at
Stoke ended in 1947, when, aged 32, he moved to Blackpool for £11,500. There he helped
them to with the FA Cup in 1953, and scored 17 goals in 379 appearances for the Seasiders
before returning to Stoke City in October, 1961, for a fee of £2,500. Matthews was 46
years old at the time, yet he still went on to play for a further four years for The
Potters. Promotion was gained back into the First Division in 1963 and two years later on
February 6, 1965, just five days after his 50th birthday, he retired from competitive
football with well over 800 games under his belt, 701 in the Football League (332 with
Stoke and 369 for Blackpool). His record at Stoke is 355 senior appearances and 62 goals.
He is the oldest player ever to win a full England cap, aged 42 years, 103 days. He was
knighted in 1965, having received the CBE nine years earlier). After leaving Stoke,
Matthews toured the world, coaching in many countries including the Far East. In 1967-68
he returned to manage Port Vale, before going to live in Malta, where he took charge of
Hibernians. He later lived in Canada before returning to the Potteries in the late 1980s
to live. In 1989 he was appointed president of Stoke City Football Club. He was presented
with the Midlands Sports Personality of the Year in 1994. |
TONY WADDINGTON
|
Tony Waddington, the Stoke
manager who brought Sir Stanley Matthews back to the Victoria Ground after a spell at
Blackpool. Waddington, who remained at Stoke for 17 years was in charge during Stoke's
League cup win in 1972.
Possibly Stoke's most successful manager. He made his reputation
by bringing to the club ageing stars who were nearing the end of their career. He signed
46-year-old Stanley Matthews from Blackpool for £3,000 launching the most successful
period in the club's history. His teams gained a reputation for being 'veterans' as he
signed such players as Jimmy McIlroy, Eddie Clamp, George Eastham, Alex Elder, David Herd,
Roy Vernon, Geoff Hurst and Dennis Violet. His most audacious signings were goalkeeper
Gordon Banks, fresh from England's 1966 World Cup triumph, Peter Shilton who succeeded
Banks as England's goalkeeper, and Alan Hudson, from Chelsea, who went on to produce
legendary performances. The club reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1971 and 1972
and went on to play in Europe. However, with the departure of their leading players, the
club were relegated in 1977 and Waddington left. He was appointed associated director of
Stoke City in 1993, a position he held until his death in 1994. |
MARK
STEIN
 |
O.K. so Steino doesn't quite have the
history of most of my hero's but, when Premiership Champions 'Manchester United' visited
the Victoria Ground for a cup game, Stein's 2 brilliantly taken goals sent them away with
a defeat and a quote from the comentator which still remains clear in my mind.
" Schmeicel, beaten all ends up by a glorious goal
from Mark Stein " |
This page is my little
world of info on Stoke City Football Club. I have lived through their worst period in
their entire history along with some of their best times. I am not old enough to have seen
Sir Stanley Matthews play, although I did meet him and will treasure the memory. I am
however old enough to have seen Gordon Banks, Geoff Hurst, Peter Shilton and Jimmy
Greenhoff play and I will long remember some stunning games at the Victoria Ground.
