Page "Stanley Matthews" Paragraph 28

Stoke City arranged a testimonial match in honour of Matthews ; it was much needed as he had spent the vast majority of his career constricted to the tight maximum wage that had been enforced upon the English game.

The game was played at the Victoria Ground on 28 April 1965, by which time Matthews had decided to retire as a player, and the pre-match entertainment consisted of another match of two veteran teams featuring many legends of the game.

Harry Johnston led out a team consisting of: Bert Trautmann ; Tim Ward ; George Hardwick ; Jimmy Hill ; Neil Franklin ; Don Revie ; Stan Mortensen ; Nat Lofthouse ; Jimmy Hagan ; Tom Finney ; and Frank Bowyer ( reserve ).

Walley Barnes led out an opposing team consisting of: Jimmy O ' Neill ; Jimmy Scoular ; Danny Blanchflower ; Jimmy Dickinson ; Hughie Kelly ; Bill McGarry ; Jackie Mudie ; Jackie Milburn ; Jock Dodds ; Ken Barnes ; and Arthur Rowley ( reserve ).