Editing Stanley Matthews (section)

===Return to Stoke===
[[File:Stanley Matthews 1962 (crop).jpg|thumb|Matthews in 1962]]
At Stoke, Matthews played [[Football League Second Division|Second Division]] football for the first time in 28 years. Despite Stoke being strapped for cash, [[Tony Waddington]] gave him a two-year [[Association football contracts|contract]] at £50-a-week – this was double the wages he received at Blackpool.<ref name="page 506–08"/> The signing was broadcast live on ''[[Sportsview]]'', as Waddington whispered in his ear "Welcome home, Stan. For years this club has been going nowhere. Now we're on our way".<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=509}}</ref> Waddington delayed his return debut until 24 October 1961, when Stoke played [[Huddersfield Town A.F.C.|Huddersfield Town]] at the [[Victoria Ground]], the attendance was 35,974 – more than treble the previous home game – and Matthews set up one of City's goals in a 3–0 win.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=511}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Matthews-return-home-thousands-crowd/story-13304263-detail/story.html|title=Matthews' return home put thousands on crowd|date=10 September 2011|work=The Sentinel|access-date=10 September 2011|archive-date=1 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001215215/http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Matthews-return-home-thousands-crowd/story-13304263-detail/story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He went on to score three goals in 21 games in the rest of the [[1961–62 Stoke City F.C. season|1961–62]] campaign.

Waddington signed hardman [[Eddie Clamp]] to protect Matthews in the [[1962–63 Stoke City F.C. season|1962–63]] season, and the two would also become close friends off the pitch.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=519}}</ref> Along with veteran teammates [[Jackie Mudie]], [[Jimmy O'Neill (footballer, born 1931)|Jimmy O'Neill]], [[Eddie Stuart]], [[Don Ratcliffe]], [[Dennis Viollet]], and [[Jimmy McIlroy]], Stoke had the oldest team in [[the Football League]].<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=521}}</ref> Matthews scored his only goal of the season in the final home game of the campaign, as [[Luton Town F.C.|Luton Town]] were beaten 2–0, the result ensured Stoke gained [[Promotion and relegation|promotion]] to the top flight.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=532}}</ref> Stoke went up as Second Division champions. Matthews was voted FWA Footballer of the Year for the second time in his career, 15 years after he was made the award's inaugural winner. When he was 48, he picked up this award, and he became the oldest award winner by a wide margin, which remains so more than half a century later.

After picking up an injury, he missed January onwards of the [[1963–64 Stoke City F.C. season|1963–64]] campaign and thereby missed the [[1964 Football League Cup final]] defeat to [[Leicester City F.C.|Leicester City]], playing in just nine of Stoke's 42 First Division matches that season. Discovering that niggling injuries, which would have cost him one day out of action, now required more than two weeks' worth of rest to recover from, Matthews decided to retire after one more season, taking his playing career into his 50th year.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=536}}</ref>

He spent the [[1964–65 Stoke City F.C. season|1964–65]] season playing for the reserve side. On 1 January 1965, he became the only footballer to ever be [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] (for services to football) whilst still an active professional player. However, he never thought himself worthy of such an honour.<ref name="page 537">{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=537}}</ref> His only first-team appearance of the season was also the last Football League game of his career; it came on 6 February 1965, just after his 50th birthday, and was necessitated by injuries to both [[Peter Dobing]] and [[Gerry Bridgwood]].<ref name="page 537"/> The opponents that day were [[Fulham F.C.|Fulham]], and Stoke won the game 3–1.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=538}}</ref> Though he felt he had retired too early and could have carried on playing for another two years, this brought an end to his 35-year professional career.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=539}}</ref>

Stoke City arranged a [[testimonial match]] in honour of Matthews; it was much needed as he had spent most of his career constricted to the tight [[maximum wage]] that had been enforced upon the English game and only abolished a few years before his retirement.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=543}}</ref> The game was played at the Victoria Ground on 28 April 1965. By that time, Matthews had decided to retire as a player,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1965.html|title=Those were the days|work=expressandstar.com|access-date=21 March 2018|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303201056/http://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1965.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the pre-match entertainment consisted of another match of two veteran teams featuring many legends of the game. [[Harry Johnston (footballer, born 1919)|Harry Johnston]] led out a team consisting of [[Bert Trautmann]], [[Tim Ward (footballer)|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 (English footballer)|Ken Barnes]], and [[Arthur Rowley]] (reserve).<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=545}}</ref>

In the main game itself, two teams of legends were formed, a Stan's XI (consisting of Football League players) and an International XI (including [[Ferenc Puskás]], [[Alfredo Di Stefano]], [[Josef Masopust]] and [[Lev Yashin]]). The International side won 6–4, and Matthews was carried shoulder-high from the field at full time by Puskás and Yashin.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2006/04/24/sir_stanley_matthews_testimonial_feature.shtml |work=BBC News |access-date=9 August 2007 |year=2005 |title=Sir Stanley Matthews's Testimonial remembered |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225232807/http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2006/04/24/sir_stanley_matthews_testimonial_feature.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>