Editing Stanley Matthews (section)

==Style of play==
[[Franz Beckenbauer]] said that the speed and skill Matthews possessed meant that "almost no one in the game could stop him".<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=600}}</ref> [[John Charles]] noted that "he was the best [[Cross (association football)|crosser]] I've ever seen – and he had to contend with the old heavy ball".<ref name="page 601">{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=601}}</ref> [[Johnny Giles]] said that "he had everything – good close control, great [[dribbling]] ability. He was lightning quick. He was also an intelligent player, who knew how to [[Passing (association football)|pass]] the ball".<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=602}}</ref> Despite his great talents, he rarely tackled opponents and was not adept at [[Header (association football)|heading]] the ball or using his left foot.<ref name="101 greats">{{cite book|title=Stoke City 101 Golden Greats|year=2002|publisher=Desert Islands Books|pages=90–95|isbn=1-874287-55-4}}</ref>

An outside right, before [[1937–38 Stoke City F.C. season|1937–38]] he had scored 43 goals in four seasons, and full-backs began to mark him more tightly; because of this, he decided to drop deeper to collect the ball and aim to play pinpoint crosses as opposed to going for glory himself.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=101}}</ref> Though he would never again score more than six goals in a season, this made him a more effective team player and a greater threat to the opposition.

His daughter Jean Gough told how Matthews would wear lead in his shoes walking to the ground so that "when he put his football boots on, they felt like ballerina shoes."<ref>{{cite news |title=Fans celebrate birth of football legend Sir Stanley Matthews 100 years on |url=https://staffslive.co.uk/2015/02/fans-celebrate-birth-football-legend-sir-stanley-matthews-100-years/ |access-date=16 June 2020 |work=StaffsLive Journalism |date=6 February 2015 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415171732/https://staffslive.co.uk/2015/02/fans-celebrate-birth-football-legend-sir-stanley-matthews-100-years/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Having trained to a level of fitness few other players would reach, by the mid-1950s he was able to cut back on his intense training as his level of fitness was by then ingrained in his body.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=477}}</ref> He never [[Smoking|smoked]]; instead, he was very conscious of every item of food and drink he consumed, and he maintained a rigid daily training regime from childhood up until his old age.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=439}}</ref> In an interview with the FA he said, "I had some very good advice and started to eat more salads and fruit, and every Monday I had no food. Just one day, on a Monday, but I felt better."<ref name="The Wizard of Dribble">{{cite web|url=https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/021e-0f8a84ac44d9-bf9f306f255c-1000--the-wizard-of-dribble-sir-stanley-matthews/|title=The Wizard of Dribble, Sir Stanley Matthews|date=1 February 2015|work=[[UEFA]]|access-date=5 June 2015|archive-date=5 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705084930/https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/association=eng/news/newsid=2204209.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The only time he knowingly consumed [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] was when drinking champagne out of the [[FA Cup]] in [[1953 FA Cup final|1953]].<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=434}}</ref>

In addition to his attention to detail in diet and fitness, he also afforded scrutiny to his kit. [[1950–51 Blackpool F.C. season|1950–51]] he struck a boot sponsorship deal with the [[The Co-operative Group|Co-op]], though he instead began wearing a more lightweight pair of boots he had discovered on show at the World Cup – at the time they were not available to buy in England.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=338}}</ref> He would wear the customised boots until his retirement, though they were so delicate that he got through countless pairs every season.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=339}}</ref>

An avid student of the game, in the [[1950 FIFA World Cup]] Matthews stayed on to watch teams such as [[Brazil national football team|Brazil]] and [[Uruguay national football team|Uruguay]] compete in the tournament after England's elimination – the English FA, manager and media all returned home to, as Matthews said, "bury their heads in the sand."<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=342}}</ref> Matthews regularly condemned the "blazer brigade" at the FA in his autobiography, slating them as "conservative" and stressing that many of them were [[Eton College|Old Etonians]]; in his view they treated players and supporters poorly, demonstrated arrogance by ignoring competitions they did not control (the World Cup and European domestic competitions), and viewed innovations with excessive suspicion (for example the FA sanctioned only the use of [[floodlight]]s in 1952 despite artificial lighting having been experimented with as far back as 1878, and for years insisted on using outdated kit such as heavy "reinforced" boots).<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=373}}</ref> Writing about the fact that the FA allocated only 12,000 of the 100,000 available tickets for the 1953 FA Cup final to Blackpool supporters, Matthews wrote: "I couldn't make my mind up whether they were dunderheads or simply didn't care about the genuine supporters who were the lifeblood of the game".<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=411}}</ref>

He was never booked or [[Ejection (sports)|sent off]] throughout his entire career,<ref name="page 596">{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=596}}</ref> and teammate [[Jimmy Armfield]] noted that Matthews would never retaliate to the many extremely physical challenges opponents would often make to try and take him out of the game.<ref name="page 599">{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=599}}</ref> Indeed, he ran the full gauntlet of emotions that all footballers run, but always retained a level head on the pitch, never losing his temper or allowing his emotions to affect his game.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|2000|p=290}}</ref>