Stanley Matthews - Retirement and Death

Retirement and Death

Having toured the world coaching in Australia, the USA, Canada, and especially in Africa; he returned to Stoke-on-Trent with wife Mila in 1989. He later served as president of Stoke City and honorary vice-president of Blackpool.

Matthews died on 23 February 2000, aged 85, after falling ill while on holiday in Tenerife. Mila had died the previous year. It was a recurrence of an illness that he first suffered in 1997. His death was announced on the radio just before the start of an England v Argentina friendly match. He was cremated following a funeral service in Stoke on 3 March 2000. His funeral was attended by many of his fellow footballers, such as Bobby Charlton and Jack Charlton, Gordon Banks, Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney. His ashes were buried beneath the centre circle of Stoke City's Britannia Stadium, which he had officially opened in August 1997. After his death, more than 100,000 people lined the streets of Stoke-on-Trent to pay tribute. As the cortège wound its way along the 12-mile route, employees downed tools and schoolchildren stood motionless to witness his final passing.

After his death, dozens of footballing legends paid tribute to him, and the epilogue to his autobiography contains several pages of quotations. Pelé said he was "the man who taught us the way football should be played", and Brian Clough added that "he was a true gentleman and we shall never see his like again". English goalkeeping legend Gordon Banks said that "I don't think anyone since had a name so synonymous with football in England", whilst World Cup winning German defender Berti Vogts commented that "It is not just in England where his name is famous. All over the world he is regarded as a true football genius".