The Wizard: The Life of Stanley Matthews - Softcover

Henderson, Jon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0224091859 ISBN 13: 9780224091855

Publisher: Yellow Jersey, 2014

Synopsis

Stanley Matthews taught us the way football should be played Pelé

'I couldn't believe he was just a man. He was the best player in the world' Bobby Charlton

'He told me that he used to play for just twenty pounds a week. Today he would be worth all the money in the Bank of England' Gianfranco Zola

Stanley Matthews is one of the most famous footballers ever to play the beautiful game. Nicknamed The Wizard of Dribble for his deadly skills, he made fools of defenders around the world. He played 84 matches for England in a career that spanned an extraordinary 33 years and such was his popularity that attendance for his club teams, Stoke City and Blackpool, more than doubled when he played. He was a global superstar decades before Beckham, Ronaldo or Messi, yet what do we really know about this legendary man?

This first full and objective biography looks beyond the public face of the first gentleman of soccer to explore a life not without controversy. This was a player who clashed with his managers, who felt undervalued in the age of the maximum wage leading to a charge of blackmarketeering and who was criticised for his showmanship and perceived lack of team spirit. There were private dramas too an unhappy first marriage that produced two beloved children, and a second, to the love of his life, a Czech with a dark secret even Matthews never knew and which acclaimed biographer Jon Henderson reveals for the first time.

Recreating the magic on the pitch and analyzing the key moments that made Matthews great, this is a meticulously researched story of a national hero and a fascinating insight into English football in the 20th century.

About this title

Review:

"Portrays a lost world of heavy balls, burly strikers, fog-bound pitches, £20-a-week wages, and teams who would travel to away matches by train and walk to the ground from the station" --Blake Morrison, Guardian

"Henderson succeeds in digging deeper, revealing a more complex character. Fallouts with managers, private dramas. It s fascinating stuff!" --Four Four Two

"Conveys the ethos of football in a bygone age, when money was secondary to sportsmanship and even world-famous players would take the bus to the ground" --David Robson, Sunday Telegraph

Book Description:

The first full and objective autobiography of a sporting legend, revealing the professional and private lives of one of the world’s greatest ever footballers

About this edition

• Publisher: Yellow Jersey
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0224091859
• ISBN 13: 9780224091855
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416