Stanley Matthews - England

The thirty-five year old Stanley Matthews, whose sobriquet was “the Wizard of dribble”, wasa phenomanan for England. In part due to Winterbottom’s (Walter Winterbottom was the manager of England, the first to be appointed) distrust of the allegedly selfish Matthews; for Matthews was famed for teasing defenders, inviting them to make a tackle, which more often than not left the opponent floundering on the ground as Matthews sped away, whereas more cautious souls would have passed the ball to a colleague. Playing on the right wing, Matthews provided an accurate supply of passes that would test and defeat defences in the top English division until 1965, when Matthews was fifty. In brief, Matthews was fun to watch, as well as being extremely fast over short distances.