The Wizard

Stanley Matthews is one of the famous footballers ever to play the 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. This book tells his story.

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

The book portrays a lost world of heavy balls, burly strikers, fogbound pitches, £20-a-week wages, and teams who'd travel to away matches by train then walk to the ground from the station

A marvellous, well-written biography that doesn’t shirk from exploring controversial episodes in Sir Stan’s life

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

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

Like his subject…the author has done his groundwork brilliantly

What makes Henderson’s biography so interesting is the portrait it provides of an entire life, the Cold War love story after Matthews had finally hung up his boots a fascinating addendum to a career that came to a close at his testimonial at Stoke City in 1965

Staggeringly well-researched

Henderson seeks to dig up fresh revelations about Matthew’s private life

Well-researched and cannily written

Jon Henderson, a sportswriter for more than 45 years, has reported on events from around the world working for Reuters and national newspapers, including the Observer and Guardian . His assignments included five Olympic Games and two World Cups. He is the author of two previous books, Best of British and The Last Champion The Life of Fred Perry.