ShareThe young girl gripped her dad's hand tightly as they strolled along Blackpool's promenade, enjoying a sunny Sunday morning. He was wearing a hat and sunglasses and walked with his head held low, but it didn't stop almost everyone they passed from staring and nudging one another. The man in disguise was Stanley Matthews, England's most famous footballer.
Some 60 years later, Jean Gough laughs at the memory. 'Even when my brother, Pops and I used to go to the pictures on a Friday night we would go in when the lights had gone down and we would sit in the back row.
'Before they played the national anthem and while it was still dark we would dash out again. It felt like an adventure.'
Winner at last: Matthews is hoisted high by his Blackpool team-mates with his hand on the FA Cup in 1953
In her neat house in Stafford, Jean is surrounded by memories of 'Pops', the great Sir Stanley, who played more than 700 league games for Stoke and Blackpool. This Saturday she will attend the FA Cup final for the first time since 1953 - the match that bears her father's name.
Jean, 72, is one of two children of the only footballer to be knighted while still playing. Brother Stanley Jnr, the last British male to win Junior Wimbledon way back in 1962, is now 65. Sir Stanley died 11 years ago and has three grandchildren, including Jean's daughters Samantha and Amanda, and seven great grandchildren.
Great grandson Cameron, aged 12, will be cheering on his beloved Stoke City with grandma Jean on Saturday, the biggest day in the club's history, when they take on Manchester City at Wembley. Stoke have only one major trophy in the cabinet - the 1972 League Cup.
'Pops': Matthews with his daughter, Jean Gough, who fondly remembers seeing her father's finest hour
'Dad would be absolutely thrilled to bits to know Stoke were in the FA Cup final, he really would,' says Jean. 'It's not just the football, but he used to think how warm and lovely the people are here. Stoke's FA Cup success has lifted the whole area. I wish he was here to see it. Everybody here loved him and he loved them.'
Matthews was a superbly gifted right winger who mesmerised fans and players alike with wonderful timing and supreme skill. Twice named Footballer of the Year, in 1948 and 1963, and European Footballer of the Year in 1956, he did not retire from league football until he was 50.?
He also played 54 official games for England and made several wartime appearances, yet the only major honour he won came in that 1953 final, when Blackpool beat Bolton 4-3.
That's my Pops: daughter Jean in front of a portrait of her father Sir Stanley in Stoke colours
'I just remember at 2-1 down, we thought, "Oh dear that's it!",' recalls Jean. 'Then when it got to 3-3 we thought, "Great. If we can hold on we will win in extra time". But then came the fourth goal. Pops went down the wing, passed the full back at lightning speed and took the ball down to the goal-line and played the ball in for us to score. We all went mad! My mum was crying and my grandmother was crying. After the match the team and the wives had a celebration but the children didn't go. We went with my uncle to see a movie.
'Whenever I hear Abide With Me I remember that day and I have a little cry.'
Despite Matthews' fame, he was determined that his own children would live normal lives away from the spotlight.
'The money was certainly nothing like it is today,' said Jean, 'but we did have a big house with a tennis court and Pops had a Rolls-Royce at one time, and he owned a racehorse. We were well off.
'He was a shy and very modest man. He couldn't really understand it all. He was doing the things he loved: keeping fit and playing football, and getting paid for it. He was such a? wonderful dad but we had to share our dad with lots of people.
'He was a very good father and family man. He kept my brother and me out of the limelight, he was very protective.
'In 1955-56 Pops took a team from Blackpool around the world to play exhibition games and because it was for him they let the family go too. So, I was a schoolgirl and I went around the world with a football team! I was still in ankle socks and a school tie. Pops had warned them all, he was always very protective.
'My husband and I met at the tennis club but before I met him our family used to go to a dance on a Saturday night.
'My husband said later, "I used to look around for you to have a dance with you but by 10pm you'd been whipped away because your father had taken you home".
Family man: Sir Stanley has a broad smile as he poses proudly with Jean'sdaughters Amanda and Samantha
'Pops didn't sleep well on the night after a game whether the team had won or lost. He would gather the family together and we would play cards until late on a Saturday night.
'Every Sunday, the day after the match, about 10-12 people would come to our house, and we used to play football in the garden. I was centre forward and Pops would be on the wing. It was lovely. They are really happy memories.'
Matthews played in an era when drinking, smoking and a bad diet were the norm. Yet the only time alcohol is believed to have touched his lips was when he had a sip of champagne from the FA Cup final trophy.?
'Dad did breathing and stretching exercises at home,' said Jean. 'He used to go for a run along the beach at Blackpool at 7am every morning. No matter what the weather was like he would be there. After that he would go to the ground for training.
Devoted fan: Matthews' great grandson, Cameron
'To Pops every game was important, that's what he loved about being in the dressing room.
'He had lead in his shoes so he was walking heavy-footed, and then when he changed into his football boots, which he had specially made, he felt like he could whip down the wing. They were like ballet shoes and they were very light. He was before his time.
'I think the fans loved Pops so much because he was disciplined and he had this extra spark and he could be so effective on the wing because of his speed. He was the fastest man in the world over 10 yards I think.'
Despite being lifelong Stoke fans, neither Jean nor Cameron will be sporting team colours to uphold a family superstition that dates back to Matthews' playing days.
'If we ever wore colours at Blackpool or Stoke whenever Pops was playing we never won, so we haven't worn the team colours since,' Jean laughs. 'Stoke as a team are unbelievable. They say they are just about the long ball but we have some good footballers and in the air we are so tough. It's a lovely feeling watching them.
'Dad would be delighted. He'd be sitting there in the stands with his arms folded, not saying a word. He would be just taking it all in.'
It's been 11 years since he passed away but Jean is proud to be involved in The Sir Stanley Matthews Foundation, which continues to raise money and give financial assistance for young people to play any sport at any level of ability.
'I'm very proud of the legacy that he has left to us,' she said. 'He became an international celebrity. It was amazing really because the media wasn't strong like it is now. They called him the Wizard of DribbleI was just proud to call him Pops.'
For more information on the Sir Stanley Matthews Foundation, visit www.ssmf.co.uk
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Source: Daily Mail
Source: Daily Mail