Museum for Stoke legend Matthews

Sir Stanley was the first player to be knighted

Former England stars Gordon Banks and Sir Trevor Brooking will be guests at an event marking the opening of a museum about Sir Stanley Matthews.

The Sir Stanley Matthews Lounge at Stoke City's Britannia Stadium is a shrine to the man who turned professional with the club aged 17.

He made 710 League appearances for Stoke and Blackpool, 54 for England and was the first player to be knighted.

Memorabilia from his life and career will be on show in the corporate suite.

It will be officially opened later at a ceremony by club chairman Peter Coates.

Commemorative plaque

The suite used to be known as the International Lounge but has been rebranded in conjunction with the club's on-going work with the charity, the Sir Stanley Matthews Foundation.

A spokesman for the club said although initially it would not be fully open to the public, there were plans for it to be included on tours of the ground.

The club has worked with the National Football Museum, in Preston, to collect the memorabilia.

Sir Stanley, born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1915, was the most famous footballer of his generation. He died in 2000.

In 2003, ceramics firm Wedgwood teamed up with BBC Radio Stoke to pay for a special plaque to be fixed to the wall of the house he was born in in Seymour Street, Hanley.

Two years earlier, a statue depicting the three stages of Sir Stanley's career, was unveiled.

It is at the Britannia Stadium but points towards the club's old Victoria Ground, where Sir Stanley used to play.

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