Montford memories: When Hampden hosted the world

The game was billed as Great Britain versus Europe and was very much the brainchild of George Graham the secretary of the Scottish Football Association. When you consider that World War II had ended less than two years previously and that Europe – including Great Britain — was still recovering from all the horrors and traumas of that awful conflict, to organise such a match was a huge task but a wonderful gesture in bringing together players from so many countries all of whom could share – with the 100,000 crowd – the vision of the golden years of European football which lay over the horizon. The first European Cup final was still nine years away.

The British side contained three Scots – wing-half Archie McAulay of Arsenal and the left wing partnership of Billy Steel (recently transferred from Morton to Derby County) and Billy Liddell, one of Liverpool's most revered internationalists. It's such a joy to look back on this great occasion, that I feel it's only fair to give the "home" side in full, and in the old 2-3-5 formation. And yes, you're right, you don't hear of five forwards very much now do you? The line-up was Swift (England); Hardwick (England) and Hughes (Wales); McAulay (Scotland), Vernon (Ireland) and Burgess (Wales); Matthews (England), Mannion (England), Lawton (England), Steel (Scotland) and Liddell (Scotland).

Play was fast and open from first to last. I remember thinking as I watched from high up on the King's Park terracing that everyone seemed to have so much room to play in, and the anticipation of seeing "our" five strikers in action was richly fulfilled in a 6-1 win, with braces from Mannion and Lawton, the goal of the game from Steel, and an own goal by Carlo Prola of Italy.

Fast forward to season 1961-62, and wing wizard Stanley Matthews was going on 47. Although he was still a part of Blackpool's squad he felt that he was being phased out. Then out of the blue Stoke City approached Blackpool and was offered Matthews for 2,500 – a figure which dismayed the player, but which Stoke, struggling in the Second Division, were happy to pay.

Most people thought the transfer a blunder or a bad joke, but Matthews signed a one-year contract for 50 per week, and made his home debut against Huddersfield Town on 24 October, 1961. The previous home gate was 8,409 but on that day a crowd of 35,794 welcomed him back. He stayed for four seasons and at the age of 50 played his last game for Stoke City in February 1965 against Fulham at home. Stoke won 3-1 in front of a crowd of 40,000.

Not surprisingly a testimonial game was arranged at Stoke in April 1965 and in giving the teams in full I'm also recalling that the "big" match was preceded by a veterans' game where an astonishing line-up of Stan's favourite players took their last bow. They included George Hardwick who had played in the 1947 game at Hampden, Nat Lofthouse, Tom Finney, Danny Blanchflower, Jackie Mudie, Jackie Milburn and Jock Dodds of Blackpool who had played for Scotland during the war.

The organisers of the evening as a whole aimed high, but everyone, it seemed, wanted to play. Stan's XI lined up: Tony Waiters; Jimmy Armfield (both Blackpool), George Cohen; Johnny Haynes (both Fulham), Bobby Thomson (Wolves), Denis Law (Manchester United); Stanley Matthews (Blackpool and Stoke City), Jimmy Greaves (Spurs), Bobby Charlton (Manchester United), Alan Gilzean, Cliff Jones (both Spurs). Kai Johansen (Rangers) was one of the substitutes.

The international XI was: Lev Yashin (Russia); Karl Heinz Schnellinger, Wolfgang Weber (both Germany); Josef Masopust, Jan Popluhar (both Czechoslovakia), Jim Baxter, Willie Henderson (both Scotland), Raymond Kopa (France), Alfredo Di Stefano (Spain), Ferenc Puskas (Hungary), Eusebio (Portugal). The substitutes included Francisco Gento of Spain – imagine that, the brilliant Gento could not even get a starting place!

The international XI won 6-4, but of course the result was irrelevant. Yashin and Puskas carried Matthews to the centre of the field where all the players joined in a chorus of Auld Lang Syne. It was a fitting farewell to a player who was never booked or sent off in one of the longest careers in the history of British football.

Billy Steel, who played alongside Matthews in the 1947 game for Great Britain, also partnered the Englishman for Morton during the World War II, when Matthews guested for the Greenock club. Matthews was in the RAF, Steel in the Army and although the Cappielow club's wartime records are a bit patchy, I understand they played together at least a dozen times and for half of those games the England centre forward Tommy Lawton was also in the forward line. Steel, who joined Morton from St Mirren in May 1940, was transferred to Derby County for a British record fee of 15,500 in January 1947 before Dundee paid 22,500 for him in January 1950. After Steel left Dundee, he and his family emigrated to Los Angeles in 1954 and he played a number of games for Los Angeles Danes.

In 1981, I received a call from a Scottish society in Los Angeles asking if I could put together a mini 'This Is Your Life' film which would be a surprise item at a testimonial dinner for Steel. I put together "that" wonder goal from the 1947 game at Hampden, his goal for Scotland in the 3-1 win at Wembley in 1949, plus interviews at Cappielow with Scotland team-mate Willie Woodburn, who travelled through from Edinburgh to do it, and Jimmy Mitchell, a former Morton team-mate. It lasted 15 minutes only, but I received a warm 'thank you' call from one of the dinner organisers to say that the film had gone down a treat and Steel was both surprised and delighted.

Sadly, after a long battle with the debilitating lung disease emphysema, Steel died the next year, aged just 59.