SIR Stanley Matthews shared an afternoon in the company of a Brighton Boys and Sussex Schools footballer and a budding boxer 53 years ago, it can be revealed today.

The death of the football legend on Wednesday brought the memories flooding back of Dennis Slade's meeting with the Wizard of the Dribble in a Brighton pub.

Slade said: 'We had a nice chat. his dad was a professional boxer and I had just been sparring with Joe Baksi in the pub's gym.

"We had plenty in common. He was a wonderful man and it was an honour for the town that he should be in Brighton.

"He was with the whole England team preparing in the town for an international at Wembley.

"I got him to autograph the back of one of my pictures as a boxer. I also got the signatures of the other players who were there like Tommy Lawton, Stan Mortensen, Billy Wright, Raich Carter and Wilf Mannion.

"It is a collection of some of the last century's greatest footballers. It's priceless, and something I've treasured for over 50 years. Sir Stanley's death sparked off all the old memories.

"I also remember going up to watch him in an FA Cup final for Blackpool, I think it was the one in 1953 which was called Matthews' Final."

Slade, now 76, from Brighton, said that he had offers to turn pro as a boxer.

He said: "My heart was in football and my hopes of being a professional footballer were ended by the war. I had to go into he Army, but I did play at the Goldstone for Brighton Boys in the year they reached the sixth round of the English School Trophy."

He sparred 22 rounds with Baksi, and added: "I went out running with him and he used to stuff copies of the Argus up his jumper before a run to help him sweat off some weight. He was 18st and his fighting weight was around 15st 10lb."

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