Stan Mathews was the closest thing the English game had to football royalty before David Beckham came along decades later. With his silky wing play, incredible career longevity and all-round decency and likability as a man; Mathews was a 1950s footballing behemoth who stood above partisanship and was universally admired and respected by football and non-football minded people alike.

Stanley was rarely reticent when it came to taking up the many endorsement opportunities offered to him and this latest collection of retro football adverts features some of the boots he was happy to put that weighty Mathews name on. We do like some of the nifty strap-lines from these ads, especially ‘streamlined goal-getter’ which sounds like a Who’s Who entry for Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko.

Click any of the adverts to enlarge them.