I'm sure the darling of the Blackpool fans would have enjoyed seeing the two clubs of his life battle it out in the Premiership, as they did on Saturday.
But few people can remember that Stan played one game for Newcastle United (as a guest) during the war years in the Football League North Cup.
The date was January 23rd 1943 and Newcastle beat Leeds United 9-0. Stan wore the number eight shirt, and played beside United's number nine of the time, Albert Stubbins.
10,200 attended the game and Stan scored a brace, Stubbins got a hat-trick.
Mortensen (26 May 1921 — 22 May 1991) was most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final (subsequently known as "The Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a hat-trick in a Wembley FA Cup Final.
He was also both the first player to score for England in a FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign and the first England player to score in the tournament proper.
South Shields-born Mortensen went to war in 1939 as a wireless operator and overcame an injury - sustained when his RAF bomber crashed, leaving him as the only survivor - to become one of England's best post-war players.
During the war, he scored dozens of goals before making a strange piece of history by switching teams to play for Wales when they needed a reserve during a game against England on 25 September 1943.
Wales' Ivor Powell was injured and had to leave the field and, as England's reserve, Stan took his place in the Welsh side.
Wales lost 8–3, and Stanley Matthews later wrote of the game: "Nobody in the 80,000 crowd had any idea that Mortensen was going to change. When, a quarter of an hour later, the player in the red jersey returned to the field, a cheer went up from the crowd, who — not knowing the seriousness of Powell's injury — were under the impression the injured Welsh wing half was returning. Even when "Powell" went to inside-left, the onlookers did not suspect anything unusual, as team switches are often necessary after a player has been injured. Even some of the England players did not know that Mortensen was playing on the other side, and the football reporters, whose headquarters at Wembley are at the top of the main stand, did now know of the change until after half-time."
Mortensen died four days before his 70th birthday, on 22 May 1991, the day Blackpool reached Wembley for the first time since 1953. They had beaten Scunthorpe United 3-2 on aggregate to reach the Fourth Division play-off final. A minute's silence was held before the final against Torquay United.
On his death, it was said, "They'll probably call it the Matthews funeral," in reference to Mortensen's overshadowing by Stanley Matthews after the 1953 FA Cup Final. His funeral was held at St John's parish church, Blackpool, and he was cremated at Carleton Crematorium in Carleton, Lancashire.
NEWCASTLE UTD MAD
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