Matlock was a mecca for professional footballers more than a century ago, as local author Rosy Thacker explains in this exclusive two-parter.
WHEN researching a history of the Matlocks, I came across several references to football teams visiting the local hydropathic establishments. I have since discovered that visits to health resorts for training and physiotherapy were quite common, even in the early days of professional football. The Matlocks’ position on a main railway line between London and Lancashire, and with routes into Yorkshire, made them ideal destinations for the top clubs…