“The best defender I ever played with or against – yes, that good.”
Sir Tom Finney

“The greatest centre-half I ever had the privilege of playing with, the incomparable Neil Franklin.”
Sir Stanley Matthews

“Neil was a superb stylist with an instinctive positional sense.”
Billy Wright

“My memory at Stoke just about stretches back to Neil Franklin, an exceptional player, one regarded by his generation in the same way that Bobby Moore was a generation later.”
Peter Coates

“He was a footballer before his time. Neil came along and actually played football, it was unheard of for a centre-half, managers didn’t really stand for it. I think he got away with it because he’d played for England. He was the best footballer I have ever played with, his only fault was that he thought everyone was as good as he was, which they weren’t.”
Keith Goalen