2 - Jimmy Greaves

The 2nd In The Series.

James Peter 'Jimmy' Greaves - born 20/2/1940

Greaves grew up during the war years, soon becoming a Spurs supporter, preferring to trek from the East End to White Hart Lane rather than the nearer Upton Park at a time West Ham were nothing more than Second Division nonentities. Spurs were exciting to watch as they had invented the concept of push and run rather than hoofing the ball and hoping it would be a damn long time before the ball came back. 

During the autumn of 1954, it looked likely that Greaves would join the Tottenham staff but, at a vital moment, manager Rowe collapsed with the worry of the likelihood of relegation as his side grew too old. Greaves was quickly taken under the wing of one Jimmy Thompson, a one-man Pied Piper, who led so many East End boys to Chelsea, particularly players like Peter Brabrook, Barry Bridges and others. Greaves was a smash hit in the Chelsea Youth side. In the 1956-57 season, he scored 114 goals for the Chelsea Youth team he moved on to finish as top League goalscorer twice whilst at Chelsea in 1959 and 1961 and his 41 league goals in the 1960-61 season remains a club record. Despite this, they never won any major trophies while he was playing for them.

During the 1960-61 season, footballers were increasingly restive as the Players Union, led by Jimmy Hill, fought to improve their wages. They felt they should be paid for what they were worth rather than what the Chairmen thought they could spare. There was talk of a strike but it fizzled out when the Football League conceded the players had a case. In the meantime, Greaves could not wait and agreed to transfer to AC Milan. No sooner had that deal been concluded than the Football League agreed that players could be paid what their clubs could afford to pay.

Greaves was not happy in Italy, It soon became evident that Milan were also not happy. Bill Nicholson then signed him for Tottenham Hotspur for £99,999. The unusual fee was intended to relieve Greaves of the pressure of being the first £100,000 player.

Greaves' first appearance for Spurs was actually for the Reserves at Plymouth Argyle. But on his debut for Spurs on 16th December 1961, against Blackpool, Greaves scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 thrashing.

Greaves enjoyed a legendary career at Tottenham. He played at Spurs from 1961 to 1970, scoring a club record of 266 goals in 379 matches, including 220 goals in the First Division. Greaves finished as top League goalscorer in four seasons (1963, 1964, 1965 and 1969), an achievement that established Greaves as arguably the most consistent striker in English football history. His record of finishing top goalscorer in six seasons has never been matched.

With Spurs, Greaves won the FA Cup in 1962 and 1967, scoring against Burnley in the former. He also won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1963 - scoring twice in the famous 5-1 defeat of Atlético Madrid, ensuring that Spurs became the first British club to win a European trophy.

at the end of the 1969-1970 season Greaves had gone as makeweight in the deal that brought Martin Peters to Tottenham from West Ham He scored on his debut, (as he had for every team he played for, including England at full and under 21 level), with two goals against Manchester City on March 21. Two months later, on May 28, he finished sixth in the London-to-Mexico World Cup Rally with co-driver Tony Fall. He retired in 1971 having played 516 Football League games and netted 357 goals, an all-time record.

Greaves made a comeback at the age of 38, playing for Barnet F.C. in the then Southern League, playing from midfield he netted 25 goals and was their player of the season. He then went on to make several appearances for semi-professional side Woodford Town F.C. before retiring.

International career

Greaves won his first England cap in 1959, and went on to play 57 times and score 44 goals, five less than Bobby Charlton but at a much higher rate. He remains third in the all-time list of England goalscorers, behind Charlton and Gary Lineker. Greaves also holds the record for most hat-tricks for England - six in all. At the 1961 British Home Championship, Greaves achieved the remarkable feat of scoring seven goals in three games as England won the title.

In the 1962 World Cup finals match against Brazil in Chile, a stray dog ran on to the pitch and evaded all of the players' efforts to catch it until Greaves got down on all fours to beckon the animal. Though successful in catching the dog, it proceeded to urinate all over Greaves' England shirt. The Brazilian player Garrincha thought the incident was so amusing that he took the dog home as a pet.(see video here)

Greaves was the first-choice striker for the England team during the 1966 World Cup but suffered a leg injury during a game against France and had to be replaced. That replacement, Geoff Hurst, scored the winner in the quarter final against Argentina and kept his place all the way to the final, famously scoring a hat-trick as England won the tournament.

One of football's most famous photographs shows the elation on the England bench as the final whistle was blown, except for Greaves, in his suit and tie, looking astonished at what had happened. Greaves has always maintained that he felt nothing but delight at England's win and celebrated as much as the other non-playing members of the squad. He also maintains that he never felt he had a divine right to be in the side once he regained his fitness. However, his reaction at the time of England's success became well-documented - he packed his bags and headed on holiday with his wife while the rest of the squad attended an official banquet.

Post playing career

In the mid-1970s Greaves battled a well-documented alcohol problem, finally quitting drinking in February 1978. He became a popular television presenter and football pundit, striking up a memorable partnership with Ian St. John. Together they hosted a popular Saturday lunchtime football show called Saint and Greavsie from 1985 until the programme was axed in 1992.

Greaves also worked frequently for TV-am as a TV critic and was a resident team captain on ITVSporting Triangles as well as co-hosting the popular Saturday morning kids TV show, The Saturday Show. He briefly had his own talk show and has been a columnist for The Sun newspaper for many years. He also answered readers letters in Shoot magazine in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2002 Greaves was made an Inaugural Inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame. He released his autobiography, Greavsie, in 2003 and is in demand as an after-dinner speaker.

 A True Lane Legend

(Information and statistics courtesy of Spurs Odyssey and wikipedia)