GREAVES CAMPAIGN MOVES TO THE LANE
SportSMail will be at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tonight to press forward with our Jimmy Greaves campaign as Tottenham celebrate their greatest goalscorer on the eve of his 80th birthday. We will distribute 5,000 leaflets in the streets around the stadium, urging fans to get behind ‘Give Greavsie a Gong’ and sign an online petition which has attracted more than 21,000 signatures in less than a week. Tottenham and England legend Gary Lineker has become the latest star to add his name to our petition, following in the footsteps of Harry Kane and Jose Mourinho, who also offered support to the campaign to see Greaves recognised formally by the honours system for his contribution to football. Jimmy’s son Danny said the family has been overwhelmed by the response. Greaves has been disabled since a severe stroke five years ago and is not well enough to attend the Champions League last-16 first leg against RB Leipzig, but family members will be among the guests of honour as Spurs dedicate the occasion to him. He scored 266 goals, including 15 hat-tricks, in less than nine years at the club and it is 50 years next month since he left for West Ham. ‘Jimmy’s goalscoring records have stood the test of time in domestic and international football, marking him out as one of the greatest ever English strikers,’ Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy told Sportsmail as we launched the campaign. ‘His contribution to our club’s history is substantial and that is why he is one of the first players any supporter still talks about when debating the finest players to wear our colours. ‘Footballers continue to be compared to Jimmy and his achievements. We look forward to welcoming Jimmy’s family to our match against RB Leipzig to mark his 80th birthday.’ Greaves’ image will adorn the front of the programme, and there will be special features inside to mark his landmark birthday and a video montage of his goals on the screens at half-time. Tottenham were the first English team to lift a European trophy when they won the European Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1963. Greaves scored twice in a 5-1 victory against Atletico Madrid in the final in Rotterdam.