Former England great Jimmy Greaves dies aged 81

LONDON: Jimmy Greaves was hailed as the “best goalscorer to ever play” after the former Tottenham and England striker died aged 81 on Sunday.

Greaves, Tottenham’s all-time leading scorer, suffered a stroke in 2015 which left him wheelchairbound and with severely impaired speech.

One of the game’s great characters, Greaves, who also starred for Chelsea during his iconic career, died at home on Sunday morning.

“We are extremely saddened to learn of the passing of the great Jimmy Greaves, not just Tottenham Hotspur’s record goalscorer but the finest marksman this country has ever seen,” the club said.

Tottenham planned to pay an emotional tribute to Greaves when they hosted Chelsea in a fitting Premier League fixture on Sunday.

West Ham, another of Greaves’ old teams, held a minute’s applause ahead of Sunday’s match against Manchester United, with an image of the striker displayed on the stadium’s big screen.

Greaves’ former Tottenham team-mate Alan Mullery led the tributes, saying: “I can picture Jimmy on the field, side-footing the ball past the keeper. He was a wonderful footballer, the best goalscorer to ever play.

“He scored goals for fun, you’d be irritated that he’d not touched the ball and then bang, back in the net.”

A member of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning squad, Greaves scored 44 goals in his 57 appearances for England.

His strike rate was phenomenal as he scored 357 goals in England’s top flight, a record which still stands.

For Tottenham, the charismatic Londoner, renowned for his cheeky wit, scored 266 goals in 379 appearances between 1961 and 1970. Martin Chivers, who was Greaves’ fellow forward at Tottenham, said the only modernday player he would compare his friend to was Lionel Messi.

“You’d have to look at Messi, how he jinks in and out. Jimmy was like that,” Chivers said.

“He was a cheeky chappy, one that always put me into trouble, all pranks and jokes. But on the field he was deadly.”