Jimmy GREAVES
(1940-2021)
The death of Jimmy Greaves united three old London rivals along with all the rest of English football in mourning.
Greaves starred for Chelsea and Tottenham, either side of a brief spell with Milan, and then West Ham before increasing disenchantment prompted his retirement at only 31 in 1971.
His club honours with Tottenham included the FA Cup in 1962 and 1967, plus the now-defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1963.
At international level Greaves notably missed the 1966 World Cup final victory over West Germany because of injury. Either side of that bittersweet day he scored 44 goals in 57 internationals between 1959 and 1967 and remains England’s fourth-highest marksman. His six international hat-tricks are also still an England record.
Greaves was a prolific marksman at club level. He scored on his debuts for all of his senior clubs, and is not only Spurs’ record goalscorer (266) but also the highest scorer in the history of English top-flight football, with 357. He was the old First Division’s top scorer on six occasions and was honoured, belatedly, with the award of an MBE in 2021.
By then Greaves had overcome a battle with alcohol and won millions of new admirers for his good-natured TV work, including his Saint and Greavsie partnership with former Liverpool forward Ian St John. He is survived by wife Irene, sons Danny and Andrew and daughters Lynn and Mitzi. Keir Radnedge