Jimmy Greaves

GREAVES THE GREAT

Never the most athletic of players, Jimmy Greaves never had to be. His work was in and around the box, where he came alive. His goal-scoring is renowned the world over and that is why he didn’t keep up in training or chase players down. He even enjoyed a ciggie in the dressing room !! But his strike rate was phenomenal. Scoring on every major debut he made, Greaves immediately set himself high standards, which he maintained throughout most of his career. A hat-trick in his first match against Blackpool immediately won the Spurs fans over and his consistent scoring throughout his nine year stay brought him 220 goals in 330 League matches.

He had been a child prodigy at Chelsea, scoring against Spurs in his first match, before taking the trail to Italy to play for AC Milan. It was not a happy time for Jimmy and he was relieved when Bill Nicholson wanted to return him to his native London. Coming into a Tottenham team that had won the Double and were one of the most impressive teams in Europe did not phase him, as he was always confident in his own ability. To ensure that more pressure was not heaped on Greaves’ shoulders, Nicholson paid AC Milan £99,999 for him to avoid him becoming the first £100,000 player.

Greaves slipped into the Tottenham team like a foot into a comfortable slipper. He linked with his England forward Bobby Smith and later with Alan Gilzean to form deadly partnerships, but he was more than capable of doing things himself. The lightning reflexes that could steer a ball into the goal from almost any angle and any range were amazing. His capacity to hit the target was like radar and his talent for being in the right place at the right time was like that of a master chronologist.

But there was more to his game than just scoring goals. He tells the apocryphal tale of the day he tackled Tommy Smith and how it was one of the biggest mistakes of his life !! But chasing back wasn’t his game. His was chasing the glory of goals, which came in abundance. His contribution to the team was not diminished by any perceived lack of team play. His team-mates realised they were in the presence of a true goal-scoring legend. He didn’t care how they went in, as long as they went in. Goals in cup finals, goals in the league, goals in friendlies. Goals anywhere, as long as he scored. Goals could have been his middle name.

His famous home goals against Leicester City, Manchester and Newcastle Uniteds in the mid-60s are often on TV and can be found online, with his weaving runs through the defence making the monochrome images shimmer, almost with excitement, because you know what will happen, as so many opponents knew back then. The ball in the back of the net.  Those memories are burned into the memory banks and we will never see another like Jimmy Greaves in the flesh.

The Funky Phantom (2002).

JIMMY GREAVES

In the beginning there was the word, and the word was “GREAVES”.  The terms “World Class”, “Magic” and “Pretty Good” just don’t begin to describe this goalscoring “God”.  He was “The Master”.  He was my idol, the genie in the white shirt.  Chivers, Hoddle, and the rest; Good? Yes.  Great?  Yes, but Genius? No.

Spurs were getting beaten by crap sides they should have slaughtered, winning cups and playing attractive football; some things just don’t change.  Oh yes, we used to win at home fairly often, you probably won’t believe me when I say that during some seasons we didn’t lose at home.  Added to all this it DIDN’T matter how badly we played because we were always likely to score goals.  Why?  Because ‘He’ was on our side.

Jimmy Greaves was beyond compare. Whenever and wherever he got the ball the crowd hushed in anticipation, (well I did anyway). Just a goal moocher some disbelievers said, those who somehow forgot the goals where he glided from the half way line, leaving defenders in his wake, and slid the ball past the keeper as he came out to narrow the angle, or just waltzed past him and side footed the ball home, before saluting to the crowd.

Poetry in motion!

He scored “Once In A Lifetime Goals” every season, beating player after player in those mazey dribbles that were so electrifying. Who could want for a greater hero? Always the gentleman, playing the game with a smile and a laugh. Someone to admire from afar. Who could forget the cheeky penalties and free kicks that just relied into the corner of the net when the keeper or defenders were looking the wrong way. Then it was one arm raised and the trot back to the centre circle. No hugs or kisses – we’re talking about Dave Mackay, Martin ‘Gappy’ Chivers and Mike England here you know – not a pretty thought.

Greaves v. Lineker.  Who’s the best?  No competition.

In the box both are/were brilliant, always being in the right place at the right time and sniffing out goals, but outside the box GL’s not in the same class. The dip of Jim’s shoulder sending defenders the wrong way, before the sprint into the area was nothing short of usual.

After he’d retired, I made a pilgrimage to Herne Bay on the Kent coast to see him in a testimonial game. After standing around watching for 50 minutes or so, he scored two typical goals in as many minutes. The magic was still there as he went past defenders as though they weren’t there.

The worst moment of my life?  When we sold him to West Ham?  No (and we just knew that he’d score against Man. City on his debut – not to mention against us the next season).  No, it was in a Birmingham book shop where he was signing his Booker Prize winner, “It’s A Funny Old Life” (always great at everything!).  Mandy, my wife, who happened to be passing, strolled in, chatted to him, and got him to autograph a copy of his book as a birthday present for me.  I am now constantly taunted with the casual, off-hand remark – “Of course, you’ve never met him have you!”

I still live in hope.

Dave Ballantyne (May 1992).

GREAVES – THE ULTIMATE PREDATOR

Murky grey skies and a steady drizzle had not deterred Christmas shoppers, thronging Tottenham High Road.  Trolley buses and cars inched along the congested road, past the brightly decorated shops, past the Edmonton Regal cinema where Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers starred in a re-run of “The Millionairess”.  Traffic crawled past Berry’s, the music store, as The Shadows’ “Frightened City” echoed out onto the damp pavements.  It would be quicker to-walk the half mile or so to White Hart Lane. Traditionally, the last couple of Saturdays before Christmas would mean a reduction in football attendances.  Not this Saturday.  Not Saturday, 16th December 1961.  This would be a day Spurs fans would probably remember for the rest of their lives.

Only a couple of weeks earlier, Spurs manager, Bill Nicholson, had rescued former Chelsea goal scoring phenomenon, Jimmy Greaves from his ill-fated sojourn at AC Milan.  The transfer fee of £99,999 had been negotiated to take the pressure off Greaves being England’s first One Hundred Thousand Pound player.  The previous week at Home Park, Plymouth, Jimmy had made his debut in the famous white shirt, appearing in a Combination match. The Plymouth crowd was over twelve thousand, and their Chairman, Ron Blindell, through the loudspeakers said: “On behalf of Plymouth Argyle, Devon, Cornwall and last, but not least, the whole of England, I say to you welcome. We are glad to have you back”.  Jimmy duly scored in a 4-2 win. He was glad to be back and so were Spurs.  The anticipation on that damp and drizzly pre Christmas Saturday was intense.  Spurs were at home to Blackpool.  It would be Jimmy’s home league debut.  Over forty two thousand fans squeezed into the Lane.  In every first appearance Greaves had made with new club he had scored. Chelsea’s juniors, third, reserve and first teams.

Young England, England U23’s and full national team.  Reserves for Spurs, and now Blackpool ?  No problem … the fans did not have to wait long as a long and high throw-in from Dave Mackay on the left towards the near-post was headed back across the Blackpool penalty area by winger, Terry Medwin.  In a white blur, Greaves launched himself into a vertical scissors kick.  The ball nearly broke the roof of the Park Lane goal net.  Blackpool keeper, Tony Waiters, had not moved and the fans were sent into orbit.  The crowd went into hysterical delirium.  If the Spurs fans went wild, then his second goal kept it going, as Greavsie headed home from close range.

In the second half he completed his hat-trick with a typical slide-rule header.  Greaves was back alright … in a marriage to Spurs that must have been made in heaven.  His goal exploits became legendary, his famous baggy shorts hiding an incredible lower torso and upper thigh strength that enabled him to drop his shoulders and glide past defenders as if he was on roller skates.  His anticipation, control and acceleration would leave the opposition scratching their heads in disbelief.

After winning FA Cup Final and Cup Winners Cup medals in 1962 and 1963 he was hit with a serious bout of hepatitis.  Overlooked by Alf Ramsey for the latter stages of the 1966 World Cup Finals was a psychological blow, but his prolific partnership with Alan Gilzean saw another Cup Final winners medal against his old club Chelsea in 1967.  The late sixties though, saw him struggle for form and in 1970 he was transferred to West Ham, as part exchange for Martin Peters.  Never a great header of the ball, it was ironic that like his first ever goal for Spurs against Blackpool, his last goal was a close range glancing header against Derby County.  True to legend, he scored on his debut for West Ham.

His battle against alcoholism has been well documented and now of course he has become a well known figure in the media.  Never losing his sense of humour, looking back on his career he once said … “I think Chelsea fans considered my time at Stamford Bridge the best of my professional football career.  Spurs fans though, think my best years were at White Hart Lane.  I must confess that West Ham fans agree !!”

Greavesie …… the legend lives on !

The Spurs programme of the following match got this one wrong.
The goal pictured as actually Greavsie’s second goal for Tottenham  !!

Vaya con Dios mi amigos …………. “Argentine” Pete Hanscomb (1991).