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Jimmy Greaves
James Peter Greaves MBE (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is England's fourth highest international goalscorer (44 goals), Tottenham Hotspur's highest ever goalscorer (266 goals), the highest goalscorer in the history of English top-flight football (357 goals), and has also scored more hat-tricks (six) for England than anyone else. He finished as the First Division's top scorer in six seasons. He is a member of the English Football Hall of Fame.
Greaves began his professional career at Chelsea in 1957, and played in the following year's FA Youth Cup final. He scored 124 First Division goals in just four seasons before being sold on to Italian club A.C. Milan for £80,000 in April 1961. His stay in Italy was not a happy one and he returned to England with Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £99,999 in December 1961.
Whilst with Spurs he won the FA Cup in 1961–62 and 1966–67, the Charity Shield in 1962 and 1967, and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1962–63; he never won a league title but did help Spurs to a second-place finish in 1962–63. He moved to West Ham United in a player-exchange in March 1970 and retired the following year. After a four-year absence he returned to football at the non-league level, despite suffering from alcoholism. In a five-year spell he played for Brentwood, Chelmsford City, Barnet, and Woodford Town before retiring for good in 1980.
Greaves scored 13 goals in 12 England under-23 internationals and scored 44 goals in 57 full England internationals between 1959 and 1967. He played in the 1962 and 1966 FIFA World Cup, but was injured in the group stage of the 1966 World Cup and lost his first team place to Geoff Hurst, who kept Greaves out of the first team in the final. England won the World Cup, but Greaves was not given his medal until a change of FIFA rules in 2009. He was also part of the squad that finished third in UEFA Euro 1968, although he did not play any minute in the finals.
After retiring as a player Greaves went on to enjoy a successful career in broadcasting, most notably working alongside Ian St John on Saint and Greavsie from 1985 to 1992. During this period, he also made regular appearances on TV-am. He worked on a number of other sport programmes on ITV during this period, including Sporting Triangles (1987–1990).Born: February 20th, 1940, at Poplar, East London, England.
Clubs: Chelsea (1957-61) 157 League apps, 124 goals; AC Milan (1961) 14 apps, 9 goals; Tottenham H (1961-70) 321 League apps, 220 goals; West Ham (1970-71) 36 League apps, 13 goals Total 518 League apps, 366 goals.
Internationals 57 England caps, 44 goals.
Honours FA Cup winner 1962, 1967; European Cup Winners’ Cup 1963.
Career landmarks
- 1955 Joins Chelsea’s groundstaff aged 15.
- 1957 Scores on his first-team debut, against Tottenham (he performs the same feat on all senior debuts).
- 1959 England debut, in Peru. The side lose 4-1, with Greaves scoring England’s only goal.
- 1961 Joins AC Milan.
- 1961 Joins Tottenham for 99,999 – manager Bill Nicholson refusing to make Greaves the first 100,000 player – scoring a hat-trick on debut.
- 1962 Scores in Tottenham’s 3-1 FA Cup final victory over Burnley.
- 1963 Wins European Cup-Winners’ Cup, scoring twice as Tottenham beat Atletico Madrid 5-1.
- 1963-64 Leading scorer in Division One, with 35 goals.
- 1966 Greaves is injured after failing to score in three matches of the World Cup finals. He is replaced by Geoff Hurst.
- 1967 Helps Spurs to another FA Cup final win, against Chelsea.
- 1970 Transferred to West Ham for £54,000.
- 1971 Retires from professional football, aged 31.
- 1978 Admits to alcoholism while playing for Barnet in the Southern League
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