Greaves, Jimmy

Chelsea, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur

Greaves scored the first goal already in his debut match for Chelsea in 1957 . Speaking for Chelsea, Greaves finished the championship twice as the top scorer, in 1959 and 1961 , and his 41 goals in the championship in the 1960/61 season still remain a club record. Despite his striking talent, Greaves did not win a single trophy with Chelsea.

In 1960, Greaves became the youngest player to score a total of 100 goals in the championship. He scored his 100th goal in the First Division at the age of 20 and 290 days (and at 23, he, like Dixie Dean , scored his 200th goal).

In 1961, he moved to the Italian “ Milan ”, before rejecting the solid offer of “ Newcastle ”, but he was not able to gain a foothold in a foreign club. He returned to England, signing a contract with Tottenham Hotspur in the amount of 99,999 pounds. An unusual figure in the contract was designed to relieve Greaves of pressure "to become the first footballer worth £ 100,000."

In Tottenham, Greaves became a true legend. He played for Spurs from 1961 to 1970 , playing in 379 matches and scoring 266 goals, including 220 goals in the First Division . For four seasons (1963, 1964, 1965 and 1969), Greaves was the top scorer of the championship. He is considered one of the most stable strikers in the history of English football. His record as the top scorer in four seasons has not yet been broken.

With Tottenham Greaves won the FA Cup in 1962 and 1967 (in the 1962 finals, he scored a goal against Burnley ). He also won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1963 , scoring two goals in the famous final against Atletico Madrid , ending 5-1. After that, Spurs became the first British club to win a European trophy. Until now, he is considered one of the best players of Tottenham Hotspur.

Team Career

Greaves received his first call to England on May 17, 1959 for a match against Peru . In this match, he managed to score a goal, but the British still lost with a score of 4: 1. In total for the national team, he played in 57 matches and scored 44 goals, only 5 goals less than Bobby Charlton . He ranks third in the list of top scorers in England, second only to Charlton and Gary Lineker . Greaves holds a record for the number of “ hat tricks ” for England - he scored 6 “hat tricks." In the 1961 United Kingdom Home Championships , Greaves set a record by scoring 7 goals in 3 matches for the national team; as a result, England became the champion.

At the 1962 World Cup, a stray dog ​​ran onto the field during a match between the national teams of England and Brazil . All the efforts of the players to catch the animal were in vain, but then Greaves got on all fours and lured the dog to him. This attempt was successful, the dog was caught, but at first she thoroughly urinated on Greaves's T-shirt. The Brazilian Garrinche liked this incident so much that he took this dog to his home.

On the eve of the home world championship in 1966, he made the second poker in his career for the national team, scoring 4 goals in a away match against the Norwegian national team (6: 1). Greaves started the World Cup as England's main striker, but got a leg injury in the final match of the group stage with the French national team . He was replaced by 24-year-old West Ham striker Jeffrey Hurst , who scored a winning goal in the quarterfinals against Argentina and retained his place in the squad until the final match, scoring the famous “hat trick” in the last.

One of the famous photographs captures the moment when the whole bench of the England team jumps up after the final whistle, which means England's victory at the World Cup. The entire bench, except for Jimmy Greaves, who remains to sit in his suit and tie, and looks extremely amazed at what just happened. Greaves always claimed that after the victory of England, he felt nothing but joy and celebrated the victory no less than other players who remained on the bench. However, his reaction to the victory of the England team is well documented: after the final match, he collected his luggage and went on vacation with his wife, while the rest of the team attended an official banquet.

After the 1966 World Cup, Greaves played in only three matches for the national team, in which he scored 1 goal. His last match for the national team was the game against the Austrian national team in May 1967 . At the same time, at the club level, Greaves remained one of the best strikers in England for two more seasons: in the national championships of the 1967/68 and 1968/69 seasons, he scored 50 goals in 81 matches (in the 1968/69 season he became the top scorer of the championship).

In November 2007, it was announced that Greaves and 10 other reservists from the victorious 1966 England team would be awarded FIFA medals ^[2] .

Team

  Tottenham Hotspur

• FA Cup Winner ( 2 ): 1962, 1967
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup : 1963
• Super Bowl of England ( 2 ): 1962, 1967
• Total: 5 trophies

  England team

• World Champion : 1966 ^[3]
• UK Home Championship Winner ( 4 ): 1960, 1961, 1964, 1965
• Total: 5 trophies

Personal

• Top scorer of the championship of England ( 6 ): 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969
• Top scorer in England Championship history: 357 goals
• Enters English Football Hall of Fame : 2002
• Top scorer in Tottenham Hotspur history: 268 goals

Club statistics

Team Goals

England goals (results) are marked first.

Books co-authored with Norman Hiller

• Profile of a football player in the English Football Hall of Fame
• Interview with Jimmy Greaves
• Greaves profile for Tottenham Hotspur
• Goal man