Jimmy Greaves

Opposite left: Scenes of jubilation in Tottenham as Spurs ratchet up another first when they bring home Britain's first European trophy in May 1963.

Opposite right: Players parade the Cup Winner’s Cup through the streets of Tottenham (l-r: Cliff Jones (rear). Bill Brown (front), Ron Henry, Jimmy Greaves (holding cup) and Terry Dyson).

Jimmy Greaves was a slightly built inside-fopward with lightning-fast feet, a razor-sharp brain and a killer instinct in front of goal. Throughout the 1960s Greaves was the foremost goal-poacher in English football. Although closely associated with Tottenham Hotspur; he started his career at Chelsea where he became a teenage prodigy before joining AC Milan in 1961. His failure to settle in Italy, where he played just 15 games, enabled Spurs’ boss Bill Nicholson to bring him to White Hart Lane for what was then the hefty price tag of ?99,999.

Record goalscorer

During the following nine years Greaves hit 220 league goals for Spurs, including 37 in the 1962-63 season, both of which are still club records. He was the First Division’s top scorer six times in that nine-year period. Despite a much-publicised, and ultimately victorious, battle with alcoholism, his goalscoring talents were evident throughout his career By the time he retired, after playing for a number of seasons for another London club. West Ham, he had scored a total of 357 league goals, all in the First Division.

44 goals for England

Unfortunately for Greaves, in a decade which witnessed many of his most incredible achievements, he chose the worst possible moment to suffer a drop in form. He was Alf Ramsey’s first-choice striker as the England team went into the 1966 World Cup, but was replaced by Geoff Hurst in the latter stages of the tournament, Despite missing several of the 1966 World Cup games, including the Final, he scored 44 times for England, putting him third behind Bobby Charlton and Gary Lineker in the all-time list of England strikers. But Greaves’ haul came from just 57 international appearances, far fewer than either Lineker or Charlton, who won 80 and 106 caps respectively - testament to his magnificent goalscoring talents.