Jimmy Greaves R.I.P.

[dealtn]

A Football Legend passes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58613988

[simoan]

A Football Legend passes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58613988

Gutted doesn't cover it. My Dad saw him play for Spurs at WHL on many occasions but I only saw him play once when he was well past his prime (playing for Barnet at the time) and came on for the second half in Phil Beal's testimonial against the great Bayern Munich side of the early 70's (Beckenbauer, Muller, Breitner, Maier, Hoeness... the lot). He used to live in my home town and as a kid I always used to walk past his house hoping to see him. Never did.

And, of course, Spurs play Chelsea today.
All the best, Si

[pje16]

Indeed one of the games greatest
I saw him many times for Spurs during my childhood, you expected him to score in every game and with a league ratio of a goal every 0.66 of a game he
didn't often disappoint
While many of his goals were not in the spectaclular category, the ease with which he went past defenders and slotted the ball home
made it look so easy, which often belied the skill that it took
This clip has some of his best
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W2fp5eVjtQ

[simoan]

Indeed one of the games greatest
I saw him many times for Spurs during my childhood, you expected him to score in every game and with a league ratio of a goal every 0.66 of a game he
didn't often disappoint
While many of his goals were not in the spectaclular category, the ease with which he went past defenders and slotted the ball home
made it look so easy, which often belied the skill that it took
This clip has some of his best
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W2fp5eVjtQ

And the fact he made it look so easy was what made him so special. To control the ball so well, and strike the ball so cleanly on the often terrible pitches of the 60's and 70's and yet score that many goals whilst defenders were practically committing GBH on your body was something else. It's too easy to make comparisons with modern day football but the stats don't lie and the conditions under which he achieved them were much, much worse than today. A goal scoring genius.

All the best, Si

[pje16]

This BBC page has some fantastic tributes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/58615479

[Pendrainllwyn]

I only saw him play once when he was well past his prime (playing for Barnet at the time)

Me too. Saw Greavsie play for Barnet away at Worcester City. Playing in central midfield with a few surplus kilos the game passed him by somewhat. Used to love watching him on Saint & Greavsie on a Saturday lunch time. Wonderful sense of humour.

Pendrainllwyn

[kiloran]

I only saw him play once when he was well past his prime (playing for Barnet at the time)

Me too. Saw Greavsie play for Barnet away at Worcester City. Playing in central midfield with a few surplus kilos the game passed him by somewhat. Used to love watching him on Saint & Greavsie on a Saturday lunch time. Wonderful sense of humour.

Pendrainllwyn

I saw George Best in a Celtic-Hibs game. Best had a lot of surplus kilos but was head and shoulders above the other 21 players

--kiloran

[simoan]

The most interesting fact that I’ve heard so far today is that Jimmy was the record goal scorer in European league football for 46 years. Ronaldo went past him in 2017, but then we’re talking about the greatest player to ever play the game IMHO.

Second most interesting stat: he scored 100 goals for a very average Chelsea team before his 21st birthday. Not even Ronaldo managed that.

All the best, Si

[nimnarb]

Boyhood hero along with Danny Blanchflower.

I hope they do a special tribute to him as getting an MBE only last year was IMO a disgrace. Today they hand them out like confetti. First saw him when I was 5 years of age. A true genius of keeping control of the ball as well with a killer instinct for finding the inside of the net. and a jolly nice chap to boot. Also so upsetting to me anyway that his last few years he was so ill and had dementia.
Hope Jimmy you visit football nirvana. RIP.

[simoan]

There's a nice edition of Football Daily remembering Jimmy on BBC Sounds, including a great interview with Jimmy Armfield looking back on his career.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09wdrcn

All the best, Si

[stewamax]

And the fact he made it look so easy was what made him so special

To my mind this is what marks out the 'really great' from the 'just great'; Federer, Jim Clark, Juan Fangio, .... graceful is perhaps the apposite word. They may be trying very hard but give the impression that everything is planned and under control.
It is telling also what their peers (at least would-be-peers) think about them. Fellow Scot and very talented F1 driver Jackie Stewart once said about Clark: "He was so smooth, he was so clean, he drove with such finesse. He never bullied a racing car, he sort of caressed it into doing the things he wanted it to do."
Greaves in his prime gave that masterful impression.

[gryffron]

Legend.

Classic Greavsie wisdom from the TV show that I remember to this day:
"If you don't shoot you don't score. And at the end of the day it's the team that scores the most goals that wins the game."

Gryff