Flashback: The life of Jimmy Greaves - the greatest goalscorer in English football
Teenage goal machine
Greaves was born on February 20th, 1940 in Essex, England. At the age of 15, Chelsea acquired him for their youth teams. He made his league debut in a Chelsea shirt as a 17-year-old (against Tottenham, funnily enough) and made his mark with a goal.
Greaves had a very successful start to his league career. But a few matches later, he was left out of the squad for six weeks by Chelsea manager Ted Drake, who ordered him to have a rest.
One of the reasons was to protect the 17-year-old from being ruined by the excessive physical load of top-flight football, as opponents already had their eyes on him. The second reason was that Jimmy's fame was allegedly getting to his head quickly.
In his first start after returning to the team, Greaves scored four goals in a 7–4 win over Portsmouth. In his first season, Greaves became the Blues' top scorer (22 goals in 37 matches). The attacking superstar of English football also shone in the following season.
His best moment came in a 6–2 win over reigning league champions Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he scored five goals. He was the top scorer in the league, netting 32 goals.
He continued scoring goals for fun the season after that. Greaves bagged 29 goals, shining in the match against Preston North End when he netted all five of his side's goals in a 5–4 win. However, Chelsea finished the season just three points above the relegation zone.
In the 1960/1961 season, Greaves scored several hat-tricks, had two four-goal matches, and even one match where he scored five. The hat-trick against Manchester City included his 100th league goal, making him the youngest player to reach this mark. He did it at the age of 20 years and 290 days, a record still unbeaten in England.
Outside of Great Britain, and at a completely different time, only Neymar and Erling Haaland managed to do it faster, and before them, apparently only Pele (who was 18 years old) did it. No one else, including Ferenc Puskas or Pepi Bican, has managed to score 100 goals at the top level at a younger age.
Italian episode
Greaves continued to shine and score goals in a Chelsea team that was nowhere near as good as him. The situation began to weigh on him. Greaves yearned for team success as well; he wanted to win trophies.
Chelsea were looking for ways to make some money off him, but they also didn't want to strengthen their league rivals. But finally, an interested party appeared from abroad – AC Milan. He transferred to the north of Italy in the summer of 1961 for £80,000, which was an incredibly high amount for a footballer at that time.
Greaves didn't want to leave England. The transfer to AC Milan was done somewhat behind his back. So Greaves set out for Italy with reluctance. Moreover, an unpleasant surprise awaited him. The Rossoneri changed their coach, and the new one set a strict training regime.
This was not to the liking of Greaves, who didn't mind having a pint or two from time to time. Despite scoring on his debut for AC Milan, the mutual frustration between Greaves and the AC Milan coach continued. And so Greaves left Italy after only a few months.
Becoming a Tottenham legend
Recent double-winners (1960/61) Tottenham Hotspur showed interest in Greaves' services. Spurs paid £99,999 for him, apparently to protect him from the pressure of becoming the first signing to an English team for a six-figure sum.
Greaves became the team's top scorer in every one of the nine seasons he played for Tottenham. He scored 268 goals in 381 matches for Spurs and was the team's top scorer in its history for a long time. He was surpassed only half a century later by Harry Kane (280 goals for Tottenham).
In 1970, he transferred to West Ham United. He scored 13 league goals for the Hammers, but by then, he was already dealing with one serious issue.
Football won over alcohol
Greaves had a drinking problem. Because of it, he quit professional football and even hated the sport for several years. It wasn't until 1975 that he returned to playing at least at an amateur level, also as part of his anti-alcohol therapy.
Greaves eventually beat his addiction and became a successful and famous television football pundit.
In September 2021, he died on the exact day when the two most important clubs of his life – Tottenham and Chelsea – met in the Premier League.
