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English Football Legends Series

Jimmy Greaves was the finest goal-scorer of his generation, arguably the greatest ever in English football.

Jimmy Greaves

Clubs: Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United

Position: Forward

Appearances*: 584

Goals*: 382

Honours: FA Cup, 2
Cup Winners Cup, 1
World Cup, 1

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* League appearances and goals only

A slightly-built striker, he possessed pace, speed of thought and a killer instinct in front of goal.

No player in the history of the English game has scored more top-flight goals.

Chelsea

Greaves signed for Chelsea in 1957, and made a scoring debut for the Blues at the age of just 17.

He stayed for 4 years, scoring 124 goals in 157 games, and was the club's leading scorer in 1959 and 1961. His 41 league goals in the 1960-61 season remains a club record.

In 1960 he became the youngest player to score 100 league goals in English football, and his talent attracted the attention of Italian giants AC Milan.

Milan

Greaves moved to the San Siro in 1961, but he failed to settle in Italy, and after just 12 games he return to England with Tottenham.

The transfer fee was 99,999 pounds, apparently to relieve Greaves of the pressure of being the world's first 100,000 pound player.

Tottenham Hotspur

He spent 9 seasons at Tottenham, scoring a club record 266 goals.

While at the club, he was the League's top scorer in four seasons, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1969.

He won the FA Cup in 1962 and 1967, and the European Cup Winners' Cup - scoring twice in the 5-1 drubbing of Atletico Madrid - in 1963.

West Ham and later Career

In 1970, he moved to West Ham in a deal that took Martin Peters to Tottenham.

He made his Hammers debut on March 21, scoring two goals against Manchester City to keep up his amazing record of scoring on every debut he made.

Retirement and comeback

He retired in 1971 having played 516 league games and scored 357 goals.

Greaves made a comeback in 1977 joining Barnet in the Southern League, at the age of 38.

He later played for non-league Woodford Town before hanging up his boots for good in 1980.

England International career

Greaves played 57 times for England scoring 44 goals. He played in the 1962 World Cup, and was first choice striker for 1966.

However, he was sidelined after suffering an injury in the game against France.

His replacement, Geoff Hurst, took his chance and scored the winner in the quarter final against Argentina.

Greaves was fit again for the final, but manager Alf Ramsey decided not to change a winning side, and persevered with Hurst. He responded by scoring a hat-trick as England won the trophy.

Only the 11 players who played in the game received medals, although an FA-led campaign resulted in Greaves, and the other members of the squad, finally being awarded winners medals in 2009.

Career after football

After retiring, Greaves became a popular television presenter and pundit, as well as a regular columnist for The Sun newspaper.

He also authored 18 books in partnership with author, Norman Giller.

Jimmy Greaves was an inaugural inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

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