GREAVES, James Peter (1961-79)
Position: Inside forward
Height: 5ft 8ins
Weight: 10st 8lbs
Born: East Ham, London, 20 February, 1940
Signed from AC Milan (Italy) December 1961
Transferred to West Ham United Mar 1970, part-exchange with Martin Peters
Also played for: Chelsea, AC Milan, West Ham United, Barnet, Chelmsford City, Brentwood Town, Woodford Town, England
Spurs Record:
Debut: 16 December, 1961 v Blackpool (FL) (h) won 5-2
Appearances: League 321, FA Cup 36, League Cup 8, Europe 14
Goals: League 220, FA Cup 32, League Cup 5, Europe 9
There are few words that can adequately describe the genius of Jimmy Greaves, one of the greatest goalscorers of all-time and the second highest goalscorer in our history.
Scoring 266 goals in 379 games is a truly phenomenal record but it is frightening to think how many he may have scored if Spurs manager Arthur Rowe had not fallen ill early in 1955. Greaves had been expected to sign for us on leaving school but in Rowe’s absence, Chelsea nipped in and persuaded Greaves to join them. It was another six years before he donned the white shirt he had always been destined to grace.
Greaves made his League debut for Chelsea in August 1957. It was at White Hart Lane and he scored, the first in a long line of debut goals. For club, for country, in one competition after another, when Greaves made his first appearance he would inevitably score.
With 132 goals in 169 games over four years at Stamford Bridge, Greaves topped the wanted list of every Italian club planning for the day their League lifted its embargo on foreign players. That came in June 1961 but Greaves ended up spending a difficult six months at AC Milan. His frustrations came to an end in December 1961 when Bill Nicholson laid out £99,999 to secure the only player he thought could improve the ‘Double’ winning side.
Greaves scored a wonderful hat-trick on his debut and, as so often, Nicholson was proved right. At the end of the 1961/62 season, he played in his first FA Cup Final and scored the opener within three minutes. A year later he went one better, netting twice as we lifted the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
For eight years Greaves was simply outstanding, breaking one record after another. Scoring was his job and that was all he concentrated on. It is the most difficult art in football but for Greaves it was easy. His anticipation was incredible, moving into position as if he knew where a misplaced pass or deflection would deposit the ball, his reactions razor-sharp and his initial burst of pace enough to take him away from any defender. When he got the ball, his control was immaculate, his balance perfect and his coolness unsurpassable. In one-on-one situations there was only one winner and while most players would stand back and watch a shot, Greaves, would follow the ball in waiting for the rebound, ready to apply the final touch.
He scored many spectacular goals but perhaps the most memorable came in October 1968 against Leicester City. Collecting a Pat Jennings punt wide on the right, just inside the Leicester half, he had the ball under control and the first defender beaten in one movement. He then weaved his way past three more opponents, dummied Peter Shilton and slipped the ball home. For several weeks our matchday programme cover pictured Greaves applying the finishing touch as four defenders could be seen in the background at varying stages of recovering their feet.
Greaves also scored 44 goals in 57 appearances for England but missed the 1966 World Cup success as he continued to recover from hepatitis. Some consolation came a year later as we beat Chelsea in the 1967 FA Cup Final.
He left us for West Ham United in March 1970 as part of the Martin Peters transfer and retired from the top flight a year later. In October 1972 he became the first Spurs player of modern times granted a testimonial. A crowd of 45,799 turned out to see the goalscorer extraordinaire score inside three minutes.
His tally of 266 competitive goals stood as our club record for no fewer than 53 years until broken by another prolific goalscorer, Harry Kane, in February 2023. Greaves’ 37 league goals in 1962/63 and 220 in total still stand as club records.