The Kid who Loved Soccer: Thanks to Jimmy Greaves
JUN 7, 2023
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The Schmendrick is a Tottenham Hotspur (English Premier League) supporter and has been since a 6/7 year old.
How did this happen? An idol, the one and only Jimmy Greaves MBE (1940–2021)
The reason why this is important now is that Harry Kane the current England captain and Spurs player, has finally overtaken Jimmy Greaves as Tottenham’s all time top scorer. (January 2023)
Greaves, who started his career at Chelsea, scored 266 goals in 379 games for Spurs between 1961 and 1970. However, Greaves had already scored 124 times in 157 top-flight games for Chelsea.
Kane, who made his Spurs debut in 2011, has played 415 times for the club.
In terms of goals per game for Tottenham, Jimmy Greaves beats Kane easily. Kane 0.66 goals per league game , Greaves 0.68 goals per league game.
Jimmy Greaves was the youngest player in the history of English soccer to score 100 league goals getting there at the age of 20 years and 279 days. The next youngest was 3 years later!
Then there is their goal scoring for England. Greaves ratio was 0.77 goals per game, while Kane is at 0.64 goals per game.
Let’s talk Europe. In the history of the top 5 European leagues only 2 players have scored more top flight goals than Jimmy Greaves. Messi and Ronaldo, that’s how good Greaves was.
Jimmy played in all England games (except the Final) of Englands only World Cup win in 1966. He got a winners medal.
Alan Mullery, a former teammate of Greaves at Spurs, remembers, “Jimmy was a wonderful, wonderful footballer, the best goalscorer to ever play,” he said. “He scored goals for fun, you’d be irritated he’d not touched the ball and then, bang, it was in the back of the net. He was the best I’ve ever seen.”
Jimmy Greaves is still my hero.
