Jimmy Greaves: a life in pictures

The Spurs and Chelsea legend has died aged 81. Many regard the forward as the greatest goalscorer England has ever produced and he is, with 357 goals, the highest scorer in English top-flight football history. He also holds the record for scoring more hat-tricks (six) for England than anyone else

Main image: Jimmy Greaves is carried off the field by Chelsea fans after scoring four times in his final appearance for the club. Photograph: Keystone Press/Alamy Stock Photo

  • James Peter ‘Jimmy’ Greaves was born on 20 February 1940 in Manor Park, east London. However the family were bombed out six weeks later and moved to Dagenham where they lived until Greaves, standing with the ball, was 10.
    James Peter “Jimmy” Greaves was born on 20 February 1940 in Manor Park, east London. However the family were bombed out six weeks later and moved to Dagenham where they lived until Greaves, standing with the ball, was 10.

  • Greaves was scouted playing football while a schoolboy by Chelsea’s Jimmy Thompson and in 1955 was signed as an apprentice. After making an impression at youth level he turned professional aged 17, pictured, in 1957.
    Greaves was scouted playing football while a schoolboy by Chelsea’s Jimmy Thompson and in 1955 was signed as an apprentice. After making an impression at youth level he turned professional aged 17, pictured, in 1957

  • Greaves was an instant success and scored on his First Division debut on 24 August 1957 against Tottenham in a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane. The News Chronicle reported that the teenager ‘showed the ball control, confidence and positional strength of a seasoned campaigner’ and compared his debut to the instant impact that the young Duncan Edwards had as a teenager.
    Greaves was an instant success and scored on his First Division debut on 24 August, 1957 against Tottenham Hotspur in a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane. The News Chronicle reported that the teenager “showed the ball control, confidence and positional strength of a seasoned campaigner” and compared his debut to the instant impact that the young Duncan Edwards had as a teenager

  • Greaves married Irene Barden at the age of 18 at Romford register office in 1958.
    Greaves was aged 18 when he married Irene Barden at Romford register office in 1958

  • Greaves won his first England cap in May 1959 against Peru, scoring his side’s only goal in a 4–1 defeat. Greaves regularly found the net in subsequent matches, including a hat-trick in England’s 9-3 drubbing of Scotland at Wembley in April 1961.
    Greaves won his first England cap in May 1959 against Peru, scoring his side’s only goal in a 4–1 defeat. Greaves regularly found the net in subsequent matches, including a hat-trick in England’s 9-3 drubbing of Scotland at Wembley in April 1961

  • Despite regularly banging in goals, Greaves became disillusioned at Stamford Bridge and, with Chelsea needing extra cash, the club agreed to sell the striker to Milan. His last match for Chelsea was in April 1961 against Nottingham Forest when he was made captain and scored all his team’s goals in their 4-3 win. It was his 13th hat-trick for Chelsea and took his tally for the season to a club record of 41 goals in 40 league games.
    Greaves is carried off the field by Chelsea fans after his last game for the club

  • Greaves loading a truck with his possessions as the family move from Hornchurch, Essex, to Milan in August 1961.
    Greaves loading a truck with his possessions as the family move from Hornchurch, Essex, to Milan in August 1961

  • Greaves (left) fires the ball past Internazionale’s goalkeeper Lorenzo Buffon to score Milan’s second in a 3-1 win over their local rivals in October 1961. Greaves scored nine goals in 14 appearances for the Rossoneri.
    Greaves (left) fires the ball past Internazionale’s goalkeeper Lorenzo Buffon, to score Milan’s second in a 3-1 win over their local rivals in October 1961. Greaves scored nine goals in 14 appearances for the Rossoneri

  • Before the move was fully confirmed, the 21-year-old became unhappy at the thought of leaving London and tried to cancel it but Milan’s manager, Giuseppe Viani, refused to annul the deal. Greaves’s relationship with the disciplinarian coach Nereo Rocco, Viani’s replacement, was a particular problem. Greaves recalled: ‘He made my life hell and I didn’t exactly bring sunshine to his .… Our training was subjected to the bullying of Rocco who constantly barked orders like some demented sergeant major.”
    Jimmy Greaves of Milan August 1961

  • Despite demonstrating the remarkable goalscoring prowess that he had built his reputation on, Greaves remained homesick and miserable at Milan and was transfer-listed. The Spurs manager, Bill Nicholson, wanted extra firepower for a team coming off the back of a triumphant Double-winning season and Greaves was exhilarated at the prospect of joining Tottenham. Here Greaves rounds West Bromwich’s keeper Jock Wallace to score one of his two goals in Spurs’ 4-2 win in the FA Cup fifth round in 1962.
    Greaves rounds West Bromwich Albion keeper Jock Wallace to score one of his two goals in Spurs’ 4-2 win in the FA Cup 5th Round

  • Greaves drinks from a large bottle of champagne in the Wembley dressing room as he celebrates Spurs’ 3-1 win over Burnley in the 1962 FA Cup final.
    Greaves drinks from a large bottle of champagne in the Wembley dressing room as he celebrates Spurs’ 3-1 win over Burnley in the 1962 FA Cup final

  • Greaves travelled to Chile in June 1962 as part of England’s World Cup squad. Their 3-1 quarter-final defeat by Brazil was interrupted by a stray dog that invaded the pitch. The dog evaded all the players’ efforts to catch it until Greaves got down on all fours to grab the dog and hand it over to the officials. During the incident the dog urinated all over Greaves’s shirt and he was forced to play the rest of the match smelling of dog wee. Brazil’s Garrincha thought the incident so amusing that he took the dog home as a pet.
    Jimmy Greaves and a stray dog during the 1962 World Cup game against Brazil

  • Tottenham’s Peter Baker and Greaves (right) show off the European Cup Winners’ Cup to their fans on their victory parade through north London after they beat Atlético Madrid 5-1, with Greaves scoring twice.
    Tottenham’s Peter Baker and Greaves (right) show off the European Cup Winners’ Cup to their fans on their victory parade through north London after they beat Atlético Madrid 5-1, with Greaves scoring twice

  • Greaves practises a scissor-kick during training, the type he scored on his Spurs debut against Blackpool back in December 1961.
    Jimmy Greaves training ahead of the 1967 FA Cup final

  • Greaves (right) slides the ball past the Rest of the World goalkeeper Milutin Soskic to score the decisive goal during the FA centenary match at Wembley in October 1963. England won 2-1.
    Greaves (right) slides the ball past the Rest of the World goalkeeper Milutin Soskic to score the decisive goal during the FA centenary match at Wembley in October 1963. England won 2-1

  • Greaves (centre) talks to Spurs teammate Terry Dyson in the Old Trafford dressing room in September 1964
    Greaves (centre) talks to teammate Terry Dyson in the Old Trafford dressing room in September 1964

  • At the 1966 World Cup Greaves played all three group games against Uruguay, Mexico and France (pictured). However, in the win against France Joseph Bonnel raked his studs down Greaves’s shin, causing a wound that required 14 stitches and left a permanent scar. His replacement for the quarter-final against Argentina, Geoff Hurst, scored the only goal and kept his place all the way to the final,
    Greaves tries to bring the ball down in the 1966 World Cup game against France

  • Jimmy Armfield (red sweater) moves to hug a composed Alf Ramsey, while Ron Flowers and Peter Bonetti (far right) raise their arms, and the England physio Harold Shepherdson cheers for joy while Jimmy Greaves (second right) looks concerned during England’s victory over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final. ‘A lot of people say to me, “You must have been devastated in ‘66”,’ Greaves once recalled. ‘And I always say, No, I was delighted, obviously.’
    Reactions by England's Jimmy Armfield, manager Alf Ramsey, Ron Flowers, Peter Bonetti (far right), physiotherapist Harold Shepherdson and Jimmy Greaves during the 1966 World Cup final

  • When England lifted the World Cup it was the custom that only the 11 players on the pitch at the final whistle were awarded medals. However, 43 years later the rest of the players and backroom staff were honoured for their contribution to English football’s greatest moment when the prime minister Gordon Brown presented them with medals at Downing Street in June 2009. Greaves’s medal was sold at auction in 2014 for £44,000.
    Jimmy Greaves with his 1966 World Cup winners medal which he was presented with in 2009

  • Greaves stands on the ball during a Tottenham match in 1969, striking a pose remarkably similar to that of his Madame Tussauds waxwork which went on display at the London attraction in July 1966, at the start of the 1966 World Cup.
    Greaves stands on the ball during a Tottenham match in 1969, striking a pose remarkably similar to that of his Madame Tussauds waxwork which went on display at the London attraction in July 1966, at the start of the 1966 World Cup

  • Greaves got his second FA Cup winner’s medal in 1967 when Spurs beat Chelsea 2-1. The Tottenham captain, Dave Mackay, holds the trophy aloft, carried by (left to right) Greaves, Alan Gilzean, Pat Jennings, Terry Venables and Jim Robertson
    Greaves got his second FA Cup winner’s medal in 1967 when Spurs beat Chelsea 2-1. Tottenham captain Dave Mackay holds the trophy aloft, carried by (left to right) Greaves, Alan Gilzean, Pat Jennngs, Terry Venables and Jim Robertson

  • Greaves slots the ball past the Stoke City goalkeeper Gordon Banks in November 1968 for his 200th League goal for Tottenham. When Greaves left Spurs in 1970 he had a club record total of 266 goals, including 15 hat-ricks, another club record. Such was the esteem he was held in by the club that Spurs gave Greaves a testimonial against Feyenoord at White Hart Lane in October 1972, which the London club won 2–1
    Greaves slots the ball past the Stoke City goalkeeper Gordon Banks in November 1968 for his 200th League goal for Tottenham. When Greaves left Spurs in 1970 he had a club record total of266 goals, including 15 hat-ricks, another club record. Such was the esteem he was held in by the club that Spurs gave Greaves a testimonial against Feyenoord at White Hart Lane in October 1972 which the London club won 2–1

  • Greaves (left) scores his second goal of the game past Manchester City’s goalkeeper Joe Corrigan at Maine Road on his debut for West Ham in March 1970. West Ham won 5-1. Greaves scored 13 goals in 40 games in all competitions for the club.
    Greaves (left) scores his second goal of the game past Manchester City’s goalkeeper Joe Corrigan at Maine Road on his debut for West Ham United in March 1970. West Ham won 5-1. Greaves scored 13 goals in 40 games in all competitions for the club

  • During April and May 1970 Greaves and co-driver Tony Fall competed in the 16,000-mile Daily Mirror World Cup Rally from London – through Europe, South America and Central America – to Mexico. Greaves and Fall finished a credible sixth in their Ford Escort 1850 GT
    25th April 1970: Jimmy Greaves beside his Ford Escort at the racetrack in Monza during the16,000 mile Daily Mirror World Cup Rally from London to Mexico

  • In 1971 Greaves was struggling with fitness and motivation at West Ham. He felt he had become a journeyman footballer and was beginning to drink more and more, often going straight from training to a pub until closing time. So Greaves retired and went on holiday to Portugal with his wife, Irene, and children Mitzi, Danny, Andrew and Lynn. Greaves’s final season in the top flight took his tally to a record 357 goals. Together with the nine goals at Milan, he had scored 366 goals in the top five European leagues, a record that lasted until 2017 when it was surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo.
    Farewell From Jimmy Greaves As He Quits Football And Leaves For A Holiday In Portugal With His Wife Irene And Family

  • While at Spurs Greaves, pictured with his five-tonne lorry, borrowed £1,000 and set up a packing company with his brother-in-law Tom Barden. By the end of his playing career the company had an annual turnover of more than £1m.
    Jimmy Greaves and the lorry for his packing company

  • Greaves in the office of his travel agency in 1973
    Greaves in the office of his travel agency in 1973

  • After leaving West Ham Greaves did not attend a match for two years and drinking formed a large part of his life. Seeking an answer to his alcoholism he returned to football in 1975, making appearances for Brentwood and Chelmsford City. Before the 1977-78 season he signed for Barnet and went on to score 25 goals. He left early the following season to focus on his business interests and beating alcoholism. Greaves is pictured with Woking’s Micky Preston during Barnet’s FA Cup first-round game in November 1978, during which Greaves was sent off for dissent.
    Greaves is pictured with Woking’s Micky Preston during Barnet’s FA Cup first round game in November 1978, during which Greaves was sent off for dissent

  • Greaves launching ‘Crisis at Christmas’ at St George’s men’s unit in Stepney in November 1980
    Jimmy Greaves launching Crisis at Christmas at St George’s men’s unit in Stepney in November 1980

  • In the 1980s Greaves moved into broadcasting, initially working as a pundit on ITV’s coverage of the 1982 World Cup. From there he appeared on World of Sport and On the Ball, where he struck up a partnership with Ian St John. He also worked as a TV reviewer and presenter on TV-am. In 1985 he teamed up again with St John for the Saturday lunchtime football programme Saint and Greavsie.
    1985 -1992 Ian St.John (left) with Jimmy Greaves on Saint and Greavsie

  • Such was the popularity of the pair and their programme, which ran until April 1992, they were immortalised in rubber and frequently featured on ITV’s Spitting Image.
    Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves with their Spitting Image puppets

  • In 1987 ITV attempted to emulate the success of the BBC’s A Question of Sport by launching Sporting Triangles, which featured Willie Thorne, Nick Owen, Tessa Sanderson and Greaves.
    In 1987 ITV attempted to emulate the success of the BBC’s A Question of Sport by launching the show Sporting Triangles which featured Willie Thorne, Nick Owen, Tessa Sanderson and Greaves

  • A portrait of Greaves by Suki Dhanda for Observer Sport in August 2003
    A portrait of Greaves by Suki Dhanda for Observer Sport in August 2003

  • Greaves poses with his stamp during the Royal Mail stamp launch at Wembley in May 2013.
    Greaves poses with his stamp during the Royal Mail stamp launch at Wembley in May 2013
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