Jimmy Greaves has been airbrushed from history

Too young to remember him playing but watched a documentary about him and watched lots of goals on the Internet.

An absolutely phenomenal goalscorer.

Bit of a 'one trick pony' too though. ;) :lol:

Most of his goals were the same:
Take the ball between the half way line and the box facing opposition goal.
Absolutely obscene burst of pace going from standing still to flat out in about 3 steps.
Slight changes of direction and feinting putting various defenders on their arse as he ghosts past them.
Burst through on goal, run at keeper, wait for him to commit, then roll the ball past him on the other side or dink it over him.
Repeat...

I remember thinking how frustrated and angry you'd be as a defender or goalkeeper because he was so controlled and casual about everything he did before passing the ball into the net with you all on your arses.

Absolutely filthy goalscorer, any attempt to pretend he wasn't a football great is laughable.

Fantastic footballer. Watching Messi always puts me in mind of Jimmy, phenomenal control, similar running style, low centre of gravity, incredible first touch. That's how good Greavsie was.
 


I think the pre-war/post-war distinction kind of makes sense as the 2-3-5, 3-2-5, W-M etc. formations commonly used pre-war meant there was a lot less spread of goals across the team.
tbh, I was meaning across many sports, not just footy.
 
I think the pre-war/post-war distinction kind of makes sense as the 2-3-5, 3-2-5, W-M etc. formations commonly used pre-war meant there was a lot less spread of goals across the team.
I’m currently looking at Sunderland’s first title winning side in 189192 and we played with 5 forwards back then; everyone did

we scored goals for fun

at one point in the 1890s we had a spell where we only lost something like 1 home game in 80 odd spread over 3 or 4 seasons

Johnny Campbell was the ace goal scorer
 
From memory didn’t he score something like 40 goals for England?

I was at White Hart Lane in '68 when he stuck 4 past us, Mike England scored the other in their 5-1 win. (Tambling also scored 4 for Chelsea againts us that season iirc)

Funny enough the following season Mike England scored winner for us at WHL. That was the 1st time id witnessed an SAFC victory!
 
I was at White Hart Lane in '68 when he stuck 4 past us, Mike England scored the other in their 5-1 win. (Tambling also scored 4 for Chelsea againts us that season iirc)

Funny enough the following season Mike England scored winner for us at WHL. That was the 1st time id witnessed an SAFC victory!
Some names there mind

bobby tambling and mike england

blasts from the past
 
Some names there mind

bobby tambling and mike england

blasts from the past

Can remember Englands og, it was a header.

Joke is that season, Hurst stuck 6 past us at West Ham, add Greaves 4 + Tambling 4. Thats 14 goals by 3 players in same season against us

Didn't go to West Ham, but wonder if anyone on here went to all 3 to witness these goals!
 
44 in 57 appearances, fantastic record
In those days England did not play every few weeks so I would think he would have been capped a lot more and scored a lot more goals.
I was at White Hart Lane in '68 when he stuck 4 past us, Mike England scored the other in their 5-1 win. (Tambling also scored 4 for Chelsea againts us that season iirc)

Funny enough the following season Mike England scored winner for us at WHL. That was the 1st time id witnessed an SAFC victory!
Was that a night game? Something ticking away in the old memory cells as I was working just up the road in Enfield about then. Remember the WHU game no bother.
 
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In those days England did not play every few weeks so I would think he would have been capped a lot more and scored a lot more goals.

Was that a night game? Something ticking away in the old memory cells as I was working just up the road in Enfield about then. Remember the WHU game no bother.

No, don't think any were night games, but like you my memory cells aint so good. Moreso for recent matches than games of the distant past though!
 
Too young to remember him playing but watched a documentary about him and watched lots of goals on the Internet.

An absolutely phenomenal goalscorer.

Bit of a 'one trick pony' too though. ;) :lol:

Most of his goals were the same:
Take the ball between the half way line and the box facing opposition goal.
Absolutely obscene burst of pace going from standing still to flat out in about 3 steps.
Slight changes of direction and feinting putting various defenders on their arse as he ghosts past them.
Burst through on goal, run at keeper, wait for him to commit, then roll the ball past him on the other side or dink it over him.
Repeat...

I remember thinking how frustrated and angry you'd be as a defender or goalkeeper because he was so controlled and casual about everything he did before passing the ball into the net with you all on your arses.

Absolutely filthy goalscorer, any attempt to pretend he wasn't a football great is laughable.

I've just watched a few clips on Youtube. Normally I'd say you can't judge a player but he was a bit special. Lightening fast and lethal with either foot. It's a shame for a long time I just assumed he was the old alcoholic who hung around with Ian St John.
 
Can remember Englands og, it was a header.

Joke is that season, Hurst stuck 6 past us at West Ham, add Greaves 4 + Tambling 4. Thats 14 goals by 3 players in same season against us

Didn't go to West Ham, but wonder if anyone on here went to all 3 to witness these goals!
Remember bobby Moore scoring an og for us V Fulham?
 
Remember bobby Moore scoring an og for us V Fulham?

Cant say I do. But do remember Best and Marsh playing for them in 3-3 draw iirc. Not sure whether Moore played in that game without looking it up

SAFC Fans singing 'He's fat, he's round, he bounces of the ground, Georgie Best, Georgie Best !

Happy days
 
I know what you mean, yet nobody has a problem with "post-war" records.
The war was a much more natural break, though because the football league was abandoned in September 1939 and didn't start again until 1946-7 so you had a six year break in the competition with no league football during that time. Lots of the players had been killed/wounded and those that came back were six years older meaning the squads were all changed from 1939 when it stopped. It makes sense that they thought of it in some ways as a new start after the war. On the other hand the first premiership season followed seamlessly on from the previous League season, it was just a rebranding exercise with exactly the same squads, teams etc. - it makes no sense.
 
Cant say I do. But do remember Best and Marsh playing for them in 3-3 draw iirc. Not sure whether Moore played in that game without looking it up

SAFC Fans singing 'He's fat, he's round, he bounces of the ground, Georgie Best, Georgie Best !

Happy days
Might have been the one where Chelsea were at home to forest on the same day? Got on the tube and all the CFC nutters were on
 
In those days England did not play every few weeks so I would think he would have been capped a lot more and scored a lot more goals.

No he wouldn’t. He made his England debut at a similar time to Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton who both got over 100 caps. His goals for England totally dried up in ‘65 and his goals per game ratio in the league dropped dramatically around a similar time. Put simply his body stopped being able to cope as much with the drinking, whilst Ramsey wouldn’t pick anyone who used to drink regularly in the build up to games.
 

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