England, Tottenham Hotspur legend Jimmy Greaves passes away aged 81

An image of Jimmy Greaves, former Tottenham and Chelsea player and England International, is seen on the scorebaord before the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Pic/AFP

Tottenham Hotspur and England's legendary footballer Jimmy Greaves passed away at home in the early hours of Sunday morning, aged 81.

Throughout his wonderful playing career, Jimmy's strike rate was phenomenal. His Spurs return was 266 goals in 379 appearances between 1961 and 1970 - 220 goals in 321 league games, 32 goals in 36 FA Cup ties and five in just eight League Cup ties and nine in 14 European matches. He's also Spurs' highest scorer and the highest-scoring player in the top flight of English football, with 357 goals to his name.

The 37 league goals that he netted in the 1962/63 season remains to this day Spurs record by any player in a single season. A member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad, Jimmy also scored 44 goals in his 57 senior international appearances, with 42 of those caps - and 28 goals - won while a Spurs player.

Born in East Ham on February 20, 1940, Jimmy's career started in the junior ranks at Chelsea where he turned professional in May 1957. He scored on his Blues debut - something which would become a familiar trait throughout his playing days - ironically against Spurs at White Hart Lane on August 24, 1957, in a 1-1 draw.

He remained at Stamford Bridge until June 1961, when he moved to AC Milan, and his 41-goal haul in the First Division in 1960/61 still stands as Chelsea's record for a single season.

It was only a brief sojourn to Italy, however. Nine goals in 14 Serie A matches was an impressive return but he never really settled at Milan so Bill Nicholson moved swiftly to secure his services and he joined Spurs in December 1961.

Greaves scored in north London based club 1962 FA Cup Final victory over Burnley at Wembley and while he didn't score in Spurs' 1967 Final victory over Chelsea, he was the competition's top scorer in that season with six goals from his eight appearances. In total, he netted a remarkable 42 goals in 57 appearances in the FA Cup during his career.

He left Spurs in March 1970, to join West Ham United, before retiring at the end of the 1970/71 season at the age of 31. In October 1972, a crowd of 45,799 gathered at White Hart Lane to pay tribute to Jimmy in his Testimonial match against Feyenoord.

Following his retirement, Greaves became known to a new generation of football fans in his position as a TV presenter on the 'Saint and Greavsie' weekly magazine show. Manor Park-born Greaves was awarded an MBE for his services to football in the 2021 New Year's Honours list, alongside his former England teammate Ron Flowers.

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