RIP Jimmy Greaves

RIP Jimmy Greaves.

 

Thinking back to the 1966 World Cup it's sad to imagine the impact Jimmy might have made at that tournament had it not been for his injury. He would have scored goals, no doubt, and maybe Roger Hunt or Geoff Hurst would not have had a look in. We might have been calling him Sir Jimmy Greaves instead of Hurst getting that knighthood. Scoring a hat trick in a World Cup Final was a remarkable achievement but Jimmy might have had that honour for himself.

 

I grew up watching Saint & Greaves show, really cemented a love of football with their knowledge without being boring in a time when a lot of football TV was very serious and dull. I never realised until later just how good he'd been as a player and the sad story of the '66 world cup finals. Watched the documentary on him last night on BT sport, he looked an absolute class above, especially on those mud bath pitches - everyones slipping all over the place and he's gliding over it like he's on skates.

 

He was amazing. He came into a Chelsea side that was regularly in the bottom half of the top division at the age of 17. When he left them, at 21, he had scored 125 goals in 157 games for a struggling side.