Reading about Jimmy Greaves today and it's his 80th birthday tomorrow. I grew up watching Jimmy and he is undoubtedly one of my all time favourite footballers. His record is just phenomenal with 44 goals in 57 international appearances and 357 goals at the top level of football. Okay, I can hear the youngsters saying, he couldn't do that in today's game. Well, here's some news for you: in my opinion and in the opinion of most football experts and pundits, he most certainly could! It's true that the present day game is far more organised and tactically savvy, whilst defences are way more difficult to broach but conditions, equipment and playing surfaces are superb compared to those in his day. And training, diet, facilities etc are on a completely different level.
But Greavsie was a genius, pure and simple. Remember that he played in an era when pitches were often no better than mud baths, football boots seemed like weighted divers' boots. Players drank and smoked to their heart's content (Gerson the Brazilian legend was a 40 a day man!) and training facilities were usually outside and exposed to some filthy weather in winter. And the leather footballs, heavy enough to begin with, were like cannonballs in the wet. And then there were the hatchetmen! Oh yes, there were plenty of those, who in that day and age, enjoyed the licence to kick the living shit out of anything that moved without so much as a raised eyebrow from the referee let alone a booking or a sending off. They were tough days indeed and most of today's overpaid divas, and divers, would be reduced to tears should they be exposed to that sort of treatment on a weekly basis. And for bugger all money in comparison.
But Jimmy was tough despite his smallish stature. He took the bangs, the wallops and the kicks and came back for more, taking the piss out of his tormentors by scoring even more goals. The thugs never could keep him quiet. And he was a genuinely likeable, approachable and modest man with a fabulous laid back sense of humour. A gent in every sense of the word. He was famous for his quips but one of my favourites as quoted again in the article I read, went something like as follows. 'I went through a goal drought once - it was the worst 15 minutes of my life!'
Happy Birthday, Jimmy, wish there were more like you, mate. But I doubt there will be.
