On this day in 1961, Jimmy Greaves made his Tottenham debut following his £99,999 transfer from AC Milan.
His debut came on 16th December 1961, in front of 42,734 eager fans at White Hart Lane against Blackpool. He didn’t disappoint and started how he carried on, but scoring a hat-trick, including a spectacular bicycle kick goal, in a 5-2 victory.
Over the next 9 years, he’d score 266 goals in 379 club appearances for the club.
He twice won the FA Cup in Spurs colours, 1962 and 1967 – scoring the opening goal in 1962 – 2 Charity Shield wins 1962 & 1967 plus scoring a brace in the 1963 European Cup Winners Cup Final win.
Bill Nicholson:
When Jimmy Greaves got into these positions, he didn’t try and blast the back of the net out. He seemed to place the ball just inside the post as if he was making a pass to the stanchion at the back of the net
Although, thankfully, TV footage of some of his skills and goals were made, just imagine how many clips and uploads of him there would be if he played today, with TV cameras from all angles at every match and thousands of fans filming on their phones.
Jimmy was an absolute star in the 1960’s, but imagine just how great he’d be in today’s modern game, with it’s immaculately manicured pitches, lightweight boots, no heavy balls and defenders unable to kick lumps out of him. He was an incredibly skillful player and goal machine in the 1960’s despite all the handicaps of football in that age – it’s hard to comprehend just how great he’d have been in today’s Premier League.
A true, Tottenham Hotspur Legend – Jimmy Greaves,
Jimmy’s time at Spurs
Bill Nicholson signed Jimmy for Spurs in December 1961 for £99,999 – the unusual fee was intended to relieve Jimmy of the pressure of being the first £100,000 player in British football. He joined Spurs just after they became the first club in England to complete the First Division and FA Cup double during the 20th century. He scored a hat-trick on his first team debut, including a flying scissor kick, in a 5–2 win over Blackpool at White Hart Lane. He went on to feature against Benfica in the semi-finals of the European Cup; in the first leg at the Estádio da Luz he had a goal disallowed for offside, and another disallowed in the return fixture also for offside. He played in all seven games of the club’s FA Cup run, scoring nine goals in the competition as they beat Birmingham City (after a replay), Plymouth Argyle, West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa and Manchester United to reach the 1962 FA Cup Final against Burnley at Wembley. Jimmy opened the scoring against Burnley on 3 minutes and Spurs went on to win the game 3–1. They finished the league in third place in 1961–62, four points behind champions Ipswich Town.
Jimmy scored twice in the 1962 FA Charity Shield, as Spurs secured the trophy with a 5–1 win over Ipswich at Portman Road. In the 1962–63 season Jimmy scored hat-tricks in victories over Manchester United, Ipswich Town and Liverpool, as well as four goals in a 9–2 win over Nottingham Forest. Spurs finished the league campaign in second place, six points behind champions Everton. Jimmy scored 37 goals in 41 league games, finishing as the division’s top scorer. In the European Cup Winners’ Cup, Tottenham beat Rangers (Scotland), ŠK Slovan Bratislava (Czechoslovakia) and OFK Beograd (Yugoslavia) to reach the final, where they met Spanish club Atlético Madrid at De Kuip. In the first leg of the semi-final against Belgrad in Belgrade, Jimmy was sent off for violent conduct (his first and only red card) after attempting to punch centre-back Blagomir Krivokuća. Jimmy served a one match ban and was able to play in the final, where he opened the scoring after an assist from Cliff Jones and later added a fourth in a 5–1 victory (John White and Terry Dyson getting the other goals). In winning the competition, Tottenham Hotspur became the first British team to win a European trophy.
Despite changing times and personnel at the club. Jimmy remained a consistent goalscorer though, and in the 1963–64 season he scored hat-tricks in victories over Nottingham Forest, Blackpool, Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers. Spurs finished in fourth place, six points behind champions Liverpool, and exited the FA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup at the opening stages. Jimmy scored 35 goals in 41 league games to again finish as the division’s top scorer. Strike partner Bobby Smith left the club in the summer, though Jimmy felt the partnership he went on to form with new signing Alan Gilzean was even more effective.
Spurs finished sixth in 1964–65, though Jimmy scored 29 goals in 41 league games to finish as the division’s joint top scorer (with Andy McEvoy). He also scored two hat-tricks in the FA Cup – against Torquay United and Ipswich Town – to take his total tally to 35 goals in 45 appearances. He missed three months at the start of the 1965–66 season after being diagnosed with hepatitis, but recovered to end the campaign with 16 goals in 31 matches, remaining the club’s top scorer as they finished the league campaign in eighth place whilst failing to make it past the Fifth Round of the FA Cup.
Jimmy scored 31 goals in 47 appearances in the 1966–67 campaign, helping Spurs to launch a title challenge that ended with a third-place finish, four points behind Manchester United. They also won the FA Cup after knocking out Millwall, Portsmouth, Bristol City, Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest to reach the 1967 FA Cup Final with Chelsea. Though he did not score in the final itself, a 2–1 victory, with six goals in eight games Jimmy was the competition’s leading scorer. The 1967–68 season was a disappointing one for Spurs following their 3–3 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford in the 1967 FA Charity Shield. They finished seventh in the league, exited the FA Cup in the Fifth Round and were knocked out of the Cup Winners’ Cup in the Second Round. Jimmy had a poor season by his own standards, though with 29 goals in 48 appearances he was still the club’s top scorer. Nicholson bought Jimmy a new strike partner in Martin Chivers from Southampton for a club record £125,000 fee, with Gilzean dropping further back into midfield to accommodate, but Jimmy and Chivers were not as effective together as Nicholson had hoped.
In 1968–69, Jimmy scored 27 goals in 42 league games to finish as the First Division’s leading scorer for the sixth and final time. He scored four of his goals in one match against Sunderland, and also scored hat-tricks against Burnley and Leicester City. His nine goals in cup competitions, including a hat-trick against Exeter City, left him with an overall goal tally of 36 in 52 games. Spurs performed inconsistently in the 1969–70 season, and Jimmy was dropped from the first team after playing in an FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on 28 January 1970. He was never recalled to the starting line-up, but still ended the season as the club’s joint top scorer (with Martin Chivers), having scored 11 goals in 33 matches.
Greaves was given a testimonial match by Spurs on 17 October 1972 in a 2–1 win over Feyenoord at White Hart Lane; he made £22,000 from the occasion. He was inducted into the Tottenham Hotspur Hall of Fame in 2015