Jimmy Greaves as a Saints player

[sadoldgit]

34 minutes ago, Badger said:

Is sad to hear this, he was part of the 'football establishment' when I got into the sport, late 1960's, quite revered at the time. Older relatives said he was unlucky not to play in 1966.

I enjoyed his spell on On The Ball, then Saint & Greavsie, although towards the end of it he seemed to become a bit of a self-parody.

Certainly one of he all time greats.

Yes, know what you mean, sad seeing the names you were in awe of many years ago, and looked up to, disappearing. 

I think he expected to play in the World Cup but after an injury Alf Ramsey stuck with Geoff Hurst, which didn’t turn out too bad for us to be fair. At the time he was considered one of the best goalscorers in the world and it must have hit him hard. Possibly why he became an alcoholic? I was lucky enough to see him play twice. He scored in the 2-2 game I saw against Chelsea (as did Osgood) and I saw him play against us for West Ham when he won the penalty that earned them a draw (and Tommy Jenkins scored a worldie for us). He went on to become an excellent pundit with Ian St John and received even more fame as a puppet in Spitting Image. A true legend from football’s golden era. RIP

[East Kent Saint]

1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

I played a reserve game for Ashford back in 99 think it was when Paul Parker was there 😅

Anyway Greaves..RIP. My spurs mad dad pretty upset by the news. One of the best.

Ian Wright was briefly on the board in 2007 as director of football development! He presented the odd MotM but was rarely seen at the club .

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

 

I enjoyed his spell on On The Ball, then Saint & Greavsie, although towards the end of it he seemed to become a bit of a self-parody.

 

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

He went on to become an excellent pundit with Ian St John and received even more fame as a puppet in Spitting Image. A true legend from football’s golden era. RIP

At this point I felt he often tried to live up to the expectation of the puppet image.

Good football review show though, better than the crap served up now with the 'pundits'. 

Mind you the delicate types now who want to be offended by anything on someone else's behalf would be calling for him to be axed nowadays with some of his quips and comments. 

Edited 19 September, 2021 by Badger

[Daft Kerplunk]

Saint and Greavsie was proper football telly…but according to the BBC premier league wankfest documentary and the corporate cocks, football was shit before that. Bollocks was it. RIP to a proper football legend

[VectisSaint]

4 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He missed a previous game through injury and Sir Alf wouldn’t change a winning side. He was fit for the final, but didn’t win his place back. 

In the final group game against France a Fren h player raked his studs down Jimmy's shin. It required 14 stitches. It has always been said that Greaves was fit for the Final, but you have to wonder whether he would have been fully fit 10 days after suffering such an injury. These days a player would be out for weeks with a similar injury, and that is not taking into account the type of studs used in 66. I guess he could probably have played but Ramsey would have been follhardy to commit him for a potential 120 minutes. Very sad for Jimmy, but you have to say it worked out quite well for Sir Alf and England. 

Great player, probably my first real football hero when I was a little nipper before I discovered Saints and Mick Channon. 

[Killers Knee]

I was there, match versus the Whitecaps and the announcer played „Walking on the Moon“, by the Police for my 8th birthday at half time

 

[Sarnia Cherie]

On 19/09/2021 at 10:43, rallyboy said:

What a player, scoring goals in an era of awful pitches and leg-breaking tackles.

 

Exactly. No pansies with wooly gloves and hairbands in those days. Proper men, plastered in mud, covered in snow, it didn't matter, playing footie on what looked like a farmer's ploughed field. Good old days. 

[Charlie Wayman]

Saw him play several times, fans were less complimentary in those days and many saw him as a "goal hanger" a term that has slipped from the soccer vocabulary. Probably wouldn't have scored so many today with the current off-side rule and VAR.

[sadoldgit]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Saw him play several times, fans were less complimentary in those days and many saw him as a "goal hanger" a term that has slipped from the soccer vocabulary. Probably wouldn't have scored so many today with the current off-side rule and VAR.

Shearer and Dublin were saying the opposite last night and said he would have scored more on today’s billiard table pitches. He had great acceleration and went by people like they were there. VAR wouldn’t have been a problem as he wasn’t one who played off the shoulder of the last man.

[Badger]

4 hours ago, Sarnia Cherie said:

Exactly. No pansies with wooly gloves and hairbands in those days. Proper men, plastered in mud, covered in snow, it didn't matter, playing footie on what looked like a farmer's ploughed field. Good old days. 

No 'top knots' , leggings (although Keith Weller did wear stockings at one point in the 1970's). Players didn't need an arm full of tattoos either.

[Badger]

This is worth viewing, not only for Greaves goals, but the piches etc.

Visual quality isn't great but the commentary much better than the muppets they role out now

 

Edited 20 September, 2021 by Badger

[Badger]

Some repetition here, but did find a goal against Saints I think (2.51 - Milton Road end, Jimmy Gabriel seen in defence).

 

 

[Nordic Saint]

2 hours ago, Badger said:

Some repetition here, but did find a goal against Saints I think (2.51 - Milton Road end, Jimmy Gabriel seen in defence).

 

 

He scored in 7 of the 8 games he played against us at the 60s. I was at most of them including the first two at White Hart Lane when we lost 5-3 and 6-1. The 5-3 defeat in 1966 was the first time he ever played against us, and he scored a penalty. Ron Davies got 2 that day. I still enjoyed the game as I was one of the 10,000 Saints' fans who took the Park Lane End. The following year, we only took about 5,000 up there and so only took over half of the Park Lane End. Greaves scored 2, including his usual penalty. We still outsang the Spurs' fans though. They were a very quiet, sedate lot in those days - in fact they were the last club to have a singing section-  and the loudest song of the day was when Ron Davies scored, as he nearly always did against Spurs, right at the end to make it 6-1, and we sang, "We're only warming up." I also saw Greaves play for West Ham and, of course, for Saints against Vancouver Whitecaps. I remember when Greaves scored, a few fans said, "He could do a job for us." But, you could see he was never going to be fit enough again to play 90 minutes. He was, after all, 40 years old at the time. Alan Ball scored Vancouver's only goal from a penalty.

 

Saints 3-1 Vancouver Whitecaps 

Boyer, Greaves, Baker; Ball

attendance: 13,000

 

Match report from the Vancouver Sun:

 

1980-03-11 Whitecaps-Southampton x.jpg (1192×564) (nasljerseys.com)

 

 

Greaves was one of the greatest English goalscorers ever and brilliant at rounding goalkeepers. When he was through, 1 on 1, he never missed. R.I.P.

Edited 20 September, 2021 by Nordic Saint

[East Kent Saint]

10 hours ago, Nordic Saint said:

He scored in 7 of the 8 games he played against us at the 60s. I was at most of them including the first two at White Hart Lane when we lost 5-3 and 6-1. The 5-3 defeat in 1966 was the first time he ever played against us, and he scored a penalty. Ron Davies got 2 that day. I still enjoyed the game as I was one of the 10,000 Saints' fans who took the Park Lane End. The following year, we only took about 5,000 up there and so only took over half of the Park Lane End. Greaves scored 2, including his usual penalty. We still outsang the Spurs' fans though. They were a very quiet, sedate lot in those days - in fact they were the last club to have a singing section-  and the loudest song of the day was when Ron Davies scored, as he nearly always did against Spurs, right at the end to make it 6-1, and we sang, "We're only warming up." I also saw Greaves play for West Ham and, of course, for Saints against Vancouver Whitecaps. I remember when Greaves scored, a few fans said, "He could do a job for us." But, you could see he was never going to be fit enough again to play 90 minutes. He was, after all, 40 years old at the time. Alan Ball scored Vancouver's only goal from a penalty.

 

Saints 3-1 Vancouver Whitecaps 

Boyer, Greaves, Baker; Ball

attendance: 13,000

 

Match report from the Vancouver Sun:

 

1980-03-11 Whitecaps-Southampton x.jpg (1192×564) (nasljerseys.com)

 

 

Greaves was one of the greatest English goalscorers ever and brilliant at rounding goalkeepers. When he was through, 1 on 1, he never missed. R.I.P.

We went on a school trip to see the 5-3 match , our coach parked near the Saints team coach so we watched them getting off their coach which was good to see them close up. The match didn't go well until the Saints started a second half come back , you felt it could have ended 5-5 if there was another 10 mins ! I don't remember much else about the match , we were in a corner in a fenced off area , probably family compound.

[Badger]

Found this.

Jimmy Greaves debut for West Ham at Man City.

Worth seeing for the state of the pitch.