50 years ago today - Greavsie's last goal for Spurs

Today is a notable day for one of the greatest players in the Club's long history.

Fifty years ago on 10 January, 1970, Jimmy Greaves scored his final goal for Spurs in a 2-1 win against Derby County at the Lane. That took his tally to 266 goals in 376 matches in all competitions after joining us from AC Milian in December, 1961.

One of the most lethal goalscorers ever seen in world football, 'Greavsie' played three more times for us before moving to West Ham in March, 1970, aged 30, in a deal that saw another great, Martin Peters, sign for Spurs.

Jimmy remains our record all-time goalscorer with his final total of 266 goals in 379 appearances, 58 goals ahead of Bobby Smith (1955-64), his strike partner in his early seasons at Spurs. Harry Kane is now third with 181 goals in 277 appearances. Jimmy is also still the highest all-time goalscorer in the top flight of English football (Division One/Premier League) with 357 league goals in 516 games for Chelsea, Spurs and West Ham.

A goalscorer on all of his debuts for Chelsea (coincidentally, against us at the Lane in August, 1957), AC Milan, Spurs and West Ham, Greavsie got off the mark for us against Blackpool on 16 December, 1961. He lifted the FA Cup at the end of that first season, scoring in the final at Wembley and helped Bill Nicholson's 'glory, glory' team conquer Europe with our Cup Winners' Cup triumph in 1963, the first British team to win a European trophy. Naturally, he scored twice in the final against Atletico Madrid in Rotterdam. His third and final trophy at Spurs was another FA Cup in 1967.

Now 79, Jimmy unfortunately suffered a stroke in May, 2015, and remains wheelchair-bound. He paid an emotional visit to the Lane in March, 2017 and was a special guest at Hotspur Way in October, 2017, when he met Harry Kane.

A new film by BT Sport Films, 'Greavsie', will air on BT Sport 1 on Saturday 8 February.

What they said about Greavsie...

"Jim was a terrific lad, when you're talking about goalscorers he’s the greatest goalscorer there ever was and ever will be, all he wanted to do was score goals and he did that better than anybody I’ve ever seen and a fantastic, terrific character."
Cliff Jones, team-mate 1961-68

"He was a genius, a master goalscorer. I only had the pleasure of playing with him for six months but when we visited away grounds, it was like the top gunslinger coming to town. He was pure class, a great man."
Steve Perryman, team-mate 1969-70

"For me, Jimmy was the greatest, the best goalscorer ever. No-one put the ball in the net like him. Not only did he score goals, he made them as well, from all angles. Jim just passed the ball into the net, never lashed it. He was brilliant to me in the early days. I probably cost him his bonus money in games no end of times but he’d come into the dressing room and say ‘keep going son, you’re going to be the best’ and I appreciated that when I needed it most.”
Pat Jennings, team-mate 1964-70

“I wanted to sign him from the moment I saw him score his first goal in League football on his Chelsea debut at White Hart Lane. What a tremendous goal it was! He beat three defenders before stroking the ball in the back of the net. It had all the hallmarks of his game - improvisation and genius.”
Bill Nicholson, manager 1961-70, in his autobiography 'Glory, Glory - My Life with Spurs', 1984