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An old family friend had a bad stroke last week, it's not looking good. I'm posting the news here because he was a decent footballer in his day, he actually played about 12 times for Northern Ireland scoring 6 goals.
His main claim to fame was scoring two at Wembley against England...the only problem was that Greaves scored five...
His main claim to fame was scoring two at Wembley against England...the only problem was that Greaves scored five...
Gutted beyond words.
So good, he was a legend to a generation of fans who weren’t even old enough to see him play.
And let’s not forget saint and greavsie
RIP
So good, he was a legend to a generation of fans who weren’t even old enough to see him play.
And let’s not forget saint and greavsie
RIP
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Our greatest ever striker suffered a stroke yesterday.
Get well soon Jim and let's hope he can make a good recovery.
Get well soon Jim and let's hope he can make a good recovery.
As a Middlesbrough fan, I wish Jimmy all the best for his recovery and his family too. My mother in law had a stroke three years ago and is still on the road to recovery. It's a hard slog to go through and is an unfair and undignified thing to happen to anyone. I hope they got him to hospital quickly. Best wishes to all, family and fans.
It was a little difficult to gauge his emotion/expression in the initial photos, but it looks like he had a good time going by this video...
He was on the High Road after the Woolwich match... and seemed very well, chatting, signing autographs and just generally being a top, top bloke. He could easily get into West Ham's line-up now, although admittedly so could any of my grandparents (they're all dead) and half a chicken McNugget.
Poor Jimmy, praying for a miracle 
Telegraph Article today
Thank you Jimmy Greaves MBE, but it is a stain on our nation that official validation has taken so long
Civil servants are knighted for doing their jobs, donors are made peers but football has always been shabbily treated by honours system
Here’s all the evidence you need that 2021 is going to be better than 2020: Jimmy Greaves is to be made an MBE in the New Year’s honours list. Though there are many who will be wondering why it took so long.
Greaves is now 80, his health compromised by a stroke he suffered five years ago. A man who defines the term self-deprecating, who has never displayed the slightest hint of swagger or swank about his phenomenal achievements, will doubtless take the honour in his stride. As he has done everything life has thrown at him, from being excluded from the 1966 World Cup winning team, through the demons of addiction to his latter ill-health.
But those of us who had the privilege of both seeing him in action on the pitch, then enjoying his second career as a superb broadcaster, not to mention the many individuals whose lives he touched with his steadfast approach to facing down alcoholism, should be furious on his behalf. The fact that it has taken so long for us as a society to acknowledge what this remarkable man did for us is nothing less than shameful.
In a sense it was ever thus with footballers. They may excel at our national game, providing for millions of us across the generations entertainment, community and sense of purpose. But when it comes to offering formal appreciation of what they have done, they have long been at the back of the queue. While civil servants are knighted for doing their jobs, while donors to political parties are gifted access to the House of Lords for handing over lucre, while backbench MPs are made knights in lieu of elevation to the cabinet, those who have lifted the nation have been routinely ignored.
Only 14 men associated with the game have ever knelt in front of the Queen; six for what they delivered on the pitch, five for their management skills and three for being administrators. It is indicative of the way we prefer to do these things that Bert Millichip, the FA chairman who presided over the organisation in the time of the Bradford and Hillsborough disasters, was knighted for services to sport 29 years before Jimmy Greaves was granted an MBE. Explain that one.
Greaves, naturally, would be the first to point out his name is not the only omission from the higher ranks of our national roll of honour. In 1967, Bobby Moore was made an OBE. Apparently, it was thought by those who decide these things that lifting the World Cup was the equivalent of doing a term as mayor of a market town. The dignified, statesmanlike Moore suffered throughout his post-playing life from the whispered disdain of those in charge of the game because of what they deemed to be the shadiness of some of his old associates. And that haughtiness seemingly fed into the honours system.
By the time the scale of what the 1966 winners had achieved was put into proper perspective when Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst were knighted some three decades after the event, it was too late for Moore.
That Greaves has gone similarly unrecognised can only be the consequence of the same snobbery that so egregiously snubbed his captain. If we are to retain an honours system in the 21st century - and the arguments about that would take up more space than is available here - then surely its principal purpose should be to reflect those things we as a wider society regard as important.
And what Greaves has done for so many of his fellow citizens is worthy of honour. Seeing his graceful, fluid, elegant sashay as he dribbled the ball into the net was to have the spirit lifted as it would be watching the finest ballet dancer. To observe his natural, easy broadcasting wit was to be temporarily removed from the daily fray and dipped in a warm bath of entertainment. Unless, that is, you were a member of the fraternity that was the butt of a significant proportion of his jokes: Scottish goalkeepers.
The truth is what he gave us deserved validation long, long ago. Thank you Jimmy Greaves MBE.
Admin
- can you change the thread title to Jimmy Greaves MBE?
Thank you Jimmy Greaves MBE, but it is a stain on our nation that official validation has taken so long
Civil servants are knighted for doing their jobs, donors are made peers but football has always been shabbily treated by honours system
Here’s all the evidence you need that 2021 is going to be better than 2020: Jimmy Greaves is to be made an MBE in the New Year’s honours list. Though there are many who will be wondering why it took so long.
Greaves is now 80, his health compromised by a stroke he suffered five years ago. A man who defines the term self-deprecating, who has never displayed the slightest hint of swagger or swank about his phenomenal achievements, will doubtless take the honour in his stride. As he has done everything life has thrown at him, from being excluded from the 1966 World Cup winning team, through the demons of addiction to his latter ill-health.
But those of us who had the privilege of both seeing him in action on the pitch, then enjoying his second career as a superb broadcaster, not to mention the many individuals whose lives he touched with his steadfast approach to facing down alcoholism, should be furious on his behalf. The fact that it has taken so long for us as a society to acknowledge what this remarkable man did for us is nothing less than shameful.
In a sense it was ever thus with footballers. They may excel at our national game, providing for millions of us across the generations entertainment, community and sense of purpose. But when it comes to offering formal appreciation of what they have done, they have long been at the back of the queue. While civil servants are knighted for doing their jobs, while donors to political parties are gifted access to the House of Lords for handing over lucre, while backbench MPs are made knights in lieu of elevation to the cabinet, those who have lifted the nation have been routinely ignored.
Only 14 men associated with the game have ever knelt in front of the Queen; six for what they delivered on the pitch, five for their management skills and three for being administrators. It is indicative of the way we prefer to do these things that Bert Millichip, the FA chairman who presided over the organisation in the time of the Bradford and Hillsborough disasters, was knighted for services to sport 29 years before Jimmy Greaves was granted an MBE. Explain that one.
Greaves, naturally, would be the first to point out his name is not the only omission from the higher ranks of our national roll of honour. In 1967, Bobby Moore was made an OBE. Apparently, it was thought by those who decide these things that lifting the World Cup was the equivalent of doing a term as mayor of a market town. The dignified, statesmanlike Moore suffered throughout his post-playing life from the whispered disdain of those in charge of the game because of what they deemed to be the shadiness of some of his old associates. And that haughtiness seemingly fed into the honours system.
By the time the scale of what the 1966 winners had achieved was put into proper perspective when Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst were knighted some three decades after the event, it was too late for Moore.
That Greaves has gone similarly unrecognised can only be the consequence of the same snobbery that so egregiously snubbed his captain. If we are to retain an honours system in the 21st century - and the arguments about that would take up more space than is available here - then surely its principal purpose should be to reflect those things we as a wider society regard as important.
And what Greaves has done for so many of his fellow citizens is worthy of honour. Seeing his graceful, fluid, elegant sashay as he dribbled the ball into the net was to have the spirit lifted as it would be watching the finest ballet dancer. To observe his natural, easy broadcasting wit was to be temporarily removed from the daily fray and dipped in a warm bath of entertainment. Unless, that is, you were a member of the fraternity that was the butt of a significant proportion of his jokes: Scottish goalkeepers.
The truth is what he gave us deserved validation long, long ago. Thank you Jimmy Greaves MBE.
Admin
- can you change the thread title to Jimmy Greaves MBE?
Jimmy Greaves is a legend in every way imaginable.
The State can think what they want.
The State can think what they want.
I was born and brought up just a throw in distance away from WHL and Greavsie was and will continue to be my all time hero; he made scoring goals look so easy and was the inspiration for so many of us kids growing up in Tottenham at that time.
I’m devastated at the news this morning, just as if I had lost a family member.
I will never forget Jimmy turning away having scored a goal, right arm raised, the flash of number 8 on his back and the supporters going crazy. I still have his testimonial program that he signed for me.
I‘ve registered on here this morning just to be able to pay my respects to Jimmy and everything he did for me as a player to look up to and aspire to be.
Rest peacefully Jimmy, thank you for the memories and laughs.
I’m devastated at the news this morning, just as if I had lost a family member.
I will never forget Jimmy turning away having scored a goal, right arm raised, the flash of number 8 on his back and the supporters going crazy. I still have his testimonial program that he signed for me.
I‘ve registered on here this morning just to be able to pay my respects to Jimmy and everything he did for me as a player to look up to and aspire to be.
Rest peacefully Jimmy, thank you for the memories and laughs.
2 goals every 3 games over a whole career. Nobody is ever touching those numbers.
RIP
I am sure I speak for all Hearts and Scotland supporters when I say how sorry I was to hear about Jimmy's illness and wish him a speedy recovery. My best wishes to his family and friends.
Jimmy is one of the all-time greats of the game.
Jimmy is one of the all-time greats of the game.
