Tottenham’s Greatest Ever Striker

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You probably need 2 difference questions
Who is Tottenhams greatest ever striker?
Who is the greatest striker to ever play for Tottenham?

I'm sure most will point to Greaves as the answer to both. But you have to bring the likes of Lineker, Klinsman, Allen and now Kane into the equation for the latter.
Kane, if he stays, will one day usurp Greaves IMO.
 
Harry Kane and Jimmy Greaves really are from different eras (not just the 50 or so years) in so many ways - the whole area of training is hugely changed with trained being something that takes up a full day for Kane on 'no match' days, whereas for Greaves and co training was very much a couple of hours, with afternoons dedicated to golf, days in pubs or whatever and at half time in a match Greaves would be known to have a swift half or pint and a fag - unthinkable to today's generation.

And if you go back 50 or 60 years before Greaves, Spurs star striker was Vivian Woodward, - 61 goals in 131 league games (about 1 in 2) and with an England career of 29 goals in 23 matches.....but at that time England caps were only awarded for games against the Home Nations, with games v France, Netherlands and other european sides being played by the England amateur side of for which Woodward played with 57 goals in 44 matches.

Interestingly FIFA recognise most of these amateur games as being full caps, although not the FA, and under FIFA rules Woodward would the be all time highest England goalscorer, not Rooney, but even under the FA rules he was highest ever England goalscorer for almost 50 years after he retired.

Woodward captained Spurs, England and England amateurs as well as a Great Britain side who won the olympics football in 1908 and 1912.

And all that as an amateur, being a full time architect by day so limited time for training and indeed could have played more for Spurs if he had not needed a full time day job to earn money - so he cannot be compared to Greaves due to the level of training he did (or rather didn't do)

Kane is a fantastic player and fantastic goalscorer - and so was Greaves before him and no doubt Woodward before him.

Just from such different eras we really cannot easily compare them.
 
Harry Kane and Jimmy Greaves really are from different eras (not just the 50 or so years) in so many ways - the whole area of training is hugely changed with trained being something that takes up a full day for Kane on 'no match' days, whereas for Greaves and co training was very much a couple of hours, with afternoons dedicated to golf, days in pubs or whatever and at half time in a match Greaves would be known to have a swift half or pint and a fag - unthinkable to today's generation.

And if you go back 50 or 60 years before Greaves, Spurs star striker was Vivian Woodward, - 61 goals in 131 league games (about 1 in 2) and with an England career of 29 goals in 23 matches.....but at that time England caps were only awarded for games against the Home Nations, with games v France, Netherlands and other european sides being played by the England amateur side of for which Woodward played with 57 goals in 44 matches.

Interestingly FIFA recognise most of these amateur games as being full caps, although not the FA, and under FIFA rules Woodward would the be all time highest England goalscorer, not Rooney, but even under the FA rules he was highest ever England goalscorer for almost 50 years after he retired.

Woodward captained Spurs, England and England amateurs as well as a Great Britain side who won the olympics football in 1908 and 1912.

And all that as an amateur, being a full time architect by day so limited time for training and indeed could have played more for Spurs if he had not needed a full time day job to earn money - so he cannot be compared to Greaves due to the level of training he did (or rather didn't do)

Kane is a fantastic player and fantastic goalscorer - and so was Greaves before him and no doubt Woodward before him.

Just from such different eras we really cannot easily compare them.
Didn't he score 5 in one game for England once?
Sickening that the FIFA recognise the amateur games,but the FA don't.
 
Harry Kane and Jimmy Greaves really are from different eras (not just the 50 or so years) in so many ways - the whole area of training is hugely changed with trained being something that takes up a full day for Kane on 'no match' days, whereas for Greaves and co training was very much a couple of hours, with afternoons dedicated to golf, days in pubs or whatever and at half time in a match Greaves would be known to have a swift half or pint and a fag - unthinkable to today's generation.

And if you go back 50 or 60 years before Greaves, Spurs star striker was Vivian Woodward, - 61 goals in 131 league games (about 1 in 2) and with an England career of 29 goals in 23 matches.....but at that time England caps were only awarded for games against the Home Nations, with games v France, Netherlands and other european sides being played by the England amateur side of for which Woodward played with 57 goals in 44 matches.

Interestingly FIFA recognise most of these amateur games as being full caps, although not the FA, and under FIFA rules Woodward would the be all time highest England goalscorer, not Rooney, but even under the FA rules he was highest ever England goalscorer for almost 50 years after he retired.

Woodward captained Spurs, England and England amateurs as well as a Great Britain side who won the olympics football in 1908 and 1912.

And all that as an amateur, being a full time architect by day so limited time for training and indeed could have played more for Spurs if he had not needed a full time day job to earn money - so he cannot be compared to Greaves due to the level of training he did (or rather didn't do)

Kane is a fantastic player and fantastic goalscorer - and so was Greaves before him and no doubt Woodward before him.

Just from such different eras we really cannot easily compare them.
Thanks for sharing, great story. I thought I knew a fair bit about Spurs history, but this completely passed me by. Looking at what pros earn these days it seems incredible there was a time when a great player would remain an amateur because being pro would "get in the way of his Architectural practice, and the cricket season"!!!

I've looked on Wiki but can't find any mention of any descendants?
 
Didn't he score 5 in one game for England once?
Sickening that the FIFA recognise the amateur games,but the FA don't.

Think he scored 5 or more a couple of times in international matches.

Can't see the FA changing their minds now, would be embarrassing. Still staggering that even under the FA rules it took almost 50 years for Tom Finney to overtake Woodward - and that with his last England goal in his last England appearance.

Its a bit like the 'nothing existed before PL' mantra that Sky churn out.
 
Thanks for sharing, great story. I thought I knew a fair bit about Spurs history, but this completely passed me by. Looking at what pros earn these days it seems incredible there was a time when a great player would remain an amateur because being pro would "get in the way of his Architectural practice, and the cricket season"!!!

I've looked on Wiki but can't find any mention of any descendants?

Haven't seen any mention of descendants.


You might find this article on him interesting - not just cricket also a top tennis player in his day.

Also how the press reported his death - but now almost forgotten as a football player.

(12) Evening News (February, 1954)
Vivian J. Woodward, one of the greatest centre forwards England ever had, died last night, aged seventy-four, at a nursing home at Ealing. He had been ill for four years.
Woodward had a most illustrious career. He was a director of Tottenham Hotspur as well as their centre forward. He was also a director of Chelsea during the time he played for that club.
For many years he was England's centre forward or inside right and, including his amateur and Olympic Games honours, played for England more often than any other player.
He was an out-and-out amateur. Directors of the Spurs and Chelsea have told me they could not get him to charge his bus fares for matches.
He played entirely for his love of the game, and under a code which nowadays would be thought not to belong to this world.
(13) The Times (February, 1954)
Mr Vivian Woodward was to many of my generation the greatest footballer they ever saw, and the living embodiment of the finest spirit of the game. His brilliant play and his outstanding leadership of the victorious British team in the Olympic Games at Stockholm in 1912 will never be forgotten by those who were there; he did much to form the splendid tradition of clean play and sportsmanship which has endured in the Olympic competition ever since.
 
Haven't seen any mention of descendants.


You might find this article on him interesting - not just cricket also a top tennis player in his day.

Also how the press reported his death - but now almost forgotten as a football player.

(12) Evening News (February, 1954)

(13) The Times (February, 1954)
You just know he smoked a pipe as well,don't ya :)
 
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