academical
Well-Known Member
It’s well documented that the late Jimmy Greaves, England’s top striker of the sixties, missed the 1966 World Cup Final, which ought to have been the pinnacle of his career. There’s a lazy trope about that sparking his alcoholism, mostly refuted by Jimmy in his lifetime, and by recent obituaries.
But that story masks the uncomfortable background to Greaves missing the final. The sad fact is he was off form, and picked the wrong year of the 1960s for that to happen.
Here’s part of his goalscoring record for the period:
1960/61 41 league goals (with Chelsea)
1961/62 21 league goals (from December on return from Italy, where he scored 9)
1962/63 37 league goals
1963/64 35 league goals
1964/65 29 league goals
1965/66 15 league goals
1966/67 25 league goals
1967/68 26 league goals
1968/69 27 league goals
1966 sticks out like a sore thumb. What happened? Jimmy missed three months of the season (Nov/Dec/Jan) through illness - he had hepatitis - and had to fight to get back to sharpness in time for the World Cup.
He was picked again for England from May ’66, and scored against both Yugoslavia and Norway. But he then went on a run of 5 consecutive England games without scoring, including the 3 group matches in the finals - unprecedented. Prior to that, Greaves’ longest run without scoring for England was 3 games, and he scored a total of 44 goals in 57 appearances, from 1959 to 1967.
England won both their quarter final and semi final without him, and Geoff Hurst scored the winning goal against Argentina in the quarters. So it wasn’t such a tough decision for Sir Alf Ramsey to leave Greaves out. In any other season, it would have been madness to drop him, but not 1966.
And, of course, Hurst’s hat trick in the World Cup Final appeared to vindicate Sir Alf’s decision. But I’ve often wondered whether a fired-up Jimmy Greaves would have scored 4 in the final…
But that story masks the uncomfortable background to Greaves missing the final. The sad fact is he was off form, and picked the wrong year of the 1960s for that to happen.
Here’s part of his goalscoring record for the period:
1960/61 41 league goals (with Chelsea)
1961/62 21 league goals (from December on return from Italy, where he scored 9)
1962/63 37 league goals
1963/64 35 league goals
1964/65 29 league goals
1965/66 15 league goals
1966/67 25 league goals
1967/68 26 league goals
1968/69 27 league goals
1966 sticks out like a sore thumb. What happened? Jimmy missed three months of the season (Nov/Dec/Jan) through illness - he had hepatitis - and had to fight to get back to sharpness in time for the World Cup.
He was picked again for England from May ’66, and scored against both Yugoslavia and Norway. But he then went on a run of 5 consecutive England games without scoring, including the 3 group matches in the finals - unprecedented. Prior to that, Greaves’ longest run without scoring for England was 3 games, and he scored a total of 44 goals in 57 appearances, from 1959 to 1967.
England won both their quarter final and semi final without him, and Geoff Hurst scored the winning goal against Argentina in the quarters. So it wasn’t such a tough decision for Sir Alf Ramsey to leave Greaves out. In any other season, it would have been madness to drop him, but not 1966.
And, of course, Hurst’s hat trick in the World Cup Final appeared to vindicate Sir Alf’s decision. But I’ve often wondered whether a fired-up Jimmy Greaves would have scored 4 in the final…