Former football star Greaves in intensive care
Former Spurs and England striker Jimmy Greaves is in intensive care after suffering a severe stroke.
A prolific goalscorer throughout his career, Greaves scored 44 goals in just 57 appearances for England – the fourth-highest total of all time.
A family statement issued on Monday said the 75-year-old had fallen ill the previous day.
• Football sets sights on Australian domination
• Chelsea secures Premier League title
• ‘Are you an ostrich?’: Pearson loses the plot
“His wife Irene and four children have asked for privacy during what is a worrying time for the family,” added the statement.
“Jimmy had a minor stroke in 2012 but appeared to have made a full recovery.
“He was due to be inducted into the Tottenham Hotspur Hall of Fame on 13 May at a sell-out ceremony at White Hart Lane.”
Meanwhile, Spurs said on their Twitter site: “Everyone at the club wishes Jimmy Greaves a speedy recovery after he suffered a stroke yesterday (Sunday).
“Our thoughts are with Jimmy and his family at this difficult time.”
Despite being the outstanding England striker of his era, Greaves missed out on the 1966 World Cup final win over the then West Germany after suffering a shin injury against France in the group stages.
Greaves’ former team-mate Geoff Hurst, who replaced him in that side and went on to score a famous hat-trick in England’s 4-2 final win at Wembley, added his best wishes, tweeting: “Thinking of my friend and one of our greats this morning, @jimmy_greaves. Wishing him all the best and hoping for a speedy recovery.”
Greaves had a meteoric rise in football after making his senior debut for Chelsea in 1957 and had scored 100 league goals by the age of 20 years and 290 days – making him still the youngest-ever player to have reached that landmark.
Chelsea joined the growing list of well-wishers by tweeting Monday: “All at Chelsea are thinking of former Blue Jimmy Greaves and his family at this time. We wish him a full and swift recovery.”
After scoring 132 goals in a mere 169 matches for Chelsea, he joined Italian giants AC Milan for the then huge sum of STG80,000 ($A154,300) in 1961.
But the ultra-strict regime, which saw players fined by Milan for venturing outside the city limits, did not suit Greaves.
After a season in Italy where he scored nine goals in 12 games, he was signed by Tottenham – who had just become the first club in the 20th Century to complete the ‘Double’ by being crowned champions of England and winning the FA Cup in the same campaign – for STG99,999.
The unusual figure arrived at was devised by legendary Spurs manager Bill Nicholson, who did not want to saddle Greaves with the pressure of being English football’s first STG100,000 player.
Greaves scored 266 goals in 379 matches in nine seasons with Spurs during a golden era for the north London club.
His tally included scoring the opening goal in Tottenham’s FA Cup final victory over Burnley in 1962 and he also found the net in the 1963 European Cup Winners’ Cup final against Atletico Madrid, which Spurs won 5-1 to become the first British club to lift a major European trophy.
Greaves eventually finished his senior career with West Ham – his third London club.
After a well-publicised battle against alcoholism, which eventually saw him quit booze, Greaves’s relaxed and humorous style saw him become a pioneering television football pundit.
His broadcasting career was especially notable for his partnership with former Liverpool and Scotland striker Ian St John in British terrestrial channel ITV’s popular “Saint and Greavsie” program of the 1980s.