Greavsie on the ball with stand-up show
Jimmy Greaves does stand-up like he played football, with extraordinary ease.
Jimmy Greaves does stand-up like he played football, with extraordinary ease.
Known as the greatest English goalscorer of his generation, he went on to become one of television's most popular pundits with his mate Ian St John.
But now the 1966 World Cup squad member has turned his hand to stand-up comedy as part of a 70th birthday tour – which kicked off at Wolverhampton's Wulfrun Hall last night. "Hello fellow athletes," he greets the 250-strong audience of silver heads and balding pates.
"I done the National Haemorrhoid Society annual dinner the other day; stand-up buffet, obviously" And so it went on, each gag, even familiar ones, lapped up by his adoring fans.
Moving to sport, he mixed serious memories with funny ones.
He was 17 when he made his debut for Chelsea in 1957, recalling that most of the better teams at that time were from the Midlands and naming Wolves as the best in the country "with my dear friend Billy Wright at the helm".
Among those that came in for a Greavsie teasing were Cannock-born Stan Collymore and Villa manager Martin O'Neill along with Alex Ferguson, Glen Hoddle, Gaza and Bruce Grobbelaar.
He described Liverpool defender Tommy Smith as the hardest player he ever played against – "had a face like a careless beekeeper" – and Spurs captain Dave Mackay as the best footballer.
It was a great night for fans of a certain vintage but Jimmy was happy to give his views about any era of the game.
In the question and answer session after the interval, he was asked about England's chances in the World Cup.
He said it could be won by any of between 8 – 10 teams, including England, Spain, Holland, Germany and Brazil.
"You have to strike everything right at the right time, as we did in '66. We had a better team in '70 but it didn't go for us."
And on the effect on the dressing room of John Terry's dalliances?
"He'll get support from the team," says Greavsie.
"These things have been going on since time immemorial. In my time the wife went off to the pub for a couple of Mackesons to recover, now they fly off to Dubai for a week."