Alan Pattullo: Even Scots can get behind Jimmy Greaves becoming a Sir

When Denis Law – and it really should be Sir Denis as well – argues another footballer should be made a knight, it’s probably time to listen.

Jimmy Greaves, who scored 266 goals for Spurs, in action against David Nish of Leicester in 1968. Picture: Don Morley/Allsport/Getty

The ever-youthful looking Law contributed to a film on BT Sport about Jimmy Greaves to mark the striker’s 80th birthday this week.

Greaves is now stricken 
following a stroke, but the documentary reawakened his greatness.

It helped educate those whose age means they associate the Englishman with a lunchtime football show rather than his insatiable appetite for goals. For those under 50, he’s one half of Saint & Greavsie the popular duo who provided a more irreverent look at the weekend’s football compared with the BBC’s Football Focus, hosted by the genial former Scotland international goalkeeper Bob Wilson.

Greavsie was often guilty of irritating Scottish viewers with his patronising take on Scottish goalies. After Dundee United’s Hamish McAlpine had starred against Manchester United in a Uefa Cup clash in 1985, he encouraged “Haggis… erm I mean Hamish” to “keep it up”. Then there’s his so-called support for Hamilton Accies.

But he was more, far more than just a prankster and foil for the Saint – former Scotland striker Ian St John, who adores him. Greaves waged a very public battle with the bottle at a time when celebrities hitting the front page was far more rare.

The disease curtailed his later days as a player but then he’d already established himself as quite possibly British football’s greatest-ever striker. He scored 124 league goals in only 157 games at Chelsea and is still Spurs’ leading 
goalscorer, with 266 goals, many of them scored in 
conjunction with his fellow G man – Alan Gilzean. Then there’s 44 goals in just 57 appearances for England.

Geoff Hurst was knighted for scoring three times when England won the World Cup but Greaves, who suffered a gashed leg in England’s final group game v France, ruling him out of the tournament, remains unhonoured.

A petition hopes to change that before it’s too late. It’s something even Scots can throw their support behind.