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The Greatest: Jimmy Greaves

littlewilly

Well-Known Member
May 28, 2013
1,670
5,181
Incidentally, I've got a copy of Jimmy's original contract with Tottenham. I've copied it into pdf. Unfortunately I've no idea how to post it here but happy to email it to someone who knows how if they want to message me. I've offered this on two previous occasions on other threads but no one has taken it up.

It's a fascinating and unique document and I'm sure it would be of interest to all on here.
 

Dinghy

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2005
6,326
15,561
Incidentally, I've got a copy of Jimmy's original contract with Tottenham. I've copied it into pdf. Unfortunately I've no idea how to post it here but happy to email it to someone who knows how if they want to message me. I've offered this on two previous occasions on other threads but no one has taken it up.

It's a fascinating and unique document and I'm sure it would be of interest to all on here.
I would certainly be interested to see it. (y)

Can you not just click on the upload a file button?
 

Dinghy

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2005
6,326
15,561

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,392
Thanks for that. Really interesting.

So he was paid somewhere between £2000 & £3000 per year (depending on appearances)

Not sure how accurate this site is (http://www.moneysorter.co.uk/calculator_inflation2.html#calculator) but that is (roughly) worth between £31,000 & £47,000... :eek:

Don't know if that says something about the times then, or the times now!


Top Footballers used to earn somewhere in the region of professional person like a Bank Manager or an Accountant. Now they earn way in excess of professions such as neurosurgeon or the majority of CEOs. Footballers used to often have a business on the side to go into when they retired. I remember (for some reason) that Frank Lampard Snr, had a haulage business and Francis Lee had a factory making toilet rolls. I think Ray Clemence had a haulage business as well. Think Greavesie only ever wanted his own pub!
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
Top Footballers used to earn somewhere in the region of professional person like a Bank Manager or an Accountant. Now they earn way in excess of professions such as neurosurgeon or the majority of CEOs. Footballers used to often have a business on the side to go into when they retired. I remember (for some reason) that Frank Lampard Snr, had a haulage business and Francis Lee had a factory making toilet rolls. I think Ray Clemence had a haulage business as well. Think Greavesie only ever wanted his own pub!

Jimmy had a packaging business for a few years out in Essex with a partner who was also a Spurs player.

Cliff Jones had a butcher's shop in Tottenham which didn't last very long. He told me that when he was slicing meat for sausages, he also sliced a tiny bit off the tip of a finger into the mix. I wonder who had that for dinner!

In both these cases, they were let down by partners which ultimately led to the end of the ventures.

Wives often had small businesses they ran from home. Joyce Medwin sold women's clothes.
 
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WorcesterTHFC

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2016
1,779
2,546
Top Footballers used to earn somewhere in the region of professional person like a Bank Manager or an Accountant. Now they earn way in excess of professions such as neurosurgeon or the majority of CEOs. Footballers used to often have a business on the side to go into when they retired. I remember (for some reason) that Frank Lampard Snr, had a haulage business and Francis Lee had a factory making toilet rolls. I think Ray Clemence had a haulage business as well. Think Greavesie only ever wanted his own pub!
Frank Lampard Snr also had a restaurant/bistro in Romford called Lamps, not too far from Ted Ditchburn's old sports shop, if I remember rightly.
 

wooderz

James and SC Striker
May 18, 2006
8,766
4,507
My parents are friends with his daughter. I'm friends (ish) with his grand-daughter. He's a really nice bloke, but will not talk football. Very bitter about the way the game has gone.

Hope he has a lovely birthday and is feeling on top form soon!
 

Led's Zeppelin

Can't Re Member
May 28, 2013
7,333
20,178
In those days most players were not well off, and many who survive are very poorly off as a result of the sacrifices they made to play the game.

Health and education suffered, future opportunities were sacrificed.

I shall write more about this, and the hardship that old players face because so many people believe that footballers must be well off. It is true of the better players today, but it is far from the truth as it applies to some of our greatest heroes of the past.
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,392
In those days most players were not well off, and many who survive are very poorly off as a result of the sacrifices they made to play the game.

Health and education suffered, future opportunities were sacrificed.

I shall write more about this, and the hardship that old players face because so many people believe that footballers must be well off. It is true of the better players today, but it is far from the truth as it applies to some of our greatest heroes of the past.


Puts it into perspective when Beckham expects a Knighthood at the same time that the likes of Nobby Stiles have to auction off their medals to make ends meet.
 

longtimespur

Well-Known Member
Sep 10, 2014
5,830
9,949
Really great goalscorer, wish him well and happy birthday.
Still remember (mind you I am only 7 years behind him) him getting the ball up near the dug-out and running through I think it was Stoke's defence before rounding the keeper (Gordon Banks?) and putting the ball in the net. Wish I could find footage of it but I can't be certain of the opposition.
 

WorcesterTHFC

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2016
1,779
2,546
Puts it into perspective when Beckham expects a Knighthood at the same time that the likes of Nobby Stiles have to auction off their medals to make ends meet.
A player as wealthy as Beckham could buy the memorabilia that players like Stiles have to auction, without noticing the dent in his bank account, and then give the stuff to the rightful owners - the players who earned the stuff in the first place.

The other week I read an online article about Nobby Stiles. These days, he has Alzheimer's (or Parkinson's, maybe) and his health is so bad that he can't receive any visitors at home. Even his old teammate and best mate Bobby Charlton hardly ever sees him now. A few years ago, Stiles, a lifelong United fan who still lives within a few streets of Old Trafford, asked the club for tickets so that he could take his granddaughter to her first United game. The club was prepared to give him the tickets, provided he paid the full price. What a shabby way to treat their former players. I can't help thinking the club wouldn't have treated him so shabbily when the Edwards family was in charge. I just hope Spurs treat our former players with a bit more respect.
 

danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,179
48,764
A player as wealthy as Beckham could buy the memorabilia that players like Stiles have to auction, without noticing the dent in his bank account, and then give the stuff to the rightful owners - the players who earned the stuff in the first place.

The other week I read an online article about Nobby Stiles. These days, he has Alzheimer's (or Parkinson's, maybe) and his health is so bad that he can't receive any visitors at home. Even his old teammate and best mate Bobby Charlton hardly ever sees him now. A few years ago, Stiles, a lifelong United fan who still lives within a few streets of Old Trafford, asked the club for tickets so that he could take his granddaughter to her first United game. The club was prepared to give him the tickets, provided he paid the full price. What a shabby way to treat their former players. I can't help thinking the club wouldn't have treated him so shabbily when the Edwards family was in charge. I just hope Spurs treat our former players with a bit more respect.
We've got better at this i think, but it wasn't hard, because under Sugar the club was notorious for treating ex-players like something you'd scrape from the back of your shoe.
 

TheChosenOne

A dislike or neg rep = fat fingers
Dec 13, 2005
47,877
49,713

TheChosenOne

A dislike or neg rep = fat fingers
Dec 13, 2005
47,877
49,713
Great idea to name a stand after billy nick he is Tottenham hotspur


After he resigned in 1974 it was a scandal that he was photographed by a daily newspaper 'signing on' at the dole office at Scotland Green a few hundred yards away from Whit Hart Lane.
 

chinaman

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2003
17,974
12,423
After he resigned in 1974 it was a scandal that he was photographed by a daily newspaper 'signing on' at the dole office at Scotland Green a few hundred yards away from Whit Hart Lane.


Was Sidney Wale the Chairman then? Just can't forgive whoever was at the helm of the club to let the face of Spurs go to the dole office. levy and Joe Lewis are miles better by comparison.
 
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