Jimmy Greaves redefined perception of what a centre-forward should be | Jonathan Wilson


Like Brian Clough, Greaves was very different from the classic English No 9 and together they changed the game’s tactics
Jimmy Greaves dies aged 81

For those of us too young to have caught the end of Jimmy Greaves’s playing career, there was always a slightly awkward adjustment to be made.

He remained the goalscorer to whom all others were compared for two decades after his retirement in 1971 and yet it was hard to equate his legend with the slightly tubby, moustachioed bloke in the V-neck jumper who was all over ITV. But then you see the footage, see the speed and elegance, the capacity to beat defenders with a subtle change of pace or direction and, above all else, the finishing.

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