Exclusive: Ian St John hails Jimmy Greaves, who is set to receive an MBE
Ian St John has led the acclaim for Jimmy Greaves after it emerged that his great friend, former opponent and on-screen partner is finally set to receive a British honour.
Sources have confirmed to Telegraph Sport that Greaves, the greatest goalscorer in English football history, will be awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list alongside Ron Flowers, who was also part of England’s 1966 World Cup winning squad.
It will ensure that all living members of Sir Alf Ramsey’s squad have at least an MBE and, while many in football believe that Greaves’s achievements merit a knighthood, it does belatedly address the biggest sporting anomaly in the honour’s system.
The full New Year’s list will be officially published on Wednesday but the two 1966 honours were revealed by a Whitehall source to a Sunday newspaper.
St John who, with Greaves, presented ITV’s iconic Saint and Greavsie show from 1985 until 1992 told Telegraph Sport that he was thrilled to hear the news.
“I am delighted - it would be so much deserved and couldn’t happen to a nicer fella,” said St John, who is now 82 and won five major trophies with Liverpool in the 1960s. “Jimmy gave wonderful enjoyment to football fans and was then on the television for years giving entertainment and fun to people. He is quite simply one of the greatest players to have ever kicked a football."
Greaves scored 357 goals in 516 league matches between 1957 and 1972 for Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, which remains the all-time English top-flight record. It is also 74 more goals in 43 fewer games than Alan Shearer, who is the record goalscorer since the old First Division was rebranded the Premier League in 1992.
Shearer received an OBE in 2001 and a CBE in 2016 but, despite a superior goal record, being part of the 1966 World Cup squad and winning the old First Division, two FA Cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup with Tottenham, as well as Serie A at AC Milan, Greaves was previously always overlooked.
Now 80, he suffered a stroke five years ago and is paralysed down his right side and has only limited speech. St John says that “the way he battles on is terrific” and that he still savours the times they spent together. “As a player, Jimmy was a phenomenon,” said St John. “He was the only opponent that Bill Shankly paid any attention to in team talks. That includes Law, Best and Charlton.
“Bill would say, ‘You must hold him up, don’t dive in at him, go double on him’. Yet Jimmy would still just pick the ball up and run past people like Messi does. He never thrashed them in from 30 yards. Incredible close control. Wonderful balance. Amazing body swerves. So elusive and composed. An off the cuff player. He dribbled through packed defences and then would side-foot the ball in.
“We then worked together and Jimmy could make me laugh at the drop of a hat. We had a great time and he always saw the lighter side of life. He was your cheeky crafty Cockney. So easy going and nothing fazed him. He could turn up with five minutes to go and do the show. You would never ever know he had the career he did. He would smoke a pipe and play up the part of a non-athlete.”
Greaves also openly revealed his battle with alcoholism and, having not had a drink since 1978, would later help many other people, notably former Tottenham team-mate Cliff Jones, to face their addiction. “I was very aware of his problem with alcohol and how every day was a battle for him - it was amazing how he dealt with it,” said St John.
