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Will the real Jimmy Greaves please stand up

by Lee Sykes
7/ 5/2008

THE name Jimmy Greaves is creating a stir again in footballing circles – but instead of talking about a former England legend, we are referring to an eight-year-old boy from Oldham.

Like his namesake, our Jimmy is a prolific goalscorer with ambitions to play at the highest level.

The local lad has already caught the eye of scouts from Bolton Wanderers courtesy of his impressive record for Chadderton Park Juniors.

Young Jimmy has dad Carl to thank for naming him after one of the best strikers ever to pull on an England shirt.

The 37-year-old explained that when he was at school in the Eighties he picked up the nickname ‘Jimmy’ because of his surname – and the fact that the football legend was then starring alongside soccer pal Ian St John in the ‘Saint and Greavsie’ show.

"I used to play for Chadderton Park when I was at school and everyone called me ‘Jimmy’ there," he said. "When I had a son I wanted to call him Jimmy and happily my wife Lisa liked the name too.A few people said it was a bit cruel and he would get stick but I think it’s nice that the name ‘Jimmy Greaves’ will live on – and who knows, maybe my Jimmy will become famous in his own right. He has been playing with Chadderton Park since he was six and is doing very well. He attended a ‘Kick Start’ Academy in Manchester two years ago and was spotted by a Bolton scout who asked him to come along to one of their soccer schools."

Despite young Jimmy’s early promise, Carl says he realises most youngsters don’t go onto make it in the professional game and he is pleased that his son has plenty of other interests.

Jimmy – a pupil at Mills Hill School who lives in Chadderton Park Road and has two brothers – mainly plays in midfield, but has an eye for goal and has been on the scoresheet several times this season.

Carl joked: "The way England have been lately they could do with another Jimmy Greaves."

However, his son still has a way to go before catching up his namesake who was was born in 1940 in London and made his league debut for Chelsea at 17. He scored 100 goals by the time he was 20 and went onto score 474 goals in an eventful career. His most successful spell was with Spurs in the 1960s, and he remains the third highest England goal scorer of all time with 44 goals in 57 appearances.