In this week’s football language post we look at a headline from the Daily Telegraph newspaper about the great Jimmy Greaves who sadly died this weekend. You can see more newspaper headlines here and don’t forget we have hundreds more explanations of football language in our football glossary. If you have questions or comments about this or any other phrase then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
Football Newspaper Headlines: Farewell, Greavsie
All of the UK newspapers focused on the sad passing of football legend Jimmy Greaves at the weekend. He was one of the greatest ever English footballers and he still holds the record for most goals in a top-flight career: 357. He started his career at Chelsea in 1957 where he scored over 130 goals in only four seasons before moving to AC Milan. After a short stay in Italy where he managed 9 goals in 12 games winning a Serie A title, he returned to London and signed forA Tottenham. In a career that spanned almost a decade he scored a club record 266 goals, winning the FA Cup twice and helping Spurs to become the first English side to win a European trophy when they won the European Cup Winners final in 1963. He is a club legend at Spurs. In addition, he scored 44 England goals in only 57 appearances and of course was part of the successful winning World Cup squad of 1966.
The Daily Telegraph simply has the phrase ‘Farewell, Greavsie‘ on its front page, using the player’s nickname because he was such a household name to so many. Everyone knew Greavsie, not just because of his football career, but also because of his role as a football pundit and TV presenter in the 1980s.
The Guardian showed an image from the weekend Premier League game between two of his former clubs Tottenham and Chelsea with the headline: ‘Emotional send-off for scoring legend‘ – a send-off is often used as a way of saying goodbye to someone and of course he is a scoring legend for being the most prolific goalscorer in the English game. The Mirror headline follows the Telegraph one with a simple ‘Goodbye Greavsie‘, again referring to his nickname, while The Daily Express also says farewell – this time using the phrase ‘Goal King‘ to describe the great Jimmy Greaves. RIP.
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