One of the footballing greats has gone. Jimmy Greaves might be termed a pure goalscorer. His record of 357 goals in the top flight of English football may not ever be surpassed. He also scored nine in Serie A with A C Milan.

He began his career at Chelsea then moved to A C Milan in 1961. He did not settle there and was signed by Tottenham Hotspur for £99,999 (the £1 less than 100,000 supposedly to avoid the pressure of being the first £100,000 player. I doubt that would have bothered him.) He is the highest ever goal scorer for Spurs where he won several trophies. His League career ended at West Ham United.

He also scored 44 goals in 57 international appearances for England but missed out on a World Cup Final appearance in 1966 – and therefore his country’s greatest (only?) football triumph – due to being injured in a group game and the form of his replacement Geoff Hurst. This disappointment reportedly subsequently preyed on his mind. Sadly he became an alcoholic after his League career ended.

In later years, the alcoholism overcome, he became a Saturday lunchtime fixture in the TV prgramme Saint and Greavsie and earned himself a whole new legion of fans some of whom had never seen him play in his heyday.

Here are some of his goals for Spurs:-

James Peter (Jimmy) Greaves: 20/2/1940 – 19/9/2021. So it goes.

I was sad to hear of the death of Cyrille Regis, a stalwart of a West Bromwich Albion side which finished third in the English top division in the late 1970s and fourth a couple of years later. Imagine that happening now!

Prior to his career along with Laurie Cunningham and Brendan Batson (nicknamed the Three Degrees though that seems excessively patronising now) there had been few black players in the British game since its very early days.

Albert Johanesson of Leeds United and West Ham United’s Clyde Best were trail-blazers and the amount of racist abuse all these had to suffer doesn’t bear thinking about.

Regis and the other two degrees helped to show that players like them could, “do it on a wet Wednesday afternoon in Stoke.” Not that that should ever have been doubted.

Regis’s five caps for England is not a true reflection of his abilities and stands as an indicator of the difficulties he faced in forging a career in football.

Cyrille Regis: 9/2/1958 – 14/1/2018. So it goes.

FA Cup, Round 1, Cressing Road,* 13/11/12

Since I lived in Braintree for two years Braintree Town is the English club nearest to what I could claim as a “local team.” While I lived there, though, the club was deep down in the English football pyramid and I never actually went to watch them. Somehow Saturdays were always spent going to Colchester or somewhere else to go round shops. I have continued to look out for their results in the intervening years and noted their climb to the Conference South and finally the Premier.

Last night was surely the biggest in their history what with a home First Round FA Cup tie against Tranmere Rovers and a live TV appearance thanks to ITV 4. My first time watching them in action. It was also my first time watching Tranmere for 90 mins.

The history I found on Wikipedia was interesting to me as they were for a long time associated with (as Manor Works and Critall Athletic the works team of) Critall Windows from where their nickname The Iron is derived.

They were playing in distinctive colours; shirts which were a shade of red that was close to orange (on Wiki it is orange) and light blue shorts. It was nice to see clips of their manager Alan Devonshire in his West Ham pomp before the game.

There was no doubt that Tranmere were the more accomplished side, stronger on the ball, quicker to it and generally more comfortable with it but Braintree had their moments and with some composure in front of goal might have scored. They were a bit unlucky with the first goal as the keeper made a great stop only for it to fall kindly for the attacker. Tranmere’s second and third were well worked and created though, the last coming in stoppage time and perhaps flattering the away team a touch. Braintree played some nice stuff, attempting to pass, spreading it wide but the gap in Divisions was obvious.

Comparisons are odious they say but as to how my beloved Dumbarton would match up I think that, presently, Braintree would come out on top.

*Sponsored as the Amlin Stadium.