It is so hard to believe that when the draw for the first-round proper of the 1978-79 FA Cup was approaching, Jimmy Greaves was at Barnet. And he was certainly taken aback by the build-up of excitement at Underhill, caused by ‘the prospect of being handed a plum tie with a big club - such as Brentford or Reading’.
But then he was Jimmy Greaves, the greatest goal scorer that England has ever produced and one of the few players who can be mentioned in a sentence containing the name, Pele – Greaves was a legend of the game; and Barnet were Barnet. And they still are….
At 37, Greaves had been persuaded to return to football by the Barnet chairman, Dave Underwood, a former Liverpool goalkeeper.
The club had just won promotion to the Southern League Premier Division and had Bob McNab, the former Arsenal full back, in the team, alongside Terry Mancini, once of Arsenal, QPR, Orient and Aldershot.
Greaves said Mancini had, ‘given sterling service to numerous London clubs including Stringfellows’.
Greaves certainly needed his sense of humour. His arrival at Barnet had come at the end of a self-inflicted wrecking journey into a world of despair.
Greaves was divorced and an alcoholic, a former great footballer living on his own in a bedsit in Wanstead.
Underwood and Underhill without doubt cushioned his tragic fall, and eventually helped him to bring his life back together again.
There were many times when Jimmy felt unsure in his new surroundings. On so many occasions he had been surprised by the definition of a ‘big club’ - in the previous season when he turned up for a game against Camberley Town, he had wondered why Barnet were playing them, as they were not in the same league. He was somewhat stunned to discover it was a qualifying round of the FA Cup. ‘For me, the FA Cup had always started in January,’ he said.
But Greaves took the game in his stride, and did what he had done throughout all of his footballing life, he scored two that day.
And so to the draw for the first round proper, and the explosion of north London excitment. Unfortunately, the draw did not bring the expectant Barnet players a ‘big club’ like Brentford, it brought another non-League team, Woking, then in the Isthmian League.
The crowd for the game was around 2,000 and after 15 minutes, Barnet won a free-kick, which Greaves took quickly. - Barnet were 1-0 up.
Referee Mike Taylor, however, disallowed the effort, saying neither he, nor the defensive wall were ready. Greaves told Taylor that, 'both he and Woking should have been fucking ready’.
The free-kick was re-taken and Greaves hit the post, telling Taylor in somewhat colourful language to take a taxi home. Out came the red card and Greaves was sent off.
As he trudged off, it must have seemed like an eternity from the bitterly cold day in January 1958, when the 17-year-old Greaves played his first FA Cup tie for Chelsea, at Doncaster in the third round.
The game with Woking ended in a 3v3 draw, and so too the replay. But Woking won the right to play John Toshack’s Swansea, after a 3v0 win in the second replay at Griffin Park.
Jimmy Greaves died on Sunday 19th September 2021, a great player who will be sadly missed by us all.
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