Hear it for Jimmy Greaves before auction hammer falls

Football hero auctions his World Cup medal to raise £50,000 - half what he’d earn in a week today

Columnist Robert Chesshyre

As headlines go – with political turmoil at home, and war and disease abroad – the news that a one-time England footballer is about to sell his 1966 World Cup medal commands little newspaper space beyond the nostalgic regrets of an ageing generation of football fans.

But the plight of Jimmy Greaves, now 74, forced apparently to sell his home and move in with his daughter, is a sad footnote to a period when England really could play football and compete with the world’s best.

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Robert Chesshyre writes regularly on police culture and is a former US correspondent of The Observer. His books include ‘The Force: Inside the Police’ and 'When the Iron Lady Ruled Britain''.