Greenhoff: James (Jimmy)

1963-1968 (Player Details)

Forward

Born: Barnsley: 19-06-1946

Debut: v Southampton (a): 15-05-1963

5’10” 11st 2lb (1968)

#82 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Greenhoff was in the Barnsley side that won the 1960-61 English Schools Trophy and, after representing Yorkshire Schoolboys, joined Leeds and completed his apprenticeship in August 1963. He started at right half, but was pushed forward with the advent of Billy Bremner, and made a valuable contribution to the side which established itself as a First Division force in the mid-1960s. There was no finer sight in football than Greenhoff with the ball at his feet making swift, surging runs from the right hand side of midfield and he looked, and was, a natural footballer, with skills beyond those of the average player. His natural ability, his ball control, his distribution, his composure, his shooting ability set him above them. But in a team with Billy Bremner emerging in midfield and Bobby Collins and Johnny Giles already firmly established and fellow juniors Eddie Gray and Peter Lorimer, both pushing for recognition and to a lesser degree Rod Belfitt and Terry Hibbitt on the fringes, it was hard to win a spot in midfield. The young Greenhoff was given a chance in attack and soon proved his worth scoring seven League goals in 1966-67 as Leeds came fourth in the League and reached the Semi-Final of the F.A. Cup, to be eliminated by Chelsea, and were beaten in the Final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by Dynamo Zagreb. Greenhoff did gain his only pieces of silverware in the following season, but that was after the acquisition of Mick Jones he found himself in the vacant right wing spot for the injured Mike O'Grady and, with Jones unavailable in the League Cup, he was part of the team that beat Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley to lift the League Cup and was also a part of the team that won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by beating Ferencvaros in the two-legged final. He scored regularly and was second leading goalscorer to Peter Lorimer, in the League with eleven goals, three more than Mick Jones. With the signing of Mick Jones and the emergence of so many talented youngsters, Greenhoff was sold to Birmingham City for £70,000 in August 1968 in the middle of a Cup Final. He had played in the first leg of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup against Ferencvaros, coming on as substitute but was sold before the second leg had taken place. Greenhoff made a huge impact at Birmingham. He scored fourteen goals in thirty-one League games, including four in one game, a 5-4 home win over Fulham, on 5th October 1968 and scored fifteen goals in a total of thirty-six games in all competitions as Birmingham finished the 1968–69 season in seventh spot in the Second Division. It was while at St Andrew's that Greenhoff pick up his first representative honours when he scored once in four appearances for the England Under-Twenty-Three team. He opened the Scoring for England in his debut in the 3-1 win over Wales at Wrexham on 2nd October 1968 This was followed by an appearance on his home turf, as England drew 2-2 with Holland on 13th November 1968 at St Andrew's. His third cap came against the same opposition as the Dutch won 2-1 in Deventer on 22nd May 1969, his fourth coming three days later in a 1-0 win over Belgian "B" at Ostend. It took a fee of £100,000 in August 1969 from First Division Stoke City to persuade Birmingham to part with their prize asset. He made a similar impact at the Victoria Ground, scoring nine goals as the club ended in ninth place. He became part of the revival of Stoke City in the early 1970's as Tony Waddington rebuild the Potter's team and dispensed with the older players. He built the new team around Greenhoff, Gordon Banks, Terry Conroy and John Mahoney. In addition to consolidating their League position, Stoke started to make an impact in the Cup competitions. City reached the 1971 FA Cup Semi-Final where, after being 2-0 up against Arsenal, the game finished 2-2. Arsenal won the replay 2-0. The next season Stoke again lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup Semi-Final, but they had success when they won the League Cup final with a 2-1 victory over Chelsea. Stoke became a team to be feared and it was they that ended Leeds United's twenty-nine game unbeaten start to the 1973-74 season. Leeds had started the game well, taking an early 2-0 lead through goals from Billy Bremner and Peter Lorimer and a Leeds win looked a formality. However, Alan Hudson and Mike Pejic levelled the scores before half-time and Denis Smith’s diving header inflicted on Greenhoff’s schoolboy club their first loss. Despite paying £325,000 for England goalkeeper Peter Shilton in the close season Stoke could not make the final push towards the top spots and finished fifth in the 1974-75 season, just four points behind the top placed Derby County. Greenhoff had found the net fourteen times in League games and won the TV award for goal of the season for his goal in a 3-0 win at St Andrew's against his former club Birmingham City on 7th December 1974, when he scored with a superb volley. Tony Waddington had appointed Greenhoff club captain and recommended that England Manager should give him his chance in the England team. Despite the many players Revie gave a chance to Greenhoff was not in their numbers and he remained in the top drawer of players that never played for England. He did get one more representative honour with his fifth England Under-Twenty-Three cap as an over-aged player in the first leg of the European Championship Quarter-Final as England were defeated by Hungary 3-0 in Budapest on 10th March 1976. Acknowledged by Waddington as the best player he ever signed, his time at the Victoria Ground was coming to an end. In January 1976 wind had blown the roof off the Butler Street Stand and the club faced a damages bill of £250,000. Players had to be sold, including Greenhoff, and he made a £200,000 move to Manchester United in November 1976 where he would join up with his younger brother Brian. Greenhoff soon repaid that fee. While with Stoke City he scored seventy-six goals in two hundred and seventy-four League games. Always an unselfish player and not a prolific goalscorer, he still scored ninety-seven goals from three hundred and thirty-eight games in total, which left him as the ninth highest overall goal scorer for Stoke City in the club's history. After making his debut in a 1-1 draw at Leicester City on 20th November 1976, he scored in a 2-0 F.A. Cup Semi-Final win over Leeds and scored the winner, with a chested goal from a Lou Macari shot, in the 2-1 win over Liverpool in the 1977 Final, when he picked up a Winner's medal. Despite having his best years behind him he still retained all his attributes that most clubs had coveted for so long and he gaveManchester four good seasons. Initially bought as a partner for striker Stuart Pearson. It proved to be a successful partnership that brought goals for them both. After Pearson was injured Manager Dave Sexton bought Joe Jordan in 1978, and a new partnership was forged. 1978-1979, was Greenhoff's best season at Old Trafford. He scored seventeen goals and finished as the club’s leading scorer and he was elected as "Player of the Year" by the fans. He also played in the 1979 FA Cup Final, but was on the losing team, as Arsenal won 3–2, with a goal in the final minute from Alan Sunderland. After that his career was blighted by injury and in December 1980 he was allowed to leave the club for Crewe Alexandra. Greenhoff played his final game for Manchester on 6th December 1980 in a 2-2 draw with Norwich City at Carrow RoadWhile at Old Trafford he had scored twenty-six goals in ninety-seven League games, one goal in four League Cup ties, nine goals in nineteen F.A. Cup ties, and played one game in each of the Charity Shield, UEFA Cup and Cup-Winners' Cup without scoring. A total of thirty-six goals in one hundred and twenty-three games. He had a short spell as Manager, after he had replaced his former boss Tony Waddington, but he was only at Crewe for a couple of months, scoring four goals in eleven League games before moving to Toronto Canada in April 1981, where he had a season with Toronto Blizzard, scoring six goals in twenty-four games. He joined Port Vale in August 1981 and scored five times in forty-eight League games. After nearly two years at Vale Park, Greenhoff left on 1st March 1983 and ended his playing career after a spell as Player-Manager at Rochdale. He played sixteen League games at Spotland without scoring and was sacked as Manager on 12th March 1984. He later became part of the coaching staff at Port Vale. He later coached youngsters at holiday camps and then ran his own insurance business in the Stoke area, but in 1996 he had financial problems when he found out his partner in that business had been conning him out of large sums of money. He then worked in a warehouse and later for a pharmaceutical company in Stoke-on-Trent.