It has often been said the hardest part of football is scoring goals, the task of finding or indeed affording a player who can find the net on a consistent basis an eternal challenge for clubs through the ages.
Down the years prolific goal scorers have secured success, sometimes salvation for their team, a sizeable personal goal tally making the difference between a trophy being lifted up or not – and in some instances preventing a side from going down.
Rarely was the anomaly between individual scoring achievement and team shortcomings been so pronounced than during the 1960s, when only once did the top marksman play for the league champions. The incomparable Jimmy Greaves topped lists in the first and last full seasons of the decade – and twice in-between – but still ended the decade without so much as a ‘Footballer of the Year‘ accolade, let alone league championship medal.
Very often it was a similar story of lone laurels/collective underachievement when conducting a 60s trawl of the lower divisions, the most proficient goal-getter and promoted teams frequently having no bearing on each other.
SAMTIMONIOUS.com hereby looks for half a yard in that crowded penalty area of the years between Adam Faith and Blind Faith – and in digesting the 60s hit (man) parade finds more kinks, so to speak, than in the UK singles chart.
1960-61: Division One – Jimmy Greaves (Chelsea) 41; Division Two – Ray Crawford (Ipswich Town) 39; Division Three – Tony Richards (Walsall) 36; Division Four – Terry Bly (Peterborough United) 52;
If according to the old adage anything can be proved with statistics, there is not one in existence to disprove Jimmy Greaves as the greatest goalscorer in post-war British football.
By start of the first full season of the decade Greaves, barely out of his teens, had already scored 83 goals in 117 league appearances for Chelsea. Top of Division One scoring lists with 32 in 1958-59, such prowess served to keep the Stamford Bridge side out of relegation trouble but not much else. Yet even by his already remarkable standards 1960-61 would prove astonishing – becoming the first player since the great Ted Drake (Arsenal) twenty five years earlier, to break the Division One forty goal barrier.
In a season where Chelsea scored 98 and conceded 100 in finishing twelfth, Greaves return of 41 brought him a June 1961 move to Italian giants AC Milan, who paid £80,000 for his services – but it would prove only a six month respite for the first division defences of England.
In Division Two Portsmouth-born Ray Crawford netted 39 times as Ipswich Town, (under the astute management of a chap destined to leave an indelible imprint of 60s football), scored 100 goals in winning the title – and people thought then Ipswich, manager Alf Ramsey and leading marksman Crawford had created a stir in earning their first ever crack at top flight football.
With numerous strikes from Tony Richards (adding to 74 he had scored in the previous three seasons), Walsall secured successive promotions, Fellows Park not having seen days like it since their giant-killing FA Cup exploits of the early 1930s, while in Division Four league newcomers Peterborough United marked their arrival among the 92 by running away with the championship.
Terry Bly scored over fifty as Posh netted a total of 134, their prime source of goals transferred to Coventry in 1962 having registered 81 for the London Road side in just 88 league games.
1961-62: Division One – Ray Crawford (Ipswich Town)/Derek Kevan (West Bromwich Albion) 33; Division Two – Roger Hunt (Liverpool) 44; Division Three – Cliff Holton (Watford/Northampton Town) 37; Division Four – Bobby Hunt (Colchester United) 37;
While today the notion of a promoted side coming up to straightaway become champions of England is outlandish beyond belief, it proved possible in the 1960s (and 70s) – Ramsey, Crawford and Ipswich making their presence felt to such an extent, the league title headed to the unlikely destination of Portman Road.
Reward for the goals contributed by Crawford to a scarcely-believable success was not just a championship medal but two England caps, while the following season he became the first player to score hat-tricks in the league, League Cup, FA Cup and European Cup. Matching his impressive goal tally was fellow England international Kevan, whose long-established proficiency hit a peak, yet even then it could not raise West Brom any higher than ninth.
Twenty three year-old Roger Hunt scored five hat-tricks and returned a goal-per-game ratio from his 41 league appearances as Liverpool swept all before them in winning Division Two, he and Anfield boss Bill Shankly on the verge of becoming two era-defining figures of 60s football.
One level lower, Cliff Holton, an early 50s Arsenal FA Cup runner-up and title-winner, had the distinction of being top scorer at both Watford and Northampton Town, although neither troubled the third division pacesetters. But in Division Four Bobby Hunt, in a career that still had twelve years to run, made a significant contribution as Colchester were promoted in finishing second to champions Millwall.
1962-63: Division One – Jimmy Greaves (Spurs) 37; Division Two – Bobby Tambling (Chelsea) 35; Division Three – George Hudson (Coventry City) 30; Division Four – Ken Wagstaff (Mansfield Town) 34;
Having returned to England after spending six months in Italy, (scoring nine times in fourteen appearances for AC Milan), Greaves came back to join Spurs in December 1961 for a fee of £99,999. He managed a goal-per-game return through to the end of the 1961-62 campaign – then during the first full season of his return went directly back to the top of the Division One scoring list, also netting seven times as Spurs lifted the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
His former club Chelsea, relegated the season after he departed for the San Siro, bounced back at the first attempt. Ace finisher Bobby Tambling enjoyed what proved his most prolific season during an illustrious eleven year Stamford Bridge career – scoring a sizeable portion of the 81 netted by Chelsea in finishing runners-up to Stoke City.
The excellent goal return of George Hudson could not hoist Peterborough United any higher than sixth in the third division promotion stakes, although in Division Four the thirty-plus haul of Ken Wagstaff saw Mansfield Town promoted.
Transferred to Hull City in November 1964, he would go on to score 173 times for the Boothferry Park club, in the process going on to earn the accolade of ‘Best Hull City player of the All-Time.’
1963-64: Division One – Jimmy Greaves (Spurs) 35; Division Two – Ron Saunders (Portsmouth) 33; Division Three – Alfie Biggs (Bristol Rovers); Division Four – Hugh McIlmoyle (Carlisle United) 39;
Four hat-tricks amid another high-thirty haul from Greaves were not enough to gain Spurs any silverware – and neither was the notable tally accrued by future Aston Villa league title winning boss Ron Saunders sufficient to win promotion for Portsmouth, the Fratton Park men drifting along in mid-table waters.
It was the same story for Alfie Biggs and Bristol Rovers in Division Three (although the goalscoring feats of Bristolian Biggs would earn him a place in Rovers’ ‘Hall of Fame‘), but in the Football League basement, the nigh-on forty scored by Hugh McIlmoyle were instrumental in Carlisle United going up. The first of three spells at Brunton Park – where the Scottish striker is revered to the point of having a statue outside the ground – McIlmoyle would be back in the fold for their one top flight campaign of ten years later.
1964-65: Division One – Andy McEvoy (Blackburn Rovers)/Jimmy Greaves (Spurs) 29; Division Two – George O’Brien (Southampton) 34; Division Three – Ken Wagstaff (Mansfield Town/Hull City) 34; Division Four Alick Jeffrey (Doncaster Rovers) 36;
After scoring 32 the previous season when Blackburn finished seventh, Irishman McEvoy found only Greaves could keep pace with him in 1964-65, Spurs (sixth) and Rovers (tenth) unable to capitalise on the goal guarantee offered by both players.
In Division Two, Southampton were likewise wasteful after Scot George O’Brien crossed the thirty goal line, Saints finishing two places and six points short of the promotion frame.
The mid-season move of Wagstaff from Mansfield to Hull had major third division consequences for both clubs – the former finishing third, the latter fourth, a full season of Wagstaff for either sure to have resulted in promotion.
The exploits of Alick Jeffrey were insufficient in lifting Doncaster Rovers out of Division Four – but despite their failure to win promotion Jeffrey’s feats in a Rovers shirt were not forgotten, a road and apartment block in the town now bearing his name.
1965-66: Division One – Roger Hunt (Liverpool)/Willie Irvine (Burnley) 29; Division Two – Martin Chivers (Southampton) 30; Division Three – Les Allen (QPR) 30; Division Four – Kevin Hector (Bradford Park Avenue) 44;
With the best defensive record in the land and ‘Sir’ Roger in the form of his life, it was little wonder The Kop acclaimed its second title in three seasons, Liverpool finishing six points clear of Leeds and third-placed Burnley – for whom Willie Irvine matched the total recorded by Hunt. The 23 year-old Northern Ireland international formed an excellent partnership with Scot Andy Lochhead as the Turf Moor side netted close on eighty times.
For the second term running there was a deluge of goals at The Dell, O’Brien replaced at the top of the second division listings by team-mate Martin Chivers – a thirty goal collection ensuring his native city reached Division One for the first time as Southampton finished runners-up to Manchester City. Two years later Chivers would become the most expensive player in England, leaving the south coast in a £125,000 move to Spurs – a seven year White Hart Lane tenure resulting in League and UEFA Cup triumphs along with 24 early-70s England caps.
Things were clearly stirring in W12 where Les Allen netted on a regular basis for QPR. They would fall short on this occasion in their efforts to climb out of Division Three – but a promotion push from Shepherd’s Bush, along with stunning League Cup glory, was barely a heartbeat away.
In Division Four there never appeared any likelihood of Bradford Park Avenue mounting a realistic promotion charge, despite the sterling work of twenty one year-old front man Kevin Hector. Later in the year the future England international would be sold to second division Derby County, although by the time Hector won the first of two league titles with The Rams in 1972, Park Avenue were no longer a Football League club.
1966-67: Division One – Ron Davies (Southampton) 37; Division Two – Bobby Gould (Coventry City) 24; Division Three – Rodney Marsh (QPR) 30; Division Four – Eric Phythian (Hartlepools United) 23;
Given the league title ended up at Old Trafford, Manchester United winning their second championship in three seasons, this seems an appropriate moment to briefly reflect on the goalscoring genius of Scottish international Denis Law.
While he never actually topped the Division One list in a season, his consistency after being signed by Matt Busby in July 1962 – following a spell playing in Italy with Torino – was exceptional. He made an immediate impact, scoring 29 in all competitions during the 1962-63 season as United won their first post-Munich silverware in lifting the FA Cup.
The honours, for him personally (‘European Footballer of the Year‘ 1965) and United as a team (League Champions 1965, 1967), kept arriving as did a staggering amount of goals, the first seven seasons of an eleven-year Manchester United career yielding over two hundred.
Like Greaves the ‘Footballer of the Year‘ statuette was a trophy that eluded him – an inexplicable state of affairs in light of their year-on-year accomplishments through the era.
If the concept of a promoted team winning the Premiership at the first attempt is fanciful in the extreme, then equally unthinkable to 21st Century sensibilities is a striker from a club having just gained top flight status finishing the season as leading goal scorer. But Ron Davies managed it as Southampton continued providing first rate entertainment, now in the new surroundings of Division One.
Signed on the eve of the season from Norwich City for a club record fee of £55,000, as an individual achievement the sizeable total posted by Davies is one of the great feats of domestic football in the 1960s. Saints were busy at both ends of the field, their Welsh international centre-forward scoring exactly half their goal tally as they finished five points clear of the drop zone despite conceding 92.
Another club soon to tread the boards in Division One for the first time were Coventry City – the Sky Blues capture of the second division title owing much to local born striker Bobby Gould, Highfield Road the first stop on what proved a lengthy eight-club playing career.
While thirty goals from Les Allen was not enough to earn QPR promotion from Division Three the previous season, the same total from entertainer extraordinaire Rodney Marsh did the trick as they galloped off with the title while also achieving an audacious cup success in winning the League Cup – Rangers coming from two goals down to beat holders West Brom in the first final of the competition to be staged at Wembley.
In Division Four former England youth international Ernie Phythian distinguished himself as top scorer, but his commendable efforts in front of goal were unable to put Hartlepools United (as they were then known) among the front-runners, the Victoria Park outfit finishing among the also-rans.
1967-68: Division One – George Best (Manchester United)/Ron Davies (Southampton) 28; Division Two – John Hickton (Middlesbrough) 24; Division Three – Don Rogers (Swindon Town) 25; Division Four – Les Massie (Halifax Town)/Roy Chapman (Port Vale) 25;
In some respects the most curious season of the decade as none of those topping divisional scoring charts played for a championship or even promotion winning ensemble – but in keeping with the times, there was something unique about George Best.
Having broken into the Manchester United team five seasons before, Belfast-born Best was now 22. The most exhilarating talent to have emerged into post-war British football, Best was at his most breathtaking as United just failed to retain the league title (pipped at the post by neighbours City), but succeeded in becoming the first English team to win the European Cup – the football world at large acknowledging his skyscraper level of talent in naming him ‘Footballer of the Year‘ in both England and Europe.
Yet as top goal scorer in Division One he found himself sharing the glory with Ron Davies – the Southampton forward enjoying another exemplary season as Saints once again proved themselves a strange mix of accomplished in attack but dreadful in defence, with only bottom club Fulham conceding more.
Into the second season of a celebrated ten year Middlesbrough career, the routinely excellent John Hickton could not elevate the Ayresome Park side any higher than sixth in the final Division Two shake-up, while one step down it was almost an identical tale for Don Rogers at Swindon – although he and his County Ground colleagues were only one step away from national prominence.
Down in Division Four the laudable penalty area work of Les Massie and Roy Chapman (father of future Stoke, Arsenal and Leeds striker Lee), proved of no tangible benefit to Halifax Town or Port Vale, unless viewed through the prism of neither club having to apply for Football League re-election.
1968-69: Division One – Jimmy Greaves (Spurs) 27; Division Two – John Toshack (Cardiff City) 22; Division Three – Don Rogers (Swindon Town) 22; Division Four – Gary Talbot (Chester City) 22;
Among many innovations that came to the fore during the 1960s was the rock ‘concept’ album, a song cycle where each track serves the narrative, the opening cut often reprised at the end in emphasising the linear nature of the piece. As the final year of the decade produced the most prominent example in ‘Tommy‘ by The Who, it was somehow fitting, (even if explained by a tenuous analogy), there should be a thematic feel to 60s goalscoring in England – the beginning reappearing at the close with Jimmy Greaves once more taking the number one spot.
Literally and metaphorically speaking, the last word on 60s goal-getting went to the most instinctive finisher the English game is ever likely to produce. In his final full season for Spurs, in which he was an ever present, there were also nine cup goals, the White Hart Lane side still managing to look this trophy gift-horse in the mouth.
Over twenty goals from John Toshack could not help secure Cardiff City a second division promotion place, but served in bringing the Bluebirds’ striker to the attention of Liverpool – who would shortly pay a club record fee of £110,000 in taking the Cardiff-born Welsh international to Anfield.
Another notable haul from Don Rogers not only saw Swindon promoted, but in a season of unforgettable achievement they emulated the feat of QPR in winning the League Cup from Division Three – the Wembley element of this triumphant double ensured by an extra-time brace from Rogers as they upset the odds in defeating Arsenal 3-1.
With Swindon enjoying sensational highs, Chester City striker Gary Talbot decided to go out on one.
After topping Division Four scoring charts in a second spell with the mid-table Sealand Road side, at 32 Talbot retired to embark on what transpired as a successful career in photography, his images renowned for being vivid and expressive – much like those we have of goals scored through those times by Best, Greaves, Hunt and Law…………….
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE’ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.