Jimmy Greaves captained Chelsea once — and scored four

Jimmy Greaves captained Chelsea for the first and only time in the club's final match of the 1960/61 season, against Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge — and marked the occasion with four goals in a 4-3 victory.

The match served as Greaves's farewell before his transfer to AC Milan, a deal struck after the Italian Football Association lifted its ban on foreign players in 1961, opening the door for Serie A clubs to target English talent still bound by the maximum wage of £20 a week.

Greaves had been Chelsea's standout player since his first-team debut in August 1957, when he scored in a 1-1 draw at Tottenham aged 17. Journalist Charles Buchan, writing for the News Chronicle, described it as 'the finest first-ever League game I have seen from any youngster.'

His four goals against Nottingham Forest represented his 13th Chelsea hat-trick and his sixth of that season alone. After the final whistle, supporters carried him off the pitch on their shoulders. As Greaves later recalled: 'They carried me off like I were the FA Cup.'

Chairman Joe Mears, aware of Greaves's value as the youngest player to score 100 league goals — a record that still stands — had been willing to sell, on the condition the forward did not join a rival English club. AC Milan's approach met that condition and the deal was concluded quickly.

Greaves had grown frustrated at Chelsea despite his personal consistency in front of goal. In his autobiography he singled out a FA Cup exit at home to Fourth Division Crewe in January 1961 as a low point that intensified his desire to leave SW6.

After the Forest match, the Times had written of the 17-year-old Greaves following his debut at White Hart Lane that 'Greaves may have a rich future.' He would go on to represent Tottenham for over eight years, cementing a legacy widely regarded as among the finest in English football history. September 19 marks the fifth anniversary of his death.