Ian ‘Saint’ St John

[Eastern]

15 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

 

Do you remember their Spitting Image puppets?

 

please go to 4 minutes 20

Edited September 22, 2020 by Eastern

[Quist]

50 minutes ago, the monk said:

He wasn't a coach here very long ,a matter of months ,he was at Portsmouth till 77 and joined itv in 78 

I honestly thought he was employed by us when doing TV work. He was often at midweek games he was dressed in suit and saw him in South Stand quite a bit.

he may have just come back for chat with mates.He was very small and stocky when you stood against him.

[31Dec1966]

Surprised no ones mentioned what became their catchphrases, so I'll do it.

 

"It's a funny old game saint"

 

"Och, ya kill me, Greavesie"

 

I still use the first one after we've dominated for 80 minutes and the opposition score with their first attack.  (not so much recently though!)

[belfast owl lad]

10 hours ago, Hodgyowl said:

Loved saint and greavsie, such a sad photo of greavsie heart breaking hope things improve for him.

 

God that is heart breaking to see,Loved old Greavsy.

[OhForAnotherShez]

Thanks Belfast, fully agree, it's sad.

Don't know which button to press, but agree with you.

[terrycurran]

I remember Dennis Woodhead telling us that St John claimed travel expenses for scouting John Aldridge, Dennis was convinced that St John didn’t attend the matches and pocketed the cash so drove to a game that St John was supposedly at to prove it. 
 

St John wasn’t there and later claimed that Aldridge was so poor in the first 20 minutes that he went home having seen enough. 

[heppers]

On 21/09/2020 at 22:06, torryowl said:

i remember him in the cup games against the arse ......he sort of just appeared and then he was gone .

 

[Musn't Grumble]

Always felt sorry for Jimmy Greaves who was first choice striker for England in the '66 World Cup. He played in all three of the group matches but picked up a nasty injury in the final group game. His replacement was Geoff Hurst who scored England's winner in the quarter final against Argentina and kept his place against Portugal in the semis and West Germany in the Final.

[BIGRUSS]

6 hours ago, Musn't Grumble said:

Always felt sorry for Jimmy Greaves who was first choice striker for England in the '66 World Cup. He played in all three of the group matches but picked up a nasty injury in the final group game. His replacement was Geoff Hurst who scored England's winner in the quarter final against Argentina and kept his place against Portugal in the semis and West Germany in the Final.

I thought they let him run the line in the final so he could be involved?

[sheriwozgod]

I remember my Dad (RIP) always saying that Jimmy Greaves was the finest finisher he had ever seen , and that it was a travesty that he didnt feature in the 66 world cup final.

[Samurai Blue]

20 hours ago, Hodgyowl said:

Loved saint and greavsie, such a sad photo of greavsie heart breaking hope things improve for him.

 

 

On the plus side, Ian is looking as fit as a fiddle.

[ashley8]

Ian St John alway talked us up on tv (very rare for anyone to do that for us) always seemed a great bloke and the sanity when Grievesy was on a mission. Lol

 

[31Dec1966]

15 hours ago, Musn't Grumble said:

Always felt sorry for Jimmy Greaves who was first choice striker for England in the '66 World Cup. He played in all three of the group matches but picked up a nasty injury in the final group game. His replacement was Geoff Hurst who scored England's winner in the quarter final against Argentina and kept his place against Portugal in the semis and West Germany in the Final.

Jimmy Greaves was the best finisher I ever saw, his goals record per game is remarkable. However, Alf Ramsey could see he didn't do anything else. His injury, while nasty, was cleared up and he was available to play. At the time I thought Alf was crazy to leave our best ever striker out but there was no reason to change the team and Hurst worked harder for other people. 

Alf was proved right.

Another myth is that his exclusion led to his alcoholism. Jimmy Greaves himself says this is not the case.

I'm glad I saw Greaves play. With todays fitness/ nutrition regimes, better pitches, lighter ball and protection from the like of Hunter and Ron Harris, he would have been priceless.

[@owlstalk]

RIP

[Ronnie Starling]

RIP. A great character and part of an enjoyable pre-match routine where we couldn't set off for the match until Saint & Greavsie had finished.

[markowl]

On 21/09/2020 at 21:59, mrbluesky said:

RIP

Have you got this week's lottery numbers?

 

[matthefish2002]

4 minutes ago, Ronnie Starling said:

RIP. A great character and part of an enjoyable pre-match routine where we couldn't set off for the match until Saint & Greavsie had finished.

 

Yes same.

In 80s I used to go to Chippy about mid day, watch Saint and Greavsie then go round my mates where his Dad used to give us all a lift to Hillsborough. (Was too young to drink then).
Sad news Ian St John has passed away, I really love all the old great players no matter who they played for.

RIP Saint.

[Inspector Lestrade]

Very sad news....RIP 

[marconi]

RIP Saint, wouldn’t have put a bet on you going before Greavesy.

[Inspector Lestrade]

On 22/09/2020 at 14:11, Quist said:

I honestly thought he was employed by us when doing TV work. He was often at midweek games he was dressed in suit and saw him in South Stand quite a bit.

he may have just come back for chat with mates.He was very small and stocky when you stood against him.

 

According to Wikipedia he left Sheffield Wednesday in 1979 for Saint and Greavsie, I wouldn't swear by it but agree with you that his early TV work overlapped his role with us.