It would be unusual for Harry Kane to beat Jimmy Greaves at Tottenham – and here’s why

when Harry Kane Shattering Jimmy Greaves’ long-standing scoring record, it will be an historic moment for the team’s fans Tottenham Hotspur. Greaves remains a legendary figure in English football, mainly because no one has come close to his total of 357 Premier League goals, scored while playing. Chelseaand tottenham and West Ham. When a modern-day player matches one of their records, you know it’s something special.

But for neutrals, the feeling will seem relatively familiar. In recent years, we have seen the goal-scoring record broken ArsenalChelsea Manchester city And Manchester United Also, courtesy of Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard, Sergio Aguero and Wayne Rooney. This means that once Kane scores two more goals, five of the ‘Big Six’ goal-scoring records – taking the time of a player’s final goal for the club – of the past 11 years are taken, will be set.

Outside of the six major teams, however, the picture is very different. Of the 86 other clubs in the top four divisions, only two have set records at the time – one of them being Milton Keynes Dons, who have been in existence for less than 20 years.

And while the seniors are used to seeing their own record broken, the average scoring record across the four divisions has stood at 57. For many clubs it is almost impossible to imagine their record ever being beaten.

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There is a huge variety across the 92 clubs in terms of goalscoring. The three oldest records date back to the antebellum period, with the most notable being Steve Blumer’s legendary record of 332 goals for him. Derby County. He is still second, behind Graves, in terms of goals scored in the league.

Plumer’s tally at Derby was particularly impressive considering he spent four years at Middlesbrough between two spells at the club, and also because he played regularly for Derby baseball club – Derby Ground, of course, was called Baseball Ground – becoming British champions on three occasions.

If you are looking to become a record goalscorer for the club, the optimal age to play is the late 1920s and 1930s. Not only did this mean that your career wasn’t cut short by war, as generation has been on both sides, but these forwards also benefited from a change to the Offside Law of 1925, which meant that a player would now be left out if there were two opponents. The goal side of it, as it is today, not the previous three. Immediately, the goals-per-game ratio rose from 2.6 to 3.7 and would remain above 3.0 until World War II.

This period produced some of the most famous goalscoring feats in football: Aston Villa scored 128 in one season, evertonDixie Dean has scored 60 goals alone for Everton, and Arsenal’s Ted Drake has scored seven goals in one game. More importantly, it was the decade in which 22 of the club’s 92 all-time goals were scored, from Carlisle’s Jimmy McConnell to Plymouth Argyle’s Sammy Black. No other decade comes close.

The period after World War II was also a fertile period for record goals. PrestonBolton’s Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse scored the bulk of their goals in the 50s but ended their spells in 1960, while the same was true of Greaves in the 1960s, his Spurs career ending in 1970.

Meanwhile, the highest goal tally ever scored for a current Football League team was Wycombe’s Tony Horsman, with 416 goals scored between 1961 and 1978, although none of them went into the Football League. Wycombe repeatedly rejected the offer to move up to the professional leagues, and first played in the top four levels in 1993.

A similar situation exists for several recently promoted non-league clubs: none from Forest Green, Barrow, Wimbledon Championships Or Sutton United’s all-time top scorer in the Football League, while the same is probably true of Salford City. Salford does not display any goalscoring record on their website, and when contacted the athlete For more information, they said their records were destroyed in an arson attack in 2009. They have only had complete records since then.

The least intimidating record, by the way, is the one he holds Wigan AthleticAttacking midfielder Andy Liddell, who spent six seasons at the club. Wigan is one of many clubs who set their goalscoring record in the league rather than the holder of all competitions. Perhaps they should add the number of goals scored in cup competitions, as 70 goals in total is rather modest.

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The last years have been – almost – all about the big clubs. It was inevitable for years that Henry, Lampard, Rooney and Aguero would become their club’s record goalscorer.

if it was Premier LeagueThe Big Six regular is now a Big Seven thanks to the rise of the Big Six NewcastleFitting in this pattern, Alan Shearer surpassed Jackie Milburn’s longtime record of 200 points from a half-dozen, ending his Newcastle career in 2006 with 206 goals.

Perhaps the saddest thing is that modern fans of the clubs at the bottom of the pyramid probably won’t ever see their club’s goal-scoring. As inequality between clubs increases, and players are more likely to move to a larger club in search of money and trophies, records are less likely to be set.

It is remarkable, for example, that among the top ten scorers for Aston Villa, the last was the Northern Irishman Peter McParland, who left the club in 1962. The man who has been closest in recent times is Dwight Yorke, who scored 98 goals for him. Only two Villa top 10 players away, but in the end he was too good for Villa, so he moved to Manchester United, where he immediately won the treble.

This now seems inevitable for a club like Villa. Either forwards score so frequently that they are moving on to bigger and better things, like Yorke, or they are not prolific enough to attract interest from wealthier clubs and so do not score regularly enough to disturb the records.

Gabriel Agbonlahor, for example, who spent his entire career with Villa except for two small loans, managed just 87 goals. True love for the club will not be enough to keep top-flight players unless Villa become one Champions League club, for example Jack Grealish Offers.

The same is true of Everton and Wayne Rooney, while their ilk Romelu Lukaku And Richardson He also progressed in the league when they overtook the club. Neither would have challenged Dean’s outright record, although Lukaku was 10 goals away from reaching Everton’s top 10.

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It is difficult to pinpoint many current Premier League players who could potentially upset their club’s records. Alexander Mitrović is 72 goals FulhamA record, though arguably he’s scoring too many goals this season to give himself a proper chance – Fulham will almost certainly stay on top, never get another chance to smash 43 goals in a single Championship season, as they did last season. Wilfried ZahaHis contract expires in the summer, and he probably won’t score another 76 Crystal Palace goals, while if Evan Tony Prolific enough to look like he might score another 90 individual goals for himself BrentfordHe will certainly be snapped up by another club.

Maybe we need to look at the big clubs to get more records. Mohamed Salah Now halfway into an Ian Rush total, though he certainly won’t stay at Liverpool long enough for a serious challenge. Marcus Rashford Not far from halfway to Rooney’s credit, and he could reach the current level if he spends his entire career at Old Trafford. Erling Halland It’s 10 percent of the way to matching Sergio Aguero in just half a season, although there are many factors – form, fitness, transfer and position changes – that can affect a player’s ability to score consistently over a number of years.

This only underscores the point that only the biggest clubs will realistically break these records. Opponent MK Dons due to their recent formation, there is only one oddity.

In November 2022, Rochdale’s Ian Henderson broke a 49-year-old goal-scoring record with a superb header against his former club Salford City. As if to prove his longevity, the goal was assisted by youngster Ethan Brierley, who came out alongside Henderson as a 10-year-old mascot in 2014.

Henderson originally arrived at Rochdale in 2013 as a winger rather than a striker, but is best known for his clever channeling moves and innovative cuts. He was released, against his wishes, when Rochdale struggled to renew contracts in the midst of the pandemic in 2020, just four goals short of Reg Jenkins’ record, set in 1973, but he returned last summer to complete the job.

“I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say I didn’t feel incredibly proud, honored, over the moon, confused and extremely emotional at this moment in time,” Henderson said in a great interview afterwardsAnd hold back the tears. “It’s an overwhelming feeling, and it’s a feat that took me so long to get to, but I’m incredibly proud.”

Henderson was well aware of his place in Rochdale’s history, but perhaps unaware of how rare it was for a player outside the true elite to become his club’s record goalscorer in the modern era. It takes prolific goalscoring and longevity at the club. The latter, these days, is in short supply.

That makes Kane’s impending feat interesting. While hiring by regular Premier League rivals, there is no need for a player to transfer clubs, while in clubs with no title hopes, ambitious players look to move up the league. Most clubs can be clearly classified into any category.

But Kane has spent most of his career at Tottenham in something of a limbo. A rare situation where a player has a dilemma about whether to stay or leave.

Perhaps, though, it is this oft-cited lack of trophies that makes Kane’s impending achievement all the more special for Spurs fans. Arsenal fans don’t remember Henry’s record over the Invincibles season. Chelsea don’t think much of Lampard’s European Cup record which he lifted as captain.

Getting past Greaves is perhaps Kane’s legacy at Tottenham – especially if he breaks the record against Arsenal this weekend – and the major achievement from this Spurs era that will remain in the record books for decades.

But even if you’re not a Tottenham fan, it’s worth enjoying the moment. We are used to seeing club goalscoring records, but it may be a long time before that happens again.