Greatest Goalscorers

Goalscoring shall never go out of fashion particularly with the likes of Harry Kane, beating, creating and chasing goal records with Spurs goal number 267 to overtake the legendary Jimmy Greaves. It should though be noted that Greaves scored 268 goals for Spurs (including two in the 1962 Charity Shield) – a fixture often overlooked when listing goalscoring achievements.

Kane is already considered among the all-time greats of goalscoring and is in the company of the highest calibre of goalscorers. Here are ten of Britain’s greatest strikers:-

Steve Bloomer

Goalscoring pioneer, Steve Bloomer was nicknamed ‘The Destroying Angel’ for his devastating finishing. The first player to score 350 league goals (352) including a club record 291 for Derby County. Steve was held captive in a civilian camp during the First World War.

George Camsell

The player with the best strike rate among British international goalscorers. George scored in all his nine appearances for England, hitting 18 goals. With Middlesbrough he scored a club record 325 league goals. In season 1926-27 he scored 59 league goals including a record nine hat-tricks.

Dixie Dean

Holds the record for the most league goals in a single season in English football with 60 top flight goals in 1927-28. In 399 league appearances for Everton he scored 349 league goals! Born William Ralph Dean, Dixie – who preferred to be called Bill, died while attending the 1980 Merseyside Derby.

Dave Halliday

Known also as David Halliday. The Scotsman is the only player in the top flight history of English football to score 30+ league goals in four consecutive season. 1925-26 to 1928-29 (all for Sunderland). He is also the fastest to score 100 English top flight goals, doing so in only 101 games for Sunderland.

Jimmy Greaves

Sir Geoff Hurst said, “Genius is the one word which applied to Jimmy … the greatest goalscorer we have ever seen”. Greavsie still holds the records for the most top flight English league goals – 357 and six times top flight leading scorer, including a post-war record 41 in 1960-61. He scored on all his debuts for Chelsea, AC Milan, Spurs, West Ham and also for England – scoring 44 goals in 57 internationals.

Denis Law

‘The King’ of Old Trafford scored 237 goals for Manchester United. In 1964 he was crowned the European Footballer of the Year. Jimmy Greaves called the Lawman his favourite footballer of all time. “In my eyes, Denis could do no wrong, he was magic”.

Arthur Rowley

The record league scorer in British football history. 434 league goals for WBA, Fulham, Leicester City and Shrewsbury Town. A quiet humble man, Arthur Rowley is the only footballer to score 150 league goals for two clubs – Leicester and Shrewsbury.

Nat Lofthouse

A one club man with Bolton Wanderers, who scored all his 255 league goals in the First Division. A post-war top flight record for a single club. Captain Nat also scored both goals in the 1958 FA Cup Final victory versus Manchester United.

John Aldridge

British football’s post-war record goalscorer with 476 goals. Aldo is one of only eleven players in the history of English football to have scored 300 or more league goals and is the only one to have done so in the past 50 years.

Alan Shearer

The Premier league record scorer with 260 goals. Shearer is 5^th on the all-time list of top flight goalscorers in the history of English football with 283 league goals. Premier league top scorer three times.

Honourable mentions also go out for Ian Rush, Gary Lineker, Ally McCoist, Jimmy McGrory and Hughie Gallacher. See who makes my top 50 in my book ‘50 Greatest Goalscorers’.

Written by Neil Beacom