After retiring as a player, Greaves went on to enjoy a successful career in broadcasting, most notably working alongside Ian St John on Saint and Greavsie from 1985 to 1992.

[10] Greaves scored in the 1958 FA Youth Cup final, but Chelsea lost the two-legged tie 7–6 on aggregate after Wolverhampton Wanderers turned round a four-goal deficit with a 6–1 win in the second leg.

[15] The "Blues" played attacking football during the 1957–58 campaign, resulting in high-scoring matches, and Greaves ended the season as the club's top scorer with 22 goals in 37 appearances.

His hat-trick against Manchester City on 19 November included his 100th league goal, making him the youngest player to pass the 100-goal mark, at 20 years and 290 days.

[36] He scored a hat-trick on his first team debut, including a flying scissor kick, in a 5–2 win over Blackpool at White Hart Lane.

Greaves opened the scoring against Burnley on 3 minutes when he hit a low shot past goalkeeper Adam Blacklaw from a tight angle, and Spurs went on to win the game 3–1.

[42] In the 1962–63 season Greaves scored hat-tricks in victories over Manchester United, Ipswich Town and Liverpool, as well as four goals in a 9–2 win over Nottingham Forest.

[45] In the first leg of the semi-final against Beograd in Belgrade, Greaves was sent off for violent conduct (his first and only red card) after attempting to punch centre-back Blagomir Krivokuća.

[46] Greaves served a one match ban and was able to play in the final, where he opened the scoring after an assist from Cliff Jones and later added a fourth in a 5–1 victory (John White and Terry Dyson getting the other goals).

Strike partner Bobby Smith left the club in the summer, though Greaves felt the partnership he went on to form with new signing Alan Gilzean was even more effective.

[52] Greaves scored 31 goals in 47 appearances in the 1966–67 campaign, helping Spurs launch a title challenge that ended with a third-place finish, four points behind Manchester United.

[55] Nicholson bought Greaves a new strike partner in Martin Chivers from Southampton for a club record £125,000 fee, with Gilzean dropping further back into midfield to accommodate.

Spurs performed inconsistently in the 1969–70 season, and Greaves was dropped from the first team after playing in an FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on 28 January 1970.

[58] He was never recalled to the starting line-up but still ended the season as the club's joint top scorer (with Martin Chivers), having scored 11 goals in 33 matches.

[63][64] In March 1970, Greaves joined West Ham United as part-exchange in Martin Peters' transfer to White Hart Lane.

[67] In January 1971, with Bobby Moore, Brian Dear and Clyde Best, Greaves was involved in late-night drinking, against the wishes of manager Ron Greenwood, before a FA Cup tie away to Blackpool.

[68] On arriving in Blackpool, Greaves and his teammates had been informed by members of the press that the game, the following day, was unlikely to go ahead due to a frozen pitch and the likelihood of frost that night.

Believing there would be no game the following day, Greaves drank 12 lagers in a club owned by Brian London and did not return to the team hotel until 1.45 am.

Greaves claimed the defeat was not a result of the late night, the drinking or the frozen pitch but because the West Ham team he was playing was not good enough.

Towards the end of his career with West Ham, Greaves began to drink more and more alcohol, often going straight from training in Chadwell Heath to a pub in Romford, where he would remain until closing time.

[77] His return to football was successful enough that he signed for Chelmsford City in the Southern League for the 1976–77 season, making his debut in a 2–2 draw against Maidstone United on 25 September 1976, attracting a crowd of 2,030 to New Writtle Street.

[84] He chose to leave the Bees early in the 1978–79 season to focus on his business interests and beating his alcoholism, despite manager Barry Fry's attempts to get him to stay at Underhill.

[86] Greaves made his debut for the England under-23 team in a 6–2 win over Bulgaria at Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1957; he scored two goals,[2] and missed out on a hat-trick after failing to convert a penalty.

[89] The tour of the American continents was not considered a success by the British media, as England also lost to Brazil and Mexico, but Greaves mostly escaped criticism in the press as he was still a teenager and showed promise with his performances.

[94] During the defeat to Brazil, a stray dog ran onto the pitch and evaded all of the players' efforts to catch it until Greaves got down on all fours to beckon the animal.

[119] From October 1985 to April 1992 he and St. John presented a popular Saturday lunchtime football programme called Saint and Greavsie.

[125] He married Irene Barden at Romford register office on 26 March 1958,[126] and, though the pair went through a divorce process at the height of his alcoholism, it was never finalised and they reunited after three months apart.

In his first-ever rally, alongside co-driver Tony Fall, Greaves drove a Ford Escort to a sixth-place finish out of the 96 entrants.

[138] Greaves was announced as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours list, along with fellow 1966 World Cup squad winner, Ron Flowers, for their services to football.

[141][142] As his death date coincided with the Premier League fixture between Tottenham and Chelsea, the two main clubs he played for in his career, a minute of applause was held to honour his memory.