Hartlepool broadcaster Paul 'Goffy' Gough pays tribute to 'wonderfully warm' Jimmy Greaves

A Hartlepool broadcaster has remembered the happy times he spent working with late football legend Jimmy Greaves.
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Paul “Goffy” Gough paid tribute to the popular former footballer and TV pundit, who died on Sunday aged 81, describing him as “wonderfully warm” and with a “wicked sense of humour”.

Goffy, currently a presenter on BBC Radio Tees, worked closely with Jimmy when he organised a series of after dinner shows across the North East with his Saint and Greavsie co-star Ian St John, who died earlier this year, in 1987.

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He said: “He just had this great charisma about him, this wonderful warm personality.

Radio DJ Paul 'Goffy' Gough (left) with Jimmy Greaves during a tour of the North East in the late Eighties.Radio DJ Paul 'Goffy' Gough (left) with Jimmy Greaves during a tour of the North East in the late Eighties.
Radio DJ Paul 'Goffy' Gough (left) with Jimmy Greaves during a tour of the North East in the late Eighties.

"As people discovered many times on Saint and Greavsie he had a wicked sense of humour and saw the funny side of everything.

“They were around here quite a bit in the 80s and early 90s when they were just massive. You put the name Saint and Greavsie up on any show and it would be a sell out.”

During the duo’s tour, they gave a dinner at Seaton Carew’s Mayfair centre when they held a fundraiser for a new minibus appeal for the Warren Road Adult Training Centre for people with disabilities.

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Goffy said that, as well as entertaining audiences, Jimmy would also talk candidly about his battles with alcohol.

Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves handing over the keys for the new minibus to Warren Road Adult Training Centre manager Kath Spellman in March 1987.Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves handing over the keys for the new minibus to Warren Road Adult Training Centre manager Kath Spellman in March 1987.
Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves handing over the keys for the new minibus to Warren Road Adult Training Centre manager Kath Spellman in March 1987.

During the Mayfair Centre show, Goffy remembers how one fan left a pint of beer at his table.

Goffy said: “We were devastated and thought he would be really annoyed but he just smiled and said one time he would have downed it in one.

“He said how much his life had changed and saw the positive side.”

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After the tour, Jimmy wrote to Goffy thanking him for his hard work and invited him to a recording of their ITV show which pulled in millions of viewers.

Jimmy Greaves' letter to Goffy following their work together in the North East in 1987.Jimmy Greaves' letter to Goffy following their work together in the North East in 1987.
Jimmy Greaves' letter to Goffy following their work together in the North East in 1987.

Jimmy, who was part of the England 1966 World Cup squad, and Ian St John later handed over the keys to Warren Road’s new minibus at a funday.

Goffy added: “He was very much moved by the appeal. He said his life had been very fragile and understood what people were going through.

"He had that common touch. If you have that and can reach out and touch people you are never going to fail.

“And he touched so many lives in his time.”

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