Jimmy Greaves on Beckham and England's cup hopes

Despite Beckham's man-of-the-match cameo against Belarus last night Greaves feels it's time to give younger players a chance to establish themselves.

He said: "You've got to get rid of the old players because they can go on too long. It doesn't matter how great a player they have been, there comes a time to call it a day, otherwise you'd still have Geoff Hurst and Bobby Charlton playing for England.

"Personally, I wouldn't pick Beckham any more and give some of the younger lads an opportunity to get experience."

Despite England's impressive qualifying campaign Greaves, who played in the 1962 and 1966 tournaments, is sceptical about their chances of lifting the trophy, although he has been impressed with Capello.

He said: "There is too much hype about England's chances and I think we should have realistic expectations about our chances.

"Most people don't know what the South Americans have up their sleeves, while there are at least six teams in Europe, including England, who have a chance. And I think Didier Drogba's mob, the Ivory Coast, could surprise a few people.

"If you stop and look and analyse the teams you can't possibly say England are favourites. There are one or two teams who can ruin the dream, like North and South Korea. You have to tread carefully because it is a bit of a minefield.

"But Capello seems to be doing a good job. I don't know him but his demeanour seems similar to Alf Ramsey. He has the right idea about dealing with the players a bit more severely than Sven Goran Eriksson did. You can't mess about doing other things if you want to win the World Cup so he's got the right approach."

Michael Owen, the nearest modern English equivalent to Greaves, who hit 44 goals in 57 appearances for England, has been ignored by Capello and Greaves thinks that's understandable.

He said: "Michael is an outstanding goalscorer, there's no doubt about that, the best of his generation. But when you look at the number of games he's played over the last couple of years, the injuries he's had, and the goals he's scored it's hard to make a case for him.

"There's a lot of competition from the likes of Jermain Defoe but if Michael has a good season and stays injury free he might just sneak on the plane. You never know."

The hype Greaves identifies with England's World Cup campaign is something he also feels is too prevalent in the Premier League.

Having plied his trade in the 1950s and 60s when players often grew up close to the clubs for whom they played and identified easily with supporters, Greaves feels something has been lost in the modern, big-money game.

He said: "I'm not disillusioned with modern football, I'm just not over-enamoured with it. Football is just football, and there's too much hype surrounding it now.

"People say such stupid things, saying so-and-so is a great player when he's not. Half of them in the Premier League are extremely average. People do need to keep an intelligent and sensible view on it.

"Unfortunately it's all got out of hand and too many people are too precious. Players are getting more remote from the supporters and that's never a good thing."

Despite his thoughts on the modern game Greaves is anything but downbeat. He retired at 31 - after scoring 464 goals in 657 games for England and his clubs Chelsea, Milan, Tottenham and West Ham - and then fought a well-publicised battle with alcoholism.

That fight successfully won, Greaves reinvented himself as a football pundit, enjoying several years on television with his sparring partner, former Liverpool striker Ian St John, in the popular Saint and Greavsie show.

He also travels the country with a theatre show, usually with a couple of his old footballing mates in tow.

Greaves turns 70 on February 20 and celebrates with a show at the Indigo2 on his birthday. He will regale the audience with tales from his career, and will be joined by a host of stars, including Sir Geoff Hurst, Dave MacKay and Ron Harris.

He said: "I still have to earn a few bob so I'm still working. The next Government might put the retirement age up to 80, so I've got to keep going.

"You don't do much on your birthday, anyway, so I thought why not do this? We'll be telling a few stories and it'll be a very humourous evening.

"I'm thinking of getting us all dressed in can-can outfits so we can see how high we can all get our legs now. Mind you, there might be a lot hanging out.

"But I'm really looking forward to the show at The O2. It's a great venue and hopefully we'll get a great audience."

VIP tickets to Jimmy's 70th Birthday at the Indigo2 are available from A1 Sporting Speakers 01202475600 or online at jimmygreaves.net for £150. This includes meeting the players, a photograph with them and a print hand signed by all the guests. Normal tickets, priced at £40, are available from theo2.co.uk.