Englishman Jimmy Greaves and Scotsman Ian St John were successful football players in the 1960s, but they did not play for the same club; Greaves spent the bulk of his career with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, while St John played mainly for Liverpool. Their collaboration as television football pundits started with "On the Ball" in "World of Sport". Usually St John would host from the London studio and would cross over to Greaves, who was elsewhere, to get his views, but they would eventually be based in the same studio. The segment was highly popular, leading to the commissioning of "Saint and Greavsie" as a programme in its own right immediately after the demise of "World of Sport" in September 1985. A key characteristic of the show was comedy, with St John prompting Greaves to jokes and jibes.