His
life saw thousands of column inches devoted to him, and now in
his death, we just can’t seem to stop writing about him.
But that is what George Best was like; he made people want to talk
about him, for his legendary skills on the pitch, and his lifestyle
off it.
When Best, 59, died last month, all of his suffering ended, he was
in was no more pain and he was at peace.
Best had been in and out of intensive care for almost two months
and when he passed away at 12.55pm on Friday, November 25 of multiple
organ failure, the sporting world took a minute or two to remember
a true footballing legend.
Make no bones about it, George Best died because of alcohol abuse.
He had been a heavy drinker for around 30 years which meant in 2002
he needed a liver transplant as the one he had was only working at
20% of its capability.
Many will say that he didn’t deserve a new liver. Others argue
that he is the same as other alcoholics in that situation – they
all deserve a chance to carry on living.
He knew if he drank again it would kill him, he did drink again,
and in the end it ended up costing Best his life.
His death though has bought about an outpouring of emotion from the
general public, as they decide to remember him as he would like to
be remembered as – a great footballer.
Making his debut as a raw 17-year-old, the quiet boy from East Belfast
had everyone mesmerised with his skill, but within ten years, Best
had become so disillusioned with football that he announced his retirement
from football.
In that intervening decade, Manchester United and George Best went
together like hand and glove, culminating in his finest hour, helping
the Reds win the European Cup at Wembley in 1968, where his goal
helped United secure the most prized possession in domestic football.
As a footballer, Best was ahead of his time. Taking on and beating
defenders with ease, scoring goals from inside and outside of the
penalty box with ease. If Best was playing in the Premiership nowadays,
he could score goals for fun.
Back in the sixties, Best would be kicked black and blue by over-zealous
defenders who couldn’t get near him, where as now he would
get much more protection and would be easily above the likes of Wayne
Rooney, Thierry Henry and Michael Owen in terms of ability.
Although football was a much tougher sport in the sixties, Best did
still manage to flourish and his career at Old Trafford saw one of
the greatest footballers in the world at his brilliant best. Along
with the European Cup, Best won the League with United in 1965 and
1967, and was the Footballer of the Year in 1968.
It wasn’t long after this period in his life the Pele dubbed
him the ‘greatest footballer of all time’ and these words
meant a lot to Best knowing that he was appreciated by his peers,
including the great Brazilian.
The success on the pitch, bought ‘success’ of another
kind off the pitch as Best settled into the lifestyle which he became
known for – women and drink. Granted, it isn’t a bad
lifestyle, but with George Best, it became a way of life which saw
him dubbed the fifth Beatle.
The problem was with Best – and he admitted it himself – that
he wanted to be the best at everything, which involved drinking lots
of alcohol and bedding lots of women, and he did this very well,
and he started to become more recognised for his partying, his drunken
appearance on Wogan back in 1990 didn’t help his reputation
much either.
Following his departure from Old Trafford, Best then went onto play
for a number of other clubs. Part of this was probably for the money.
As Best once said: “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds
and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.”
Playing for teams such as Fulham, Stockport County, Hibernian, Bournemouth
was hardly glamorous, but with nice pay-packets and having the thrill
of playing in front of a crowd, the true showman came out in him
and Best did what he loved doing most, playing football.
There have been countless articles written which wax lyrical about
George Best. His passing was tragic but when he was once asked about
his life, Best said that he would do it exactly the same all over
again.
Thousands turned out for his funeral in Belfast to say goodbye to
their favourite son, and pay their respects to a man who made people
smile.
Many people will try and imitate, but there will definitely only
ever be one George Best.
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