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George Best RIP
Written by Kj talk | 10th November 2005 | 1 Comment(s)
So it’s finally happened Belfast’s most famous foot balling son has passed away after his body called time once and for all on the fight for life and I am really upset by his passing. George Best a true football super star and a legend that lived life in the fast lane since the great adventure began way back when he was a frail fifteen year old first over to Manchester from Ireland.
The story goes that Sir Matt Busby received a phone call from the United scout Bob Bishop after watching George in a youth game saying “ I think I’ve found a genius” The word legend is so cheapened these days but Best really was a true football great and as a man and a player he will be talked about for the next one hundred years. First and foremost for his football genius and second for the life style that George lived away from the game he so loved and graced.
When someone is in the sporting arena and something of this magnitude occurs I always look to see the reaction of the fellow pro’s to see what respect is offered. No matter what life threw at George he never lost the respect or the appreciation of his fellow professionals and the accolades followed him throughout his life from the greats of the game.
When Pele says he was the best player he had ever seen you do not question that kind of judgement. When Pat Jennings writes the same testimony you take note. When the greatest goal scorer probably of all time anywhere says the same you have to believe it. I refer of course to Jimmy Greaves and of the many, many other footballers who say the same thing. More trees have been felled to make paper about the life and times of this player than any other I can recall.
A wasted talent some say yet that dissolves when one examines his playing record and trophy cabinet. Two league Championships and a European Cup winner where he scored in the final. PFA player of the year and he is one of the very few from these shores to hold the distinction of being named European player of the year at the age of 22. And I would add that ten years of playing for Manchester United playing in 466 games and scoring 178 goals in all competitions is hardly time spent badly.
The eulogies that will follow in the weeks and months will be far more eloquent and informed than anything I can offer here, myself being a mere fan. So I will not try to assess his playing style, his off the field antics in his last few seasons at Manchester United nor will I question the old adage of what might have been if he had stayed in the top flight for a few seasons longer.
I would like the put on record what George Best meant to me, first when I used to see him interviewed on TV and secondly on the occasions I would find myself drinking in the same Chelsea local as he. George Best never played for any team that I remotely supported and when he was at his unique best I was a little to young to study and really appreciate his talent in the same way as I did of other players when I came of age.
As a small boy however I certainly new of his name and that he was a super star without parallel. Football really stopped for him after his days making his legend at Manchester so I only got to see glimpses of his style and swagger when he joined Fulham along with Rodney March in the mid 70’s. After he left for America I lost track of him until I read that he was back in the country living in a flat in the newly built Barbican centre in the City of London.
Being a bit of a media reader I keep up on the celebrity side of things. Then I used to read in the gossip columns of his night club called Blondes in London’s West End and of the fact he had now moved to a flat off of the Kings Rd in Chelsea. But as I say I never saw him in a Manchester shirt and that was the days before the players were regularly interviewed for TV after matches so I had never heard him speak.
That came in the early eighties when he for a while was a regular guest of Bob Wilson on Saturdays lunch time grandstand and it truck me what an intelligent and fluent man he was. He had some deep and thoughtful views to share and I used to look forward to his appearances on the program and I took on board what he had said. Then when I used to shop in the Kings Rd, too pass George on the street was not an uncommon occurrence.
I recall a beautiful looking man with piercing green eyes and yet black hair that passed his collar wearing a most expensive leather jacket and matching trousers. I remember thing “wow that’s George Best I just passed and I am not ashamed to say I felt quite uplifted by the occasion! You could also tell just how the ladies fell for this man, he looked the business.
Years later through the fate of life I found myself living deep in the heart of Chelsea, London’s best borough, and drinking almost everyday in the same pub as George so I got to see him at close quarters and we were on regular “nodding terms.” We used to stand together under the TV cheering on our respective clubs his of course the Red Devils whilst mine were in regular opposition fighting for top spot at the time.
On one occasion due to my over excitement I found myself mentioned in the newspaper by George, more of that later. The man I witnessed over a few years was always the perfect gentleman. Never loud or troublesome and was not the kind of drinker to stand on tables or shout his mouth off in any shape or form. He would be happy in the company of ordinary working people in a circle of friends’ playing cards and watching the racing on TV.
On many times after he had finished his studio stint for Sky TV in Brentford he would be at the pub around 5.30pm, jacket and tie off and just one of the boys checking the final scores on TV. Yes the drink did flow, white wine was his tipple which could start early in the morning until late at night but it never altered his behaviour in the pub in any way. When I have heard him speak on TV saying the press only report on the celebrity side of his life and not of the fact that he had ordinary working class friends that is something I would endorse one hundred percent.
Of the time when I was mentioned in the press by George we were shoulder to shoulder watching a crucial game on TV that eventually would become one of Manchester United’s greatest seasons. The game was on a knife edge played under floodlights and it had ebbed and flowed like two heavy weight boxers until a wonder goal broke the stalemate against all odds. Throughout the game I had shouted myself hoarse and when this goal went in my draw dropped, the pub went wild and let’s be honest a lot of the regulars were honorary United supporters due to George’s patronage but never me, something I think he appreciated.
George as I have said was always modest and remained calm when the goal went in and after the final whistle. In the next days papers he was asked to comment on the wonder goal and expressed the opinion “He could not shout and celebrate the goal as he was in his local surrounded by a mad punter of the opposing team so he had to remain calm and subdued!” Of course that was a private joke but yet another clear demonstration of a superstar happy in the surroundings with the every day Joe.
In the final analysis he saw and achieved things most people could never dream of if they lived to be a thousand years old. He travelled the world many times over in the company of the world’s most beautiful women and had met all the grade A celebrity’s from show business. The last few years he has been through some terrible series of illnesses that must have been as painful as they were frightening at least now he is free from those.
Let’s remember he leaves a son without a father and a legacy that is known in all four corners of the earth. Maybe now he is at the table with Sir Matt Busby reliving all those glory days they shared together for Manchester United. I hope so. R.I.P George Best
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Your thoughts Nice story...good,his name was George Best and not George Worst.