George Best

This article is about the Northern Irish footballer. For other people named George Best or places and things named after him, see George Best (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Best (Portuguese footballer).

George Best
Best in 1976
Personal information
Full name George Best[1]
Date of birth (1946-05-22)22 May 1946
Place of birth Belfast, Northern Ireland
Date of death 25 November 2005(2005-11-25) (aged 59)
Place of death South Kensington, London, England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Winger, attacking midfielder
Youth career
1960–1961 Cregagh Boys Club
1961–1963 Manchester United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1963–1974 Manchester United 361 (137)
1974 Dunstable Town 0 (0)
1975 Stockport County 3 (2)
1975–1976 Cork Celtic 3 (0)
1976 Los Angeles Aztecs 23 (15)
1976–1977 Fulham 42 (8)
1977–1978 Los Angeles Aztecs 32 (12)
1978–1979 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 28 (6)
1979–1980 Hibernian 17 (3)
1980–1981 San Jose Earthquakes 56 (21)
1982–1983 AFC Bournemouth 5 (0)
1983 Brisbane Lions 4 (0)
1984 Tobermore United 1 (0)
Total 616 (204)
International career
1964–1977 Northern Ireland 37 (9)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
George Best This article is part of a series about
George Best

Northern Ireland professional footballer

Eponyms and public art

Related

George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A skillful dribbler, he is considered one of the greatest players of all time,[2] along with being considered one of the most talented to play.[3][4] He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1968 and came fifth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. Best received plaudits for his playing style, which combined pace, skill, balance, feints, goalscoring and the ability to get past defenders. His style of play captured the public's imagination, and in 1999 he was on the six-man shortlist for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century. He was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

Born in Belfast, Best began his club career in England with Manchester United, with the scout who had spotted his talent at the age of 15 sending a telegram to manager Matt Busby which read: "I think I've found you a genius". After making his debut at age 17, he scored 179 goals in 470 appearances over 11 years and was the club's top goalscorer in the league for five consecutive seasons.[5] He won two League titles, two Charity Shields and the European Cup with the club.

In international football, Best was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland between 1964 and 1977. A combination of the team's performance and his lack of fitness in 1982 meant that he never played in the finals of a major tournament. He considered his international career as being "recreational football", with the expectations placed on a smaller nation in Northern Ireland being much less than with his club. He is regarded as one of the greatest players never to have played at a World Cup. The Irish Football Association described him as the "greatest player to ever pull on the green shirt of Northern Ireland".[6]

With his handsomeness, dark Beatle mop-top hair and playboy lifestyle, Best became one of the first media celebrity footballers, earning the nickname "o Quinto Beatle" by Portuguese press reporters after a stand-out performance for Manchester United in Lisbon in March 1966. However, his extravagant lifestyle led to various personal problems, most notably alcoholism, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. These issues affected him on and off the field, often causing controversy.[7] Although conscious of his problems, he made light of them and was known for his intelligence and wit on the subject during periods of sobriety: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds, and fast cars – the rest I just squandered".[8] After football, he spent some time as a football analyst, but his financial and health problems continued into his retirement. He died in 2005, aged 59, from complications from the immunosuppressive drugs he needed to take after a liver transplant in 2002.

  1. ^ "George Best". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  2. ^ "Was Georgie the Best?". BBC Sport. 25 November 2005. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  3. ^ Safin, Muhammed Maklet (18 March 2009). "Seven Most Naturally Gifted Footballers Ever". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  4. ^ Football, Planet (22 May 2023). "13 of the best quotes on George Best: 'It was paradise watching him play'". Planet Football. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  5. ^ Reliving the Dream: The Triumph and Tears of Manchester United's 1968 European Cup Heroes. Random House,
  6. ^ "George Best". 1 November 2012. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012.
  7. ^ Gordon Burn, "The Long Goodbye", The Guardian (London), 25 November 2005
  8. ^ "Best: Decline of the golden boy". BBC News. 14 June 2005. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2013.