Former Manchester United football star George Best, who has battled alcoholism since quitting the game, was in a ”serious” condition in intensive care at a London hospital on Monday, his doctor said.
Best (59) was admitted to the private Cromwell hospital in central London on Saturday with influenza-like symptoms, Professor Roger Williams said, and was transferred to intensive care the next evening after his condition worsened.
However, the former Northern Ireland winger was being treated with antibiotics and was improving.
”He is serious but improving, with the emphasis on improving,” Williams told reporters. ”The infection has caused him to be severely ill, but he is certainly responding to treatment and we hope to move him out of intensive care in the next 24 hours.”
Best, considered one of the most talented players ever to take to a football pitch, had a liver transplant in 2002 after many years of heavy drinking took their toll.
But Williams said that Best’s current problem had not come about because of any recent drinking.
Immuno-suppressant drugs Best had been taking since the transplant had made him more susceptible to infection, said Williams, who has been responsible for the soccer legend’s care since his life-saving liver transplant.
”We are not exactly sure where the infection is — there are several possible sites,” he said. ”With an infection, all the organs become involved, including the kidneys and liver, but they are all beginning to work properly again.
”People fear the worst because it is George Best, but there is no real cause for alarm.”
Williams refused to give a long-term prognosis on Best’s health.
”That’s very difficult to say and I think it would be inappropriate for me to hazard to guess,” he told BBC Radio. ”A lot depends on whether he can control the alcohol problem and all the problems which come from transplants.”
Best’s agent Phil Hughes said Best had drifted in and out of consciousness in the past 24 hours but backed him to survive his latest health scare.
”He’s in and out of consciousness. He is aware of people going in there. He’s very short of breath.”
Best’s son Calum was among the visitors to the hospital, with Hughes confirming he and his father had been able to speak briefly.
”He just smiled, said hello. He hasn’t got a lot to say. He’s quite ill.”
Rise to fame
Spotted as a 15-year-old by a scout who supposedly telephoned then-Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby with the message ”I think I’ve found a genius”, Best made his debut for the club just two years later.
A hugely exciting and skilled forward, Best helped United claim the English league championship in 1965 and 1967, and was voted European Player of the Year in 1968, when United became the first English side to claim the European Cup.
But Best’s flair, good looks and wild side, which saw him being dubbed the ”fifth Beatle”, led him into a party-going lifestyle that took an increasing toll on his football career.
Only four years after the European Cup triumph, aged just 26, Best walked out of Manchester United and top-class football. He played on for a further decade in England, Scotland and the United States but was a spent force.
Following his final retirement, Best began drinking even more heavily, and his health deteriorated such that in July 2002 he underwent a life-saving liver transplant.
Within less than a year, despite attempts to kick his habit, Best was going on drinking binges again, prompting criticism from medical specialists that he risked putting people off organ donation.
Best, who recently divorced his wife, former air hostess Alex, has been in trouble with the police a number of times.
He was convicted of drink-driving and questioned about allegations he punched a friend of his ex-lover, among other incidents.
During his career, Best made 466 appearances for Manchester United, scoring 178 goals, and was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland. — Sapa-AFP