The sublime skills of George Best, who died in a London hospital on Friday aged 59, dazzled a generation and made him one of the world’s first and foremost footballing superstars.
But his exceptional talents — or genius, according to some — brought with it the self-destruction that often accompanies those blessed with a rare gift.
Other footballing greats like Brazil’s Pele are still remembered for their on-field talents long after hanging up their boots.
Best’s name, however, is as likely, in Britain at least, to be more synonymous with his long-running off-the-pitch battle with the alcoholism that cut his life so tragically short.
But in the 1960s and early 1970s, it was an entirely different story: Best’s talent for beating opponents with tricks and swerves, plus a devastating turn of pace, earned him the respect and admiration of fans across the globe.
Born on May 22 1946 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Best signed for Manchester United as a skinny 16-year-old. A scout reputedly told the Old Trafford manager Sir Matt Busby he had found him a ”genius”.
It did not take Best long to make an impression: he made his United and international debuts within two years.
The 11 years with Manchester United between 1963 and 1974 were the pinnacle of his career: during that time he won the European Cup in 1968 and the English championship twice in 1965 and 1967.
Best never had the chance to test his talents at the World Cup — Northern Ireland never qualified during his zenith — but the reputation of the man by now known simply as ”Georgie” or ”Bestie” had spread regardless.
In 1968, he was the leading goal scorer in England and awarded both the English and European Footballer of the Year titles.
Off the pitch, too, ”George Best, superstar” was in the ascendancy.
Often nicknamed ”the fifth Beatle”, he had a pop song written about him and received thousands of fan letters each week while actresses and models flocked to be at his side.
With his long, unkempt hair, model good looks and penchant for the latest fashions, Best was different from other sportsmen. He was the embodiment of 1960s youth culture.
But the partying eventually took its toll: at the age of just 28, Best left Manchester United under a cloud following a loss of form and increasingly wayward behaviour.
The United manager at the time, Tommy Docherty, once said: ”George was a fantastic player and he would have been even better if he’d been able to pass nightclubs the way he passed the ball.”
After Old Trafford, Best had spells at lower-league English clubs plus at Fort Lauderdale Strikers and San Jose Earthquakes in the former North American Soccer League.
By then, the extent of Best’s drink problem was increasingly obvious. He once appeared hopelessly drunk on a television chat show, while his private life — marriage, divorce and financial troubles — was well documented.
A ”free transfer”, of a sort, also took Best to his last ”club” — Ford Open prison — following a conviction for drink-driving and assaulting a police officer.
Best often summed up his hard-living lifestyle in a perhaps apocryphal tale from the early 1970s.
According to the story, a bellboy brought breakfast to Best’s hotel room to see a drunken Best in bed with the current Miss World, a magnum of champagne and a large sum of cash won from the previous night of gambling.
”George, where did it all go wrong?” the bellboy is supposed to have exclaimed.
In another attributed to him, he said: ”I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds [women] and fast cars — the rest I just squandered.”
In 2000, there was little light-heartedness when he was treated for liver damage. Two years later, however, he caused anger by drifting back to the booze.
A life-saving liver transplant followed in 2002, with doctors warning that one more drink could kill him. Best again ignored the warning and embarked on a drinking binge within months.
Another drink-driving conviction followed in February last year, while in July this year he faced unfounded allegations of assaulting a woman and indecently assaulting a girl.
In October this year, he was readmitted to the private Cromwell hospital in west London, after suffering a kidney infection. He was to stay there until his death.
As throughout his life, every twist and turn of his final, very public battle for life was tracked on both the front and back pages of Britain’s major newspapers.
Best has often been asked about whether he wasted his talent. At times, he has been flippant but elsewhere shown a disarming frankness.
”I was born with a great gift and sometimes with that comes a destructive streak,” he said. ”Just as I wanted to outdo everyone when I played, I had to outdo everyone when we were out on the town.” — AFP
