George Best
George Best
1946-2005
From the BBC:
Best was a footballing genius. He had speed, superb dribbling skills, the ability to accelerate past players and was adept with both feet. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players to have graced the British game.
Together with Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, Best formed a triumvirate that inspired Manchester United to League Championships in 1965 and 1967 and the European Cup in 1968. In that year, he picked up the English and European footballer of the year awards.
His heyday occurred during the "swinging sixties", and, with his good looks, he brought a pop star image to the game for the first time. But the accompanying champagne and playboy lifestyle degenerated into alcoholism, bankruptcy, a prison sentence and, eventually, a liver transplant.
George Best will be most fondly remembered for his sublime footballing skills, his balletic grace and his sinewy athleticism. But he wrote his own epitaph when he once said: "I was the one who took football off the back pages and put it on to page one."
