George Best Biography
George Best is easily the greatest player ever to come from Northern Ireland. He is the one player in history whom most believed would top the greatest player of all-time, Pele. This is a status he would most certainly would have reached had his drinking and partying not ended his career early.
Though he never quite achieved what Pele did, George best is still easily in the top five soccer players of all-time.
George Best: a Great Man With Great Problems
George Best was born on May 22nd 1946 and sadly passed away on November 25th 2005.
He died of his poor health at the age of 59. This early death was not a surprise to anyone as his his addiction to alcohol had been eating away at him for the majority of his life.
He passed away due to complications from the drugs he was taking to prevent any further damage to his liver while he was waiting for a liver transplant.
He openly admitted that he had been foolish with his money that he had earned as a professional soccer player. Supposedly, he wasted 90% of his money on women, alcohol, and fast cars.
George Best was married twice and had a son (Callum Best) with his first wife, Angie.
The Career of a Super Star
At the tender age of fifteen Best was seen by a Manchester United scout who went straight to his phone and called United's first team manager, saying "I think I have just found you a genius." This fully came true with with Best as he is regarded as Manchester United's best ever player.
He was always said to be too small and lightweight by many Irish clubs. He arrived in Manchester after successfully impressing the coaches at a trial.
Sponsored
After moving, Best went back home as he was too homesick after two days. He then moved to Manchester and spent two years as an errand boy, because, at the time, English clubs were not allowed to sign Irish players as apprentices.
When he was seventeen, Best made his debut against West Bromwich Albion in 1963. At the end of 1963/1964 season, he had already impressed and made his mark, making 26 appearances for the first team.
At the time the English game was extremely rough, so Manchester United manager, Sir Matt Busby, used to use various training activities to toughen George up. He wanted to make sure George was well used to hard tackles.
George Best was one of the key members to the "Busby Babes". This was a term given to United's team at the time. This was because all players had developed from the youth team, and, at such a young age, were dominating competitions.
He was also one of the survivors of a plane crash which killed most of the people on board, including some of Manchester United&39;s players on the way to Germany to play against Bayern Munich.
George Best is still considered one of the best if not the very best player ever to grace the field of Old Trafford, making over 451 appearances for Manchester United and scoring over 150 goals.
A Tragic Ending
While George will always be remembered for the incredible performances he put in at United, his form did not last.
His pace slowed slightly from his constant drinking and partying, but he still retained his great skill.
Finally, at the very beginning of the year 1974, at the age of 27, George Best decided his time at United was done and left the club.
Sadly, while this should have been the prime of his career, George Best's health problems really began to catch up to him. He spent the next decade bouncing around from small club to small club. His form however took a huge dive as his health was in constant decline.
There would be moments and games when fans would get a glance of the former George Best as he took on four defenders at once or scored an amazing goal. However these became more and more rare with each passing year.
He carried on in this way until he finally retired from soccer 1983, at the age of 37.
It was a tragic thing for soccer fans everywhere to see this incredible player end his brilliance so early. Many believe that if he had kept on pace, George Best would have been the greatest soccer player ever to live.
His legacy still lives on in Northern Ireland, however. The Northern Ireland Soccer Association stated, "He was and still is the best ever player to pull on the green jersey." He was always loved by all soccer fans, but especially by his home country.
