George Best

Profession: Professional Football Player
Place/Date of Birth: Belfast, 22 May 2020
Date of Death: 25 November 2020
Associated with: Calum Best

It seems a money spinner for old sporting legends is to take their skills to an auditorium. Never mind that these fellers were known for their sporting skills, now they have to put the money where their mouth is literally and speak at venues across the country. George is teaming up with fellow star Jimmy Greaves to do a few dates around the UK. They will speak of funny anecdotes, stories and a Q & A session. If you’d like to hear them speak with their mouths and not their feet then you have to shell out up to £25.

Best price for trophy - 10/10/03
George’s European Player of the Year trophy has been sold at auction for more than £150,000.

The European Player of the Year trophy, from 1968, was bought by an anonymous British bidder over the telephone. He described himself as "an avid football fan" and said he hoped to exhibit the trophy.

But the other trophy George planned to sell - his English Player of the Year award failed to reach the £150,000 minimum asking price. So he gets to keep hold of that one for a bit longer.

Should he have sold his trophies?Talk about this on our message board

She’s off - 25/09/03
Alex Best has announced that she is separating from her husband George.

In a statement, 31-year-old Alex said she said would be living apart from former soccer ace Best, 57, but would continue to support him.

"It’s with deep sadness that I have to announce my separation from George Best," the statement read.

"I have tried to be there for him during his recent well-catalogued problems but the situation is now that it is not right for us to be together at this time.

"I have always supported George and always will but for the present we will be living separate lives."

What do you think?Talk about this on our message board

Best is busted - 11/08/03
Wife Alex has walked out on George Best after learning of his romance with a blonde 25-year-old student.

Alex, 31, has stood by George throughout his long battles with the booze, his recovery from his liver transplant and his occasional fall from the wagon. But she drew the line upon hearing George has been seeing someone else.

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Biography

'I think I've found you a genius' read the telegram from Manchester United scout Bob Bishop to manager Matt Busby on spotting fifteen year old footballer George Best, who had been recently rejected by local club Glentoran. Given a trial and signed up Best made his debut for United at the age of seventeen in 1963 and just two weeks later he scored his first goal for the club.

The first Celebrity Footballer, Best was not only noticed for his style and flair on the pitch but his showmanship and fashion-sense. His hairstyle saw Best dubbed the 'fifth Beatle' and he was even invited to appear on Top of the Pops. In the 1966-67 season Best scored in the European Cup Final against Benefica and consequently was named European Footballer of the Year and Football Writers Association Player of the Year.

However the glamour of stardom had seduced Best. In the late sixties he opened two nightclubs, Oscar's and Slack Alice's and invested in clothes shops in partnership with Manchester City's Mike Summerbee. However the lifestyle led to gambling, drinking and womanising and in 1974 Best was sacked from Manchester United for failing to attend training and matches and persistent boozing. He played his last game for the team on New Year's Day.

Despite a brief resurgence in 1976-77, playing for Fulham FC, Best drifted around football clubs in the UK, America and Australia never regaining the promise he had shown in the sixties. Now considered one of history's greatest players, placed eleventh in the IFFHS European Player of the Century listing and spoke of in Northern Ireland as the finest player to have graced the pitch; 'Pele good, Maradona better, George Best'.

In 1984 Best was sentenced to three months in prison for drink driving, failing to answer bail and assaulting a Police Officer, it was clear that the problem that had lost the footballer his career was destined to rule his life. He continued to drink throughout the rest of his life and it was this that dominated headlines - from his drunken appearance on Wogan to reported physical abuse of his wife Alex in 2004.

In 2002 Best underwent a liver transplant but nonetheless continued to drink much to the disgust of press and public. Three years later Best was admitted to hospital with kidney problems - a side effect of the drugs which stopped his body from rejecting his new liver. Close to death Best requested a picture of him be printed in the News of the World with the message 'Don't Die Like Me'. He survived for longer than doctors expected but in the early hours of November 25 2005 his treatment was withdrawn and Best died.

A huge public outpouring of grief commenced, the pinnacle of which was a massive state funeral in Belfast. In addition Belfast airport was renamed George Best Belfast City Airport and commemorative five pound notes were produced.

Married twice, his first wife Angela Macdonald-James, mother of Best's son Calum, died in 1986. Alex Pursey divorced Best in 2004 amid claims of adultery and physical abuse.

March 2007