GEORGE BEST

George Best (22 May 1946 25 November 2005) was a

Northern Irish footballer who played as a winger for Manchester
United and the Northern Ireland national team. In 1968 he won
the European Cup with United, and was named the European
Footballer of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year. He is
described by the Irish Football Association as the "greatest
player to ever pull on the green shirt of Northern Ireland".
Born and brought up in Belfast, Best began his club career
in England with Manchester United, with the scout who had
spotted his talent at the age of 15 sending a telegram to
manager Matt Busby which read: "I think I've found you a
genius." He went on to see success with United, scoring 179
goals from 470 appearances over 11 years, and was the
club's top goal scorer in the league for five consecutive
seasons.

One of the greatest dribblers of all time, his playing style

combined pace, skill, balance, feints, two-footedness, goal
scoring and the ability to beat defenders. Best unexpectedly
quit United relatively early in 1974 at age 27, but returned to
football for a number of clubs around the world in short spells,
until finally retiring in 1983, age 37. In international football, he
was an automatic choice when fit, being capped 37 times and
scoring nine goals from 1964 to 1977, although a combination
of the team's performance and his lack of fitness in 1982 never
allowed his talent to be displayed in the finals of a European
Championship or World Cup.
George Best was the first child of Dickie Best (19192008)
and Anne Best (ne Withers; 19221978). He grew up in
Cregagh, east Belfast.
Such was Best's talent and charisma that he became one
of the first celebrity footballers, earning the nickname "El
Beatle", but his subsequent extravagant lifestyle led to various
problems, most notably alcoholism, which he suffered from for
the rest of his life. These problems affected him on and off the
field throughout his career, at times causing controversy. He
often said of his career that "I spent a lot of money on booze,
birds and fast cars the rest I just squandered". After football
he spent some time as a pundit, but his financial and health
problems continued into his retirement. He died in 2005, age
59, due to complications from the immunosuppressive drugs he
needed to take after being controversially granted an NHS liver
transplant in 2002. Best was married twice, to two former
models, Angie Best and then Alex Best. His son Calum
Best was born in 1981 from his first marriage.
Before he died, Best was voted 16th in the IFFHS World
Player of the Century election in 1999 and was one of the
inaugural 22 inductees into the English Football Hall of Fame in
2002; in 2004 he was also voted 19th in the public UEFA
Golden Jubilee Poll and was named in the FIFA 100 list of the
world's greatest living players. Former Brazilian footballer Pel,

considered by many as the worlds greatest, admired Best,

stating, George Best was the greatest player in the world",
later adding that Best was an unbelievable player. Best was
once quoted as saying, Pel called me the greatest footballer
in the world. That is the ultimate salute to my life. After his
death, on what would have been his 60th birthday, Belfast City
Airport was renamed the George Best Belfast City Airport.
According to theBBC, Best was remembered by mourners at
his public funeral held in Belfast as "the beautiful boy" [with a]
"beautiful game".