Best wishes for George
27/10/05 | by Daniel Hawkins

A legend never dies, they say. Sadly there is a time for us all to depart this world. Clough was a legend and he sadly passed away last year after a long battle to overcome problems that you could well blame drink for. Sadly another legend is fighting the same battle and at the time of writing this he looks to be losing it. 

George Best is not a player who played for England, nor did he play for Nottingham Forest. In fact Manchester United, amongst few clubs, were lucky to have this player whose talent can only be described as a ‘one-off.’ Much like Brian Clough, you will never see the likes of him again.

I am not of that generation, but I talk to people who are, and they tell me stories of seeing something magic on the field from this player, arguably even the greatest footballer ever. Pele was once asked, “Who is the best player ever in your opinion?”, to which he replied, “George Best”. An accolade like that does not come very often. So why do so many of us refuse to celebrate this legend’s life? Is it because of his alcoholism? 

We humans like to see all the bad in people rather than the good. I want you all to take a moment and think carefully, especially the people who refuse to accept the liver he was given was not wasted. George Best gave so much to so many people – every week 60,000+ crowds would come to watch him play and they would go home with a smiling face, knowing they had seen a genius at his best. A few of them would have been on the losing side, but they would have still gone home smiling. So why should we ridicule a man who has given us so much?

He grew up a poor lad and had to work hard to get to where he did. Sadly, fame and fortune without proper guidance damaged his life forever, something that is happening still in this day and age. Yet he refused to pity himself; he didn’t ask for any special treatment, he didn’t ask for fluffy towels in dressing rooms or a minimum 30k-a-week appearance fee, nor does he now let his legions of fans down when they ask for an autograph or a kick-about.

He was recently on Talk Sport with his old friend Rodney Marsh. They went over some old stories and he gave people the chance to call up and talk to him. Everyone was in awe of him, but he treated them like normal human beings, and answered the questions put forward.

Rodney Marsh also mentioned a story about an appearance they did for a school. After signing some autographs, a couple of kids asked them to play football with them. They played for over an hour with the kids, even though they had to catch a flight to America. George showed Rodney his knee after this little kick around – according to Rodney it was the size of a grapefruit. George never complained about it, he just got on with it. I wonder what those kids thought? They asked for an Autograph and got a game of football. Could you see Beckham doing this? I couldn’t see any football player of this day and age doing something like this, yet we still go on about the negative side of Best.

George may have upset a few people in his time – he took a path in his life that some of us would never choose, he has continually struggled against alcoholism – yet unlike your every day alcoholic, he put back 10 times what he took out in life. He made millions of people smile with his amazing talent, he has made millions of pounds for charities, he has indeed increased the alcoholism awareness ten fold, which may save many lives. He has done a lot more for other people than most of us have done, but we still go on about his problems.

If George Best does pass away, he should be remembered for what he did for football, not his drinking. And that new liver has probably given him an extra few years of life, an extra few years to raise money for charity, to put smiles on yet more faces of people, to answer people’s questions and give them a chance to talk to him. 

Personally I dislike Manchester United a great deal (not as much as Liverpool, mind) but there is a special place for George Best in my mind, because from that Talk Sport interview, videos I’ve seen and from the person who told me they saw him at a cup final, the legend of Best will live with me forever.