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Museum Object. George Best's 1968 European Footballer of the Year award. Best visited the Museum in 2003. Supported by Asset Management Surveyors & Peter Joyce |
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George Best
| Category: | Male Player |
| Year Inducted: | 2002 |
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of Football's Greatest Heroes, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
George Best, the mercurial genius lauded by Pele as the best player in the world, was English football's first celebrity icon, a young lad from Belfast whose skill, style and courage embodied for many the spirit of the 1960s.
Seven years after arriving at Manchester United as a shy, skinny Belfast boy, Best enjoyed the pinnacle of his career: scoring the crucial goal in a 4-1 victory over Benfica in the European Cup final at Wembley in 1968. He was still only 21 at the time.
‘George had more ways of beating a player than anyone I've ever seen,' Matt Busby recalled. ‘Every aspect of ball-control was natural to him.'
When Best collected the ball early in extra-time, the game was still in the balance at 1-1. Seconds later, he was rolling the ball into an empty net, after rounding the goalkeeper at the end of a stunning dribble through the heart of the Benfica defence.
It was his final act of a memorable season. Voted the youngest ever Footballer of the Year, Best ended the campaign as the leading goalscorer in the First Division with 28 goals, a remarkable return for a winger. In 1969, he was honoured as the outstanding footballer in Europe.
‘I always used to say to George: “Son, you could score 30 goals every season, if you look for Denis Law, give him the ball and go for the return,” Jimmy Murphy, the Manchester United assistant manager said. ‘But then, how can you tell a genius how to play?'
As a teenager Best worked tirelessly on his technique. A favourite training drill involved trying to score direct from a corner kick with his left foot. ‘By the time I was 19 or 20 most people couldn't tell which was my stronger foot,' he recalled.
Playing rugby as a schoolboy helped develop his leaping ability and heading and, though wiry in build, Best revelled in the physical stuff. ‘The manager always said that I was the best tackler at the club, which I took as a great compliment,' he once said.
In 1966, Best announced himself on the international stage with a performance that both Bobby Charlton and Denis Law described as ‘his greatest 90 minutes in a Manchester United shirt'.
Benfica were again the opponents. ‘George just went out and destroyed them,' said Busby, recalling the 5-1 victory in a European Cup tie in Lisbon. It was the height of Beatlemania and the Portuguese media dubbed Best, the mop-haired footballer with the pop-star good looks, ‘El Beatle' in tribute.
‘Suddenly, I stepped over the line from being an athlete and became a personality or pop thing,' Best said. At the height of his popularity, he received 10,000 fan-mail letters a week.
Before flying home he deliberately bought the biggest sombrero he could find. When the waiting pressmen greeted him in Manchester, they had their picture. For the first time the image of Best featured on the front as well as the back pages.
Overnight, Best became the first celebrity footballer – a lifestyle that would take its toll: after leaving a Manchester United side in decline, Best, now increasingly dependent on alcohol, quit the game following stints at Fulham and overseas.