George Best

A Tribute

One incident will always be embedded in my memory of George Best.

It was a game in the early 1970s: Everton vs Manchester United. I was in the crowd at one end. United were in possession and starting to attack the end I was in. George Best was in the centre of midfield running towards the goal. Someone from the right wing tried a long pass to someone on the left. But the pass was poorly hit and the ball started to fall short. In fact, it was going just behind George Best. George Best checked, stood on one leg, put his other leg behind him and with a flick of his back heel redirected the ball and gave it an extra bit of pace; it went straight to the player on the left wing.

Despite the sublime skill shown in that incident, I've never seen it shown on TV nor heard commentators discuss it. Perhaps no TV cameras were present (not all top flight matches were televised in those days). But perhaps it illustrates that, for George Best, such displays of skill were not 'flashes of brilliance'; they were everyday occurrences.

In the past 24 hours, commentators have been praising many aspects of George Best's game, saying that he was the complete footballer who could do everything. And they are right. But there is one thing, no-one has singled out, that I think sets George Best apart from the other greats like Pele or Maradonna.

When you next watch TV clips of George Best, follow the ball and in your mind draw an imaginary line on the ground to show the ball's path. Great 'dribblers' can turn the ball and change direction in a zig-zag, but no one could match George Best for the frequency or sharpness of the angles of those turns, not even Cruyff or Zidane. Good defenders were bamboozled because, even when they 'watched the ball and not the man', the ball was going all over the place. The imaginary line you draw in your head as you watch George Best at times it seems like the random trail left by a snail.

Despite his greatness as a footballer, George Best died because he had an inherited character flaw: alcoholism. He was born with a natural talent, and he was born with a gene that pre-disposed him to alcoholism. Being born with these traits, he could not change them; the most he could do is work out how to live with them. He used his talent well, but he never managed to beat his 'thorn in the flesh'.

Thank you, George, for the great entertainment you gave us. May you rest in peace.