I was fortunate enough to see Bestie in his prime in the mid/late 60s and at times he was simply unplayable, the only way to stop him was to chop him down. His speed running with the ball was amazing and for a small guy he was incredibly strong and very seldom got pushed off the ball. His bravery was immense and even though he knew he was going to get scythed down in tackles that today would see the perpetrator facing a life ban, he never flinched or shirked a tackle. Today he would be priceless; imagine George Best with all the benefits players today have; proper nutrition, state of the art training facilities, all year round grass on pitches more akin to billiard tables than the quagmires of his day, high tech kit, and sky high wages; he would have been priceless and beyond compare.
George Best At His Brilliant Best
- Thread starter harms
- Start date
Wow - I enjoyed reading that.
First of all, fantastic work by @harms. Probably the longest George compilation i've seen.
He never went down when received hard tackles unless they truly hurt him.
You can only wonder all the stuff that was not recorded. Why there was so few cameras back in the 60's and 70's ?
Manchester United has had some great legends over time, but Duncan Edwards and Best will always stand out for me.
He never went down when received hard tackles unless they truly hurt him.
You can only wonder all the stuff that was not recorded. Why there was so few cameras back in the 60's and 70's ?
Manchester United has had some great legends over time, but Duncan Edwards and Best will always stand out for me.
Bestie was the Greatest, but my hero was Denis Law, the true King of the Stretford End! He lit up the stadium the moment he set foot on the pitch!
Pele had no doubts at all that Bestie was the greatest.
I think Best has a good shout to be better than Maradona…
I was too but I was a kid and he was unplayable on his day. Also those days defenders can get away with anything but murder. These days with the players having so much protection from the referees there is no doubt that Bestie would be among the best. To me he is better than Ronaldo and Messi. There is nothing he cannot do. I remember the commentary against a player who had a hyphen in his name. The commentator said, the first name went one way and the surname went the other and the hyphen was left in the middle. Could have been against QPR. I became a United fan because of Georgie Best. Someone said those days a George Best who is drunk can be better than most players sober.
This is an excellent compilation and a great tribute to George. There was never anybody like Bestie before and theres been nobody like him since. Messi and Ronaldo are incredible players and wonderfully gifted athletes, but Bestie was their equal and more in a time of quagmires of pitches, poor nutrition, lack of guidance re interests outside football, and low levels of fitness and welfare; today, Bestie would be priceless.
Can anybody watch this and still defend diving by claiming that the slightest touch can put a player on the deck?! Seeing George ride those tackles is exhilarating.
And utterly terrible tackling.
He was the best of all.
That's brilliant
So pleasing to watch. A friend of mine who used to go to OT during the Best years still says he's the best of all time.
Think of how good Hazard was about 4 years ago. Now add huge goal threat, ability in the air, immense courage, probably quicker over distance as well.
My father always used to say that his only in pitch problem was he was incredibly greedy, used to drive Charlton nuts.
My father always used to say that his only in pitch problem was he was incredibly greedy, used to drive Charlton nuts.
There have been few more fearsome defenders than Chelseas Ron "Chopper" Harris, and his nick name was not a reference about his wedding tackle! But ""Chopper" wasnt the only one, back then every team had at least one player, often two or three, who was there simply to stop opposing players, like Best, and how they did this was just part and parcel of the game. Some of these were very skillfull, but some seemed to enjoy the physical aspect of the game more than anything else. We had Nobby, Bill Foulkes and Pat Crerand who could certainly put it about and Denis Law was never slow in coming forward as neither was Bestie. Plenty of strikers saw retribution as their only defence against the cynical hackers. This went on for decades and is now in decline, instead we have diving and trying to get opponents sent off, and in my opinion the players who do this are worse for the game than the legendary "Hard Men" of yore ever were.
A Leeds player from the 60 s who shall be nameless told me that Best was the greatest of his generation and when I asked him about the Messi comparisons he said that Messi was a shade quicker but Best was a better header and more two footed
I asked Best on a phone in about Chopper Harris, Norman Hunter and Peter Storey( Arsenal) and he said that he still had the scars. They went in to hurt you because there was less protection.
Harris once broke a young players hand by deliberately stepping on it when the lad fell over in a goalmouth melee.
No cameras scrutinising every game back then
Absolutely brilliant this.
Have you heard the ‘ where did it all go wrong?’ Story
Speaking of Leeds, I remember Bestie scoring twice at Elland Road in a 2-2 draw. After he'd mugged their defenders for his second, Jack Charlton had a fit and started yelling at Gary Sprake. He was only a few feet away from us and we heard every word of it.
All part and parcel of football back then; Roy Keane was probably the nearest modern day player like these, because he too had no qualms about hurting an opponent.
Even the commentators were better back then!That's brilliant
No I haven't
Cracking highlights. Is there any chance you could upload this with just the crowd noise and commentary. I always hate music in these videos.
I saw the Best, Law and Charlton trio play in the 60’s. To have three players of that quality backed up by other really good solid players is unmatched in today’s football. Those three alone would be worth over £200m each in today’s market. Bestie was not only quick and a brilliant dribbler, he was tough. If today’s players had to take the hits he took, they would be rolling about for 20 minutes. Like a grand master chess player, he would be three moves ahead of everyone else. It is one of life’s greatest tragedies that George Best succumbed to alcohol and poor advice. A true genius.
Saw his first team debut, so have so many memories of a great great player, his balance was outstanding. A couple of moments, firstly a comment by Harry Gregg, who faced George when he was 15/16 years old in a practice match. This young skinny player came at Harry in a one to one, Harry thought my ball but in that instance this skinny kid had sent Harry the wrong way dribbled round him and planted the ball in the net, he went on to do it twice more.
A couple of my memories was firstly George against Chelsea, running with the ball down the wing Harris better known as Chopper Harris, went to tackle him , George with stood the challenge, Harris came at him again George twisted past him again, then to show him up took the ball back to him an beat him again, eventually he left Harris on his behind by the corner flag. He destroyed Harris's confidence that day, after that Harris did not go near him.
Another instance was against Liverpool, Ron Yeats Liverpool's centre half had been kicking lumps out of George from the start, eventually he delivered one too many and George had had enough. He face up to Yeats who was well over 6 feet in the centre circle, Yeats stood looking down on George, next thing George looked up at him and laid a lovely punch on his jaw. Yeats was stunned, George got sent off but made his point that he would only stand so much kicking.
A great player a true Utd legend, and I watched him from his first to his last game in a red shirt.
A couple of my memories was firstly George against Chelsea, running with the ball down the wing Harris better known as Chopper Harris, went to tackle him , George with stood the challenge, Harris came at him again George twisted past him again, then to show him up took the ball back to him an beat him again, eventually he left Harris on his behind by the corner flag. He destroyed Harris's confidence that day, after that Harris did not go near him.
Another instance was against Liverpool, Ron Yeats Liverpool's centre half had been kicking lumps out of George from the start, eventually he delivered one too many and George had had enough. He face up to Yeats who was well over 6 feet in the centre circle, Yeats stood looking down on George, next thing George looked up at him and laid a lovely punch on his jaw. Yeats was stunned, George got sent off but made his point that he would only stand so much kicking.
A great player a true Utd legend, and I watched him from his first to his last game in a red shirt.
Theres an old documentary with Bobby talking about that, he said he used to shout at Best to pass and call him a greedy so and so, but then George would beat another defender, dummy the keeper and put the ball in the net and Charlton said "it was impossible to stay mad at him for long!"
I remember Charlton scoring a good goal at Anfield after receiving the ball from Best, he sort of joked about it afterwards saying George had passed it for once.
The story goes that Best was dating the Miss World 1977 Mary Stavins. They checked into a hotel/casino and Best gambled and won around £25,000. Apparently they were on a bed with the cash strewn on it, a waiter walked in with a bottle of champagne and saw Best and Stavins on the bed. She was wearing a skimpy negligee. The waiter just saw Best,cash and a gorgeous girl and said, " Where the hell did it all go wrong?"
Stavins has denied the story
The story goes that Best was dating the Miss World 1977 Mary Stavins. They checked into a hotel/casino and Best gambled and won around £25,000. Apparently they were on a bed with the cash strewn on it, a waiter walked in with a bottle of champagne and saw Best and Stavins on the bed. She was wearing a skimpy negligee. The waiter just saw Best,cash and a gorgeous girl and said, " Where the hell did it all go wrong?"
Stavins has denied the story
Brilliant story!
This was just after he retired from first class football. He dated several beauty queens and his famous lines were:
" They complained that I used to go missing a lot: Miss United Kingdom, Miss Canada, Miss World!"
" They say I slept with seven Miss Worlds. I didn’t. It was only four. I didn’t turn up for the other three."
The story goes that Best was dating the Miss World 1977 Mary Stavins. They checked into a hotel/casino and Best gambled and won around £25,000. Apparently they were on a bed with the cash strewn on it, a waiter walked in with a bottle of champagne and saw Best and Stavins on the bed. She was wearing a skimpy negligee. The waiter just saw Best,cash and a gorgeous girl and said, " Where the hell did it all go wrong?"
Stavins has denied the story
How would that be example of things going wrong? It's pretty much a story of everything going right!
That was what elicited the laughter...
The waiter only saw what he felt was a washed up footballer, retired in his prime
There is a thread on here that details Denis Law's career in amazing depth. Search for ''Denis Law - Classic player'' I think you would love it.
His ability with both feet is astonishing.
I've never seen another player so dominant going left or right.
I've never seen another player so dominant going left or right.
George related this story on Parkinson or Wogan, maybe both.
Pele has entered the chat
Because Pele and Maradona exist (or existed). I think Best is arguably the greatest to come out of the UK though, and one of the best ever in Europe.