Best

No one ever wore the red shirt of Manchester United the way George Best wore it. Neither for that matter will anyone wear the green shirt of Northern Ireland with quite the same style. He always wore his shirt out, flapping over his shorts and whether wearing red or green, his shirt seemed to glow just that much brighter than anyone else's.

The glow may well have been imagined or it may have come from the God-given gifts that helped turn him into one of the icons of the 1960s and one of the greatest soccer players who ever lived.

This week Best's image has been prominently featured in magazines and on television once again to mark a milestone in his life. It is hard to imagine, but on Wednesday he turns 50.



	With Sir Bobby Charlton

Twenty-two years after he last pulled on a Manchester United shirt in anger, he retains a unique place in British affections.

In recent public polls to find the greatest British player of all time, he came out top in all of them. No other sports personality has ever had a night of TV dedicated to him as the BBC did on Sunday to Best with three hours of documentaries, interviews, discussions and footage of his greatest goals.

His story is well documented. In the Manchester United first team at 17, an international at 18 followed by a decade of brilliance in which he broke the mould of what footballers were supposed to be. Handsome looks topped off by a Beatle haircut, he became soccer's first pop idol.

As his old Manchester United team mate Denis Law said this week: `When I saw him on the training ground for the first time I knew he was something special and I was proved right. He broke into the first team at 17 and for the next 10 years was one of the best players the world has ever seen.'

But by the age of 27 his first-class career was over, damaged beyond repair, by, as he admits, `the fact that I just wasn't enjoying it anymore'-- helped no doubt by the attractions of glamorous blondes, booze and wealth he could hardly have imagined growing up on a poor estate in Belfast.

`I regret nothing and I'm happy to be reaching 50,' he said last week. `There were those who weren't sure if I would make 30, or even 40. But I have survived and I don't want people to think of me as a sad old has-been. I'm married again to a woman I love and I'm enjoying my life.'

While Best pauses to reflect on what was, the brilliance of his magic never fades.


	With Sir Matt and the European Cup

What made him something special was his electrifying speed, incredible change of pace, powerful shooting, the dummies, the taunts, the tenacious tackling, his bravery, his perfect balance.

Time really has not dimmed his genius and his exploits look as scintillating today on film as they did then when the Stretford End worshipped his every move.

His lifestyle was far removed from those of 1950s heroes like Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney and he was an embodiment of the times, a glittering star who endorsed everything from chewing gum to car coats, after-shave to sausages and whose trappings of success included a white Jaguar, three boutiques, a nightclub and a house which had curtains activated by sunlight.

While the champagne life-style was one thing, he was first and foremost a dedicated hard-working athlete. In 466 appearances he scored 178 goals for United and nine in 37 appearances for Northern Ireland.

Best first turned up at United as a 15-year-old in 1961, quickly went home to Belfast homesick, but, coaxed by father figure Matt Busby, returned to become -- with Law and Bobby Charlton -- the driving force behind the great United side which won the English league in 1965 and 1967 and the European Cup in 1968 when they beat Benfica 4-1 at Wembley. That year he was crowned both England's and Europe's Footballer of the Year.

Although Best scored a dazzling solo goal in that final, it was against Benfica two years earlier that his legend really took hold. In March 1966 he scored twice as Manchester United beat Benfica 5-1 in Lisbon in a European Cup quarter-final. Pictured wearing a huge sombrero-style hat when he returned home, the papers dubbed him `El Beatle.' At that moment he became soccer's first super-star in the truest sense of the word. His life was never the same again.

Although he never played in a World Cup, he touched the heights. He also fell to the depths, jailed in 1984 for a drink-driving offence and assaulting a policeman.

But perhaps the wreckage that brought his glittering career to a premature end has not all been in vain. Today's Manchester United boasts Ryan Giggs on the wing, the nearest playing equivalent to a modern-day Best.

The old maestro has played an important part in advising Giggs of the pitfalls that await and says today: 'Who knows, if Manchester United had been able to shield me the way Alex Ferguson has been able to shield Ryan, things may have been different.'

'But I was the first to lead that lifestyle and, to be fair to Sir Matt and the club, they didn't know how to handle it, and neither did I.'

'But you must remember I had seven or eight great seasons, doing something I enjoyed. It wasn't all bad. I lived out my dreams playing for Manchester United.'

As he celebrates his 50th birthday, millions of fans around the world give thanks for that.



		Two geniuses together


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