George Best RIP

The Metro got it badly wrong with the he's-nearly-dead-not-quite-an-obituary but they picked a great quote: "I hope they remember the football."

Fuck a 'George Best Is Still Alive' thread. Pay your respects here to the flawed and troubled man who set the beautiful game alive. Pace, flair, power, skill, and a whole package that produced results.

Top scorer year after year at Man Utd. Every domestic honour worth winning. Player of the year. European Cup Winner (and scorer in the final). Not bad for a man who is supposed to have thrown an undefined 'something' away. He achieved in 8 years what the rest of us spent a lifetime dreaming about.

Rest In Peace George.

And his attitude was absolutely key to his attraction. He was like a kid on a school playground - taking the piss was as important as scoring.

I think it's a mixture of that and his sheer physical grace that made him so special - you get the feeling watching him that he's floating across the grass.

lol
-- bato (bato12345678...), November 25th, 2005 9:50 PM. (bato) (later)

Fuck off, cunt.

Gerry otm, one of the few times I've felt disgusted with ilx, and I've seen some crap in my time here. Thankfully Dr C and pinefox finally saved it from being some sick gloatfest.

Elegant, graceful, iconic, I'll miss him if no other fucker does.

I never got the chance to see him play in real life - he was due to play at a short exhibition game at Celtic Park just before they bulldozed the Jungle, which was the Man Utd 1968 European Cup team vs the Celtic 1967 mob. There had been speculation all week about whether or not Best would turn up - as it happened, he didn't. The game was a bunch of lumbering overweight and past-it players with the exception of Jimmy Johnstone. I would have loved to have seen Best as well - that game was the only time I saw Jinky play and I treasure the fact that I've done so, and wish I could have said the same about Best as well, regardless of circumstances.

Minute's silences at all matches across England today, and a minute's applause at Celtic Park. Don't know about the rest of the Scottish games, but I would imagine there would be something before the Hibs v Rangers game tomorrow.

(Billy and Gerry OTM, as if it needed saying)

Sorry for my Vatican comment on the other thread. In my defence, it was before he'd died and was supposed to be a joke about the media waiting game rather than him. But anyway.

RIP.

my dad was outside landsdowne road when shamrock rovers were playing against man u in the fairs cup, and lots of fans kicked down a door and people without tickets could just amble in - there was about 50,000 in a 40,000 capacity stadium. my dad could have walked in with them and seen best in the flesh, but decided not to, and has always rued this missed opportunity (although, of course, it's probably sensible not to walk into an over-packed stadium without a ticket, from the safety point of view).

RIP.

'George Best was slightly built... but Matt Busby saw not just the frame - but the picture'.

Beat that, Logan / Dixon / Le Saux. I hope Sinstadt gets a decent tribute some day also.

I am glad to hear that they will applaud at Molineux; now I can picture Glenn joining in.

there's no doubt the guy was pure class based on this film(it's the only thing i've ever seen of him) but it's also apparent how shitty the defending was back then, and would someone put together a best of say zidane, ronaldinho, rivaldo, ronaldo and many others it would be more impressive than this. also, he played 466 games for man utd but only scored 178 goals. based on this i dont really *get* those who say he is anywhere near pele or maradona, especially since he only won the european cup and two english league titles.

(His scoring rate was pretty good for a winger btw.)

And bringing up "based on this i dont really *get* those who say he is anywhere near pele or maradona, especially since he only won the european cup and two english league titles" is just silly. Of course he never won the World Cup, he was born in Belfast, not Buenos Aires. And the failure of Manchester United to keep winning the league every single year he was there is NOT entirely his fault. Regardless of the people he played around, he stood out as a genuinely talented footballer. (There's a thread about this somewhere, based around whether Ryan Giggs is under-rated because he chose Wales over England).

Zidane, Henry, Ronaldhino etc all *look* like far better players, but you have to remember technology has moved on since Best was in his heyday. Lighter balls, fancy boots etc have made things look much more spectacular than they used to, doesn't mean that real talent shouldn't still shine through, whatever era you are talking about.

yeah there's better technology today but at the same time the defending and all around tactics was less impressive back then. im not saying best wouldnt be a class player in todays game. great players are great players in any era they would all adapt.

i'm not gonna keep arguing that henry or ronaldinho are better or not but i just cant accept that best can be seen in the same light as zidane. there hasnt been a more spectacular and effective player than him since maradona, and he's won everything there is to win.

Even Pele himself has said Best was one of the best players he'd ever seen. Also, I don't even understand your last paragraph. And regardless of whatever point you are trying to make, I think you'd be hard pushed to convince *anyone* that Best wasn't a great player.

how can you not understand the second paragraph?

Not second paragraph, third paragraph. I don't the point of introducing a timeline of X is the best player since Y, as when they played is totally irrelevant. I'm sure you believe Zidane is the best player since Maradona, which is fine. But both of those players came after Best, so I just don't see the relevance in this context, that's all.

Anyway, can we let the man Rest In Peace, please? I'll start a George Best C/D thread if there isn't one already if I have to.

i dont see how it's disrespctful to talk about his merits in this thread...but yeah ok i'll shut up.

RIP

http://media.putfile.com/George-Best-vs-Benfica---European-Cup-Final

(best without the sound, this one)

did you not notice the "not only" in that sentence? I guess not.

(sorry ailsa)

Saw him twice for us when we had signed him in the 70/80 season. Quite the best player I've seen with my own eyes.

But also a lazy bastard, played 10 minutes tops in any match, and took us down. Like Gazza, only more talented.

But I come to praise George, not to bury him. Watching him glide past players like they weren't there was an absolute joy. I still wince at how hard Chopper Harris came in during the FA Cup tie, only to miss and only catch George's trailing leg and have to watch him round two other players before putting the ball in the net. Only Maradona's second goal against England in the 86 World Cup is a better exhibition of dribbling (and is IMO the greatest goal ever scored). Frankly I suspect he may have struggled with the lighter ball as his real skill was being able to run as quickly with it as he could without, and keep it close to his feet, but that doesn't diminish the greatness of the man.

RIP George.

I was quite surprised at the level of TV coverage of the funeral (Dick and Dom relegated to BBC2 so that the service could be transmitted live on BBC1), but it was a very moving service.