George Best

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Born in Belfast, Best began his club career in England with Manchester United, with the scout who had spotted his talent at the age of 15 sending a telegram to manager Matt Busby which read: 'I think I've found you a genius'. After making his debut at age 17, he scored 179 goals in 470 appearances over 11 years and was the club's top goalscorer in the league for five consecutive seasons. He won two League titles, two Charity Shields and the European Cup with the club. In international football, Best was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland between 1964 and 1977. A combination of the team's performance and his lack of fitness in 1982 meant that he never played in the finals of a major tournament. He considered his international career as being 'recreational football', with the expectations placed on a smaller nation in Northern Ireland being much less than with his club. He is regarded as one of the greatest players never to have played at a World Cup. The Irish Football Association described him as the 'greatest player to ever pull on the green shirt of Northern Ireland'. With his good looks, dark Beatle mop-top hair and playboy lifestyle, Best became one of the first media celebrity footballers, earning the nickname 'o Quinto Beatle' by Portuguese press reporters after a stand-out performance for Manchester United in Lisbon in March 1966. However, his extravagant lifestyle led to various personal problems, most notably alcoholism, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. These issues affected him on and off the field, often causing controversy. Although conscious of his problems, he made light of them and was known for his intelligence and wit on the subject during periods of sobriety: 'I spent a lot of money on booze, girls and fast cars – the rest I just squandered'. After football, he spent some time as a football analyst, but his financial and health problems continued into his retirement. He died in 2005, aged 59, from complications from the immunosuppressive drugs he needed to take after a liver transplant in 2002.

In Their Own Story

The rising star of English football, Best was catapulted to superstar status at the age of 19, when he scored two goals in a European Cup quarter-final match against Benfica at the Estádio da Luz on 9 March 1966. His impressive stand-out display allied with his dark Beatle mop-top hair, the Portuguese media dubbed him 'O Quinto Beatle' ('the fifth Beatle'); on the team's return to England, Best was photographed on the airport tarmac in his new sombrero with the headline, 'El Beatle.' Before the game, manager Matt Busby had told his wingers, Best and Connelly, to stay deep for the first 20 minutes. Keep it tight and quieten the crowd. But George Best was only 19, too young for such caution. All he heard was 'blah, blah, blah.' When the game started, he grabbed it by the scruff. 'Watch this, Eusebio. And Coluna, Simoes, Torres, Germano, Jose Augusto. I'm George Best, and this is how it's done.'

Reader's Guide

George Best was born on 22 May 1946 in Belfast, the first child of Richard 'Dickie' Best and Anne Withers. He was raised in the Cregagh estate in east Belfast. Best had five siblings: four sisters, Carol, Barbara, Julie, and Grace, and one brother, Ian Busby Best. Best's mother, herself an Irish hockey international, recalled that the boy was able to stand aged ten months and from then on was never seen without a ball at his feet, even taking one to bed. His father was a member of the Orange Order and as a boy George carried the strings of the banner in his local Cregagh lodge. In his autobiography, Best mentioned how important the Order was to his family. The Best family was raised in the Free Presbyterian faith. In 1957, the academically gifted Best passed the 11-plus and went to Grosvenor High School, but he soon played truant as the school specialised in rugby union. Best then moved to Lisnasharragh Secondary School, reuniting him with friends from primary school and allowing him to focus on football. He played for Cregagh Boys Club. He grew up supporting Glentoran and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Anne Best died from alcoholism-related cardiovascular disease in 1978, at the age of 55. Best's father died on 16 April 2008, at the age of 88, in the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, Northern Ireland. At the age of 15, Best was discovered in Belfast by Manchester United scout Bob Bishop, whose telegram to United manager Matt Busby read: 'I think I've found you a genius.' His local club Glentoran had previously rejected him for being 'too small and light'. Best was subsequently given a trial and signed up by United's chief scout Joe Armstrong. His first time moving to the club, Best quickly became homesick and stayed for only two days before going back home to Northern Ireland. He returned to Manchester and spent two years as an amateur, as English clubs were not allowed to take Northern Irish players on as apprentices. He was given a job as an errand boy on the Manchester Ship Canal, allowing him to train with the club twice a week. Best made his First Division debut, aged 17, on 14 September 1963 against West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford in a 1–0 victory. He then dropped back into the reserves, before scoring his first goal for the first team in his second appearance in a 5–1 win over Burnley on 28 December. Manager Matt Busby then kept Best in the team; by the e

Did You Know?

• Best scored 179 goals in 470 appearances for Manchester United over 11 years.
• He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1968.
• He was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
• The Portuguese press dubbed him 'O Quinto Beatle' after a 1966 match in Lisbon.