GEORGE BEST

looked a million dollars then

Unquestionably the most overrated player in the history of the game.

Brought something special into our lives and he did it his way , unquestionably the most talented Soccer player ever to come from the island of Ireland in the past 50 years in my opinion.

Brought something special into our lives and he did it his way , unquestionably the most talented Soccer player ever to come from the island of Ireland in the past 50 years in my opinion.

also famous for some of his remarks, favourite one, "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."  Very talented player, one of the best I've seen, he was different class.

Jun 21, 2013 -- 1:30PM, Johnny_Mustang wrote:

Unquestionably the most overrated player in the history of the game.

dont be so stupid johnny

Isn't this about opinions? And mine is that there have been countless better players over the years.

Jun 21, 2013 -- 2:03PM, Johnny_Mustang wrote:

Isn't this about opinions? And mine is that there have been countless better players over the years.

so how could best be the most overrated player ?

I'm saying that Best was a good player, nothing more than that. But certain people, like yourself, seem to want to elevate him to demi-God status when in my opinion he was nothing more than a better-than-average footballer.

how am i trying to elevate him to god status ?

"better-than-average" . OK, name someone of that description today who you consider as good or better than Georgie

Pele said Best was the greatest ever.....hard to argue that.

Better than Best and playing today? Ronaldo, Messi for starters. And in recent years Bergkamp, Cantona etc.

Pele can't get it up, so I wouldn't be too interested in anything he has to say.

bergkamp and cantona couldnt lace bests drinks

more like absolutely fookin brilliant rather than better than average then eh

Def in top 5 greatest players ever....saw him play towards the end of his career and never ever seen skill like it....Messi maybe,Ronaldo forget,Kenny up there,Cruyff up there,but not many more.

And Maradonna.

Here Johnny. Take this pill, have a lie down and then concentrate on rugby or something in the future.
Simply the best player I have ever seen and sadly I'm old enough to have seen Pele live, and all the greats since.

Tend to agree with Johnny. Best was a poor excuse for  a human being as well. I had first hand experience of that.

mrbojangles     21 Jun 13 14:40 
Pele said Best was the greatest ever.....hard to argue that.

dont think Pele did say that...think George told everyone that he said it.....Pele was interviewed when Best died...he just said best was a very good player.

My view ..yes one of the best i ever seen

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/pele-...

Pele did say it in an interview with the BBC when Best was very much alive - though to be honest, Pele will say anything to anyone to get a gig.

After United, in Buenos Aires in 1968, met Estudiantes de la Plata in the first leg of the so called Inter-continental Championship, Best admitted that, with a quarter of an hour gone, he simply ceased trying to play because the Argentines' endless, largely unpunished, fouling made it impossible. In the return match at Old Trafford, his temper snapped and he was sent off.

What could be done with Best? O'Farrell, for a time, had insisted he return to life under the care of his old landlady, but that could hardly last. Best built himself a house outside Manchester, where women were wont to turn up at the door. Best did not turn up for training throughout the first week of 1972. O'Farrell fined him, telling him to leave his house and stay with Mrs Fullaway.

"When the bad times started, I couldn't bear the thought of going out on the pitch," Best said. "I used to drink so I didn't have to think about it. Which came first? The bad times then the drinking, or the drinking then the bad times? I'm still sure it was the thought of playing in a bad team, of not winning anything, of not having a chance to play in Europe that drove me to it.

"All right, you could say that if I'd trained and lived properly, United might have stood a better chance of doing well. That's true, but I just couldn't see myself doing it single-handed, I wasn't good enough and I didn't have the correct mentality."

Twice Best announced he would retire and twice he changed his mind - but the sustained breaks from training were fatal. He put on weight that he was never able to lose, and his spectacular pace disappeared. His last game for Manchester United was at Queens Park Rangers on New Year's Day 1974. A spiteful crowd got on his back, and a great star was brought low.

Now it was downhill all the way. He played a few games for Stockport County and then, accompanied by his wife Angie, a devotee of jigsaw puzzles, he decamped to California to play for the Los Angeles Aztecs. When I visited him there, he was as cheerful and genial as ever. Running along the beach, he observed that people on it might say: "Who's George Best?"


Great player with far more skill than the majority but it's highlighted why he wasn't one of the best, when the going got tough George gave up.

The old drunk is barely championship quality today.

Would command 200 million transfer fee today.

mrbojangles.....are you a man utd fan? or about 60years old? or both?

Mrbojangles...yes George said Pele said it...the point i am making ..after Best died ..Pele was interviewed ..all he said then was Best  was a great player..if he thought he was the Best ever that would have been the time to say it.

Still one of my fav players though

Personally i think of Best and i can't understand how the likes of Baggio or Hagi don't get the credit they deserve, Baggio especially. Hagi one of the most underrated players ever.

There is a youtube clip and he had THE BEST left peg ever.

Agree with Hagi comment.
He is underrated in same way as Best is overrated.
Good but not that good, check cruyff, let alone El Diego.
El Diego got it kicked out of him all his career, check what Brazil do to Cruyff in 74 semi.

For a sportsman ale is a killer.
Do not need to even need to hammer it....Fowler...and many others.
Do yourself a favour and check a best of cruyff on you tube,saw him as a kid at Anfield in early 70s. looked like a 15 year old.
Usual Dutch attitude but to me...the best.

This says it all about Hagi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mTnWfbXk28

Never seen a collection of long range goals like it. The goal just after 2 minutes at Tenerife i think is one of the sweetest strikes i have ever seen. perfect.

Think Cruyff's match at Anfield was 1966 , when he probably wasn't much older than 15 !

European Cup,2nd Round ,2nd Leg

December 14, 1966 Anfield, Liverpool, Attendance: 53,778

Liverpool	2		2	Ajax
Hunt,55				Cruyff,49
Hunt,66				Cruyff,71

Cryuff was aged 19 having looked it up

pissed it all away,and that fat clown act at fulham with the other unfit bell.end marsh,parody of the game

Agree Hagi was one of the best . Always recall the ITV World Cup '94 pundits saying his goal v Colombia was meant as a cross  .Not one of them could even imagine a player would be good enough to think he could score from that position (though there was no one to cross to and he clearly looked up and aimed for the far corner)

As for Best, i don't think you could put him at the level of Pele,Cruyff,Maradona,Messi, but he would be on the next rung down with a lot of great players.

The European Cup was the best thing in club football, and he was at least as good as anyone else playing in it late 60s (Cruyff went to another level in the 70s)

actually Ajax were 2-1 up in that Anfield game and Hunt equalized on '86

ill elevate george BEST HE WAS POETRY IN MOTION ,YOU ONLY NEEDED TO SEE A RUN OF HIS WITH THE BALL FOR 10 SECONDS TO GET YOUR MONEYS WORTH ,HE COULD HAVE PLAYED IN ANY POSITION HE WAS THE GREATEST,JOHNNY MUSTANG YOUR TALKING LIKE A CART HORSE

HE  WOULD HAVE BEEN  THE GOLDEN FOOTBALLER IN THE WILLY WONKER FOOTBALL STAR ELEVEN

IF RONALDO IS WORTH 50 MILLION GEORGE BEST WAS WORTH 100 MILLION

THANK YOU THATS WGHAT A MEGA SUPA STAR LOOKS LIKE

No problem Diddy

AND HE WAS ONLY THIN

IF HED OF BEEN ALIVE WHEN LEONARDO DEVINCEE WAS ALIVE HE WOULD HAVE PAINTED HIM INSTEAD OF THE MONA LISA

HE WAS THE FIRST POP STAR FOOTBALLER ,HE WAS LED UP THE WRONG PATH ,NO ONE IN THE UNIVERSE COULD HAVE ESCAPED ALL THE ADORATION AND  TEMPTATION THAT WAS OFFERED TO HIM ,

HE NEVER SMOKED OR DRANK WHEN HE CAME FROM IRELAND ,HE JUST WENT TEN PIN BOWLING ,UNTILL  THE HANGERS ON TOOK HIM TO SEE THE DEVIL

GEORGE BEST, MOHAMID ALLI ,FRANK SINATRA ,ELVIS PRESSLEY

  THESE ARE  WHAT MEGA STARS ARE MADE OF

I BET YOU THINK COLD PLAY ARE MEGA STARS

AMEN

PS IF ID OF HAD A MISS WORLD IN MY BED AND A WALLET FULL OF MONEY AND A BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE IN MY BEDROOM AND ROOM SERVICE TO GET MORE CHAMPAGNE AND STELLA AND A COLOUR T V ,I WOULDNT GO TRAINING IN THE POORING RAIN AND COLD  LIKE HIM

PPS NEVER MIND A MISS WORLD EVEAN A FAT BIRD

You enjoying yourself Do Wah ?

ITS LIKE TELLING THE BEST ELECTRICIAN IN THE WORLD TO GET OUT OF BED TO PRACTICE PUTTING A PLUG ON

YES YOU KNOW I LIKE TALKING TO MYSELF ,

as long as your ok m7

IM GOING NOW ,I BET HE DOESNT LIKE CORONATION STREET AS WELL

man utd then had 2 truly great world class players ,best and the under rated bobby Charlton, wonderful players, just try and see some of their goals on you tube,  Charlton was probably the best two footed player ever imo     ,

I WATCHED THEM EVERY WEEK ,I DONT NEED YOU TUBE THEIR MEMORIES ARE WITH ME UNTILL THE DAY I DIE ,I EVEN SAW BOBBY CHARLTON MISS TWO PENALTIES IN ONE GAME AT SHEFF UTD BUT HE WAS STILL WORLD  SUPER CLASS

I watch players now been praised to the hilt for using outside of their foot to cross the ball, I laugh ,they do this most times coz they cant use their weaker foot,

HE ONCE SAID TO ME IN ROWNRTEES NIGHTCLUB IN MANCHESTER ,DO WAD DIDDY I WISH I WAS NORMAL JUST LIKE YOU ,I SAID GEORGE YOU DONT

I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS PLAYING CROWN GREEN BOWLS AT OUR WORKINGMENS CLUB,I WAS INVOLVED IN A LEAUGE GAME WHEN HE TURNED UP AND SHOUTED ,DO WAH DIDDY COME AND HAVE A PINT WITH ME NOW  ,I PUT MY BOWLS DOWN AND WHISPERED TO HIM ,GEORGE DO I EVER COME TO OLD TRAFFORD AND SHOUT GEORGE LETS GO FOR A PINT NOW ,SHOW SOME RESPECT AND HE DID

HE WAS A KIND MAN HE ONCE GAVE ME HIS AUTOGRAPH,I WAS THAT MOVED I GAVE HIM ONE OF MINE

IM OFF KNOW NIGHT NIGHT

Watched him live many times and he was the best I had seen in a generation, where the tackles allowed then would uproot trees yet fail to him a lack of balance, youtube the goal against Chelsea for further evidence.

Buzzer, you say that when the going got tough George gave up, yet your copy and paste job was spooky in comparison to an England regular up until 1998, yeah Gascoigne, same problems but a knee that was shot in 1991.

Only my opinion, but would the media and fan adoration of gazza have existed post 1991, if they were not so desperate for England to have had their very own George Best.

Best won games, as Cruyf did, with performances that will be spoken of when the vivid memory of todays over rated players are history.

Did somebody mention Cantona in this thread, no disrespect intended Eric, top bloke.

reading some of the dimwits comments on here would normally annoy you,as it stands im just grateful theres such a thing as exchanges for them to spend their money on.

Not sure he could be classed as "over-rated": in 67-68, he scored 28 league goals in 41 games, and 3 in 9 games in Europe -- this was the season Utd won the European Cup. He also scored in the final v Benfica and won European footballer of the year.

Wasn't he a creative player? Assuming he was (I never saw him play) then his goal-scoring stats were very impressive. He had a 5 year period from 67-72 where his stats were:

67-68: 41 league apps, 28 goals
68-69: 41 league apps, 19 goals
69-70: 37 league apps, 15 goals
70-71: 40 league apps, 18 goals
71-72: 40 league apps, 18 goals

He had a very short career and these 5 seasons represented his peak. Statistically speaking, they are impressive numbers. Those who saw him play speak of exceptional skill and technique, and this was in an era of sh1t pitches, hobnail boots and crunching tackles. Nobody hates rose-tinted revisionism more than I do, but the praise Best gets would seem to be warranted, imo.

PADDY STAR WHO ARE YOU CALLING A DIM WIT ,TELL ME NOW AS I GET PARRANOID

ITS BAD ENOUGH SOME ONE CALLING YOU A DIM WIT,BUT ITS WORSE BEING CALLED A DIM WIT AND YOU DONT KNOW IF THERE TALKING TO YOU OR NOT

ILL TAKE IT AS THOUGH YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE OTHER DIM WITS ON HERE AND NOT ME ,BUT IF IT  IS ME IM GLAD YOUVE NOT MENTIONED MY NAME SO I DONT LOOK DIM

ILL TAKE IT AS THOUGH YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE OTHER DIM WITS ON HERE AND NOT ME ,BUT IF IT  IS ME IM GLAD YOUVE NOT MENTIONED MY NAME SO I DONT LOOK DIM

George Best was a genius, flawed of course, but still the finest, most thrilling player I've ever seen. Not just a brilliant attacker, both goalscorer and provider,

but also as brave as they come, a player who'd ride the most ferocious tackles, not bad at tackling back himself. and one who showed supreme skill on pitches

that would often be regarded as unplayable these days.

I wonder whether johnny mustang ever actually saw him play. his view is so skewed.

wow some unbelievable comments on here.i never thought i would see the day when someone would say that george best was over rated astounding.

on sky sports 2 now footballs greatest. That harry gregg a bit jealous it seemed