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George Best: All by himself.


Tipps69

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For anyone interested in George Best or fancies getting to know what all the hype was about, on BBC NI is a hour & a half long programme / documentary about him, available from the BBC's catch-up channel.

Well worth a watch for anyone interested.

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2 hours ago, yardy said:

Watched this the other night very good documentary, learnt a few things i didn't know about George.

Would of loved to have been around to watch him at his peak.

Me too.

Very sad to see so much talent go to waste & for him to waste the endless chances he got given in both life & football.

I guess the world didn't quite understand the things that were going on properly back then to really offer the proper help that was necessary.

And his ex-wife's view obviously didn't help him much "Alcoholism isn't an illness, an illness is something you don't have a choice of but an alcoholic can choose not to drink"!! It's that kind of understanding that doesn't help anyone & especially the one you're supposed to love.

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My dad took me to Old Trafford to watch him in 1969. George was my hero. He arrived at the stadium in a yellow Lotus. He went on to terrorise Sunderland that day and scored with a header. He was different class. 

On train on the way back to Bristol we realised we were sitting next to the referee and he signed my programme. 

Happy memories for a young lad.

Fortunately my mum's family took me to the City v Spurs League Cup Semi final after that and I became a City fan or I would have been a United fan and missed out on all those years of glory I've experienced following City!!!!!

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One of the very best British footballers to ever grace the game. People really do underestimate how good this guy was.

We all know about the flaws but, whether you are teetotal or not, alcoholism is an illness; simple as. More often than not, it masks something else. None of us are perfect. His mother was a chronic alcoholic & it is obvious he would have experienced the pain of that.

Quite often I have read fans forums & other sites where people pillory his memory for 'abusing' the replacement liver he had but then, not realising George had a genuine illness.

For me, he was worthy of the help he was given. He paid his dues & he lived his life. His life was flawed, but then, none of us really know what lie behind that genius.

I thoroughly detest Man Utd but, for me, George Best is an icon of British football & not just because he turned his back on that odious lot from up North :)

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1 hour ago, Juan Domingo Roldan said:

One of the very best British footballers to ever grace the game. People really do underestimate how good this guy was.

We all know about the flaws but, whether you are teetotal or not, alcoholism is an illness; simple as. More often than not, it masks something else. None of us are perfect. His mother was a chronic alcoholic & it is obvious he would have experienced the pain of that.

Quite often I have read fans forums & other sites where people pillory his memory for 'abusing' the replacement liver he had but then, not realising George had a genuine illness.

For me, he was worthy of the help he was given. He paid his dues & he lived his life. His life was flawed, but then, none of us really know what lie behind that genius.

I thoroughly detest Man Utd but, for me, George Best is an icon of British football & not just because he turned his back on that odious lot from up North :)

He admitted himself that his mothers alcoholism was because of his rise to fame & she couldn't handle it & he blamed himself for not being there for her. Whether that was the true reason for George's illness I guess we'll never truly know but for a 15 year-old to leave home & move to Manchester to join what was / is possibly the biggest club in the world must of played some bearing on it, all that fame & relative fortune along with so much downtime, there was only so many things to do with your life back then & there certainly wasn't the medical help & support around then to try & help him along the straight & narrow.

He was going on 3 & 4 week benders, solid drinking & not going home during those benders & there were no mobiles or social media back then so it was quite easy to disappear if you so desired & that's exactly what he did, disappeared with very few people actually knowing where he was!

And maybe surprisingly, he wasn't going on these benders because of depression or unhappiness, it would more often than not be because everything was going so well & he didn't have anything more to prove & thought he didn't have to work at anything anymore! Astounding that his memory would be that short that he would be suspended & fined so many times but he'd work his way back into favour & then do it all again & then there was only so many chances available to him! So much so that he actually struggled to find a club to take him while he should of been in the prime of his career!!

And I can see why people would be upset at him wasting his donor liver, I'd be the same if it was a member of my family who needed one through no fault of their own unlike George's reason for needing one!!

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On 2017-6-24 at 21:06, Tipps69 said:

For anyone interested in George Best or fancies getting to know what all the hype was about, on BBC NI is a hour & a half long programme / documentary about him, available from the BBC's catch-up channel.

Well worth a watch for anyone interested.

Georgie,Georgie they call him the Belfast Boy

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2 minutes ago, cynic said:

Watched him live many times and on the telly.

I've said it before on here - the most complete footballer I have ever seen, he was so good he could play in any position on the pitch at any level. He could head a ball, put his foot in, take a ball around one or two or three players, score from anywhere, the best, imo, that there has ever been. And all on pitches no better than the downs.

Thats how I prefer to remember him.

 

I have had stories for decades from my father about him, of course i have seen lots of footage of him but thats nothing like seeing him play in real life.

Obviously a football genius and what a life he had but ultimately ended very sadly.

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Great but quite moving programme. Very sad that someone with those gifts would self destruct like that. I'm far too young to have ever seen Best play live but you can't help but make some parallels with my hero growing up, Gazza. Here's hoping he wins his battles where Best lost his. 

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Just now, lenred said:

Great but quite moving programme. Very sad that someone with those gifts would self destruct like that. I'm far too young to have ever seen Best play live but you can't help but make some parallels with my hero growing up, Gazza. Here's hoping he wins his battles where Best lost his. 

Very well put mate, it was a difficult watch but at least it was honest for a change and made all the more poignant by the story about Caulker this week.

I did see him play 3 times, twice early in his career and once later, for me the greatest footballer ever and bearing in mind that he played the game where defenders could literally kick the crap out of players now in the modern game where you can't breath near an opponent for fear of him crashing to the ground, Best would tear up the football world still he would be untouchable.

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