George Best

George Best  (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish footballer who played as a winger for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team..

Early years

He grew up in Cregagh, east Belfast. In 1957, at the age of 11, with his good marks he went to Grosvenor High School, but they were focused on rugby there so Best moved to Lisnasharragh Secondary School, where hecould play football. He grew up supporting Glentoran and Wolverhampton.


Club career


Manchester United

Best was discovered in Belfast by Manchester United scout Bob Bishop. He went to Manchester as an amateur, he worked on the Manchester Ship Canal and he trained with the club twice a week.In the 63-64 season Best made his First Division debut against West Bromwich  and scored his firstgoal in his second appearance against Burnley. Manchester United finished second, behind Liverpool and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

 In the 1964–65 season United won the league title and Best scored14 goals in 59 games. Best first impressed Europe when he scored two goals in a European Cup quarter-final match against Benfica at  Estádio da Luz and the Portuguese media namedhim"the fifth Beatle’.In the 1966–67 season United claimed the league title. Best scored ten goals in 45 games then the 1967–68 season would be remembered by United supporters for the European Cup win. Facing six times champions Real Madrid in the semi-finals, Best scored the only goal at Old Trafford and at the Bernabéu, Best was marked effectively by Manuel Sanchís, but on the one time Best was superior hemade a cross to Bill Foulkes, who leveled the game at 3–3. United played against Benfica in the final.The game went into extra-time and Best went on a mazy run and scored then two goals from Brian Kidd and Bobby Charlton settled the game at 4–1.Best also won the Gold Ball in1968 beating Charlton and Franz Beckenbauer.

Best, Law and Charlton remained effective in the 1968–69 season. But thenUnited began his decline not even being able to reach the European competitions. Best's last game for the club was on 1974 against QPR which United lost 3–0 then failed 3 training sessions and was dropped by the coach. That year United was relegated into the Second Division. In total Best made 470 appearances for Manchester United from 1963 to 1974, and scored 179 goals..


Later years

Bestplayed 5 matches for Jewish Guild in South Africa, he was criticised for missing several training sessions but during his time there, he attracted thousands of spectators to the matches.

Then he played at the league of Ireland for Cork Celtic in December 1975. He again attracted thousands of spectators but he failed to score and was dropped for missing practices.

He had a resurgence with SecondDivision club Fulham in 1976–77 but he then went to the U.S.A. Best scored 15 goals in 24 games in his first season with the Aztecs and was elected the league best midfielder but then he returned to the UK to play for the Scottish club Hibernian. The club was suffering a financial crisis and was facing a possible relegation from the Division. Even though Best failed to save the club fromrelegation, gates increased impressively and the attendance quadrupled for his first match. He returned to the USA to play for San Jose Earthquakes. scoring only once in 12 appearances. After failing to agree terms with Bolton in 1981, he was invited as a guest player and played three matches for two Hong Kong First Division teams (Sea Bee and Rangers) in 1982. In late 1982, Bournemouth signed Best forthe Third Division, and he remained there until the end of the1982–83 season, when he finally retired from football at the age of 37. Then he played 4 matches for the Brisbane Lions from Australia in order to end his career exactly 20 years after joining Manchester United.


International career

He played 37 times for Northern Ireland, scoring nine goals. On 15 May 1971, Best scored his most...