George Best: an underappreciated genius

George Best is one of the greatest players of football's past, yet many today synonymise him with the partying and the drinking. In this piece, I tell the story of football's underappreciated genius.

“George Best until today is a footballer without comparison and his technical skills will never be forgotten” – Pelé

“George inspired me when I was young. He was flamboyant and exciting and able to inspire his team-mates. I actually think we were very similar players – dribblers who were able to create moments of magic” – Diego Maradona

Introduction to a Legend

My early memories of George Best as a young kid growing up in the late 1990s/ early 2000s were of a man who graced the TV every Saturday as a pundit on Gillette Soccer Saturday.

However, I never really knew at the time the true genius that was on the screen or what he meant to the footballing world. I would come to learn of how great he really was during a conversation with my father during a four hour car trip back up north.

I was very lucky to grow up in an era of the game that saw a plethora of greats all at the time playing for some of the biggest clubs in the world. Names like Ronaldo, Zidane, Figo, Beckham, Giggs, Ronaldinho, Del Piero, Maldini, Batistuta, Henry, Seedorf, Davids and Scholes, to name a few. To this day, these are players that are used as measuring sticks for every player that has followed them or who are considered future greats of the game.

To me and my friends, these players were the best the game had ever seen with the only exceptions to the rule being the two players I quoted at the start: Pelé and Diego Maradona. To the generations prior to mine, these were the two greatest to ever play the game, yet there was one man who even they looked upon in awe of.

Finding a Genius…The Belfast Boy

Born on 22^nd May 1946, George Best grew up in Belfast’s Cregagh Estate. He was spotted playing football nearby by a Manchester United scout named Bob Bishop, who went on to tell Sir Matt Busby “Boss, I think I’ve found you a genius!”.

Those famous words spoken by Bishop would be nothing short of the truth as, after overcoming initial bouts of homesickness, Best would make his professional debut at 17 and go on to score 179 in 470 appearances during 10 years with Manchester United.

The Showman on the Stage

Though these statistics don’t seem to jump out at people or compare to records of such players like Pelé or Maradona, it is the way Best played the game that has lived with those fortunate to see him play either live or on TV.

Memorable goals would be commonplace throughout Best’s career, with goals like the one against Chelsea in 1970, or his lob into the top corner against Tottenham, to name just a few. Other dazzling displays like his six goals against Northampton in the FA Cup and his two goals in the 1968 European Cup final victory against Benfica are just a couple more instances that show the true genius of the man.

“I noticed that when I touched the ball on the field, you could hear this shrill noise in the crowd with all the birds screaming like at a Beatles concert.” – George Best