George Best - 1946-2005

[torontohammer]

Rest in Peace and thanks for the memories.

[Footstomper]

Rest in Peace and thanks for the memories.
Great! So now we have to play the ghost of Bestie on sunday. The world is a little bit darker today. The man was a genius and a diamond. Some people are saying that there are better players around today. Bollox! He trained so hard on his weaker left foot that it was stronger than his right. Thats talent and commitment

[pething101]

He is in a better place than this world now.

Rest in peace, George Best.

[bigredfutbol]

:(

[TheresaWHUFC]

As a footballer Best was an absolute legend, and that's how I'm going to remember him.

RIP

[Footstomper]

But couldnt the guardian have chosen a different match to remember him with?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1645841,00.html

[claret50]

R.I.P. George. :(

[shootemlow]

He sure crammed a lot into a short playing career, what a star.

All the best wherever you may be :o

[blainehammer]

Great, great player. What a waste of life.

[hammer_scout51]

Great! So now we have to play the ghost of Bestie on sunday. The world is a little bit darker today. The man was a genius and a diamond. Some people are saying that there are better players around today. Bollox! He trained so hard on his weaker left foot that it was stronger than his right. Thats talent and commitment


Bloody well said stomper. I was lucky enough to see him play live. Better players today absolute rubbish, Bestie was up with Pele and Diego. He retired from Man U at 25 not even at the peak of his career. He came back a few times but never quite the same. Sir Bobby read him quite well but Sir Bobby read everyones game better than most.

RIP George Best a champion footballer.

[Footstomper]

[QUOTE=hammer_scout51

RIP George Best a champion footballer.[/QUOTE]
A champion geezer. Whats the betting Norway met him at a party?

[Kent_Hammer]

One of the true 'great' players. He had it all - skill, strength, guts, vision all somehow crammed into that small frame. My memory of his contribution to Man U's 1968 European Cup win is undimmed. Never get tired of watching his goals, even the ones he scored against us! Sure enough he followed the wrong path, but it doesn't detract from the wonderful entertainment he gave on a football field in his prime.

Rest in peace, George, you have earnt it - and thanks for the memories.

[Goodsport]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/13255779.htm

One of George's greatest goals (1981) as a member of the NASL San Jose Earthquakes, which is also considered one of the greatest goals in NASL history and one that I had the good fortune to be a live witness of, can be viewed from here (http://eteamz.active.com/naslearthquakes/videos/GBest81.mpg) (thanks to gilmoreaz for preserving that footage).

Rest in peace, George. :(


-G

[simonb_nyc]

RIP Georgie. What a true football talent. You will never be forgotten.

[falvo]

I'm writing from San Jose California the heart of Silicon Valley. George Best played here for the San Jose Earthquakes in 1980 & 1981. In those years of the North American Soccer League, there were a lot of former British pros as well as many over 33 European World Cup players dispersed throughout the league. Unfortunately, Milan Madaric (current owner of Portsmouth EPL) couldn't afford many stars in San Jose and Best was the first star to wear a Quakes uniform. As a matter of fact, everyone in the NASL had star players with the exception of the Earthquakes. He would normally import 3rd & 4th division Brits as well as some Yugoslavs and make a pretty competitive team out of it. The Quakes hung in there but could never really compete with the likes of the NY Cosmos, Vancouver Whitecaps, Tampa Bay Rowdies or the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. All these clubs had the privilege of having a Pele, Chinaglia on the Cosmos, Alan Ball, Peter Beardsley, Bruce Grobelar with the Whitecaps & Rodney Marsh with Tampa and Gerd Muller, Teofilo Cubillas and Bernd Holzenbeain with the Strikers. Best had also played with the Strinkers before falling out of favor with the English coach Ron Newman. After, Best left Florida, Mandaric offered Best a contract for 50,000 a year to play in San Jose Ca. Although the Quakes struggled to win games, George Best was by far the in a class of his own. I was among the 11,629 fans in San Jose to witness his spectacular goal against his former club, the Strikers. It was an incredible display of soccer that is still vivid in my mind 24 years later. The Quakes struggled all year however, on this Wednesday evening July 22, 1981, Best literally took the reigns in his own hands and won the game all by himself.
He took a pass in the midfield by David Irving then he dribbled around 5-7 guys and left everyone on the ground just looking amazed at his goal. That brought the match to 2-1. Then in the 88th min Best outran a horde of Striker defenders while the ref signaled for a penalty on a foul of another player who was brought down in the box and scored. Referee Ian Foote had no choice but to give the advantage goal. In those days of the NASL Overtime existed and he again took the ball and shot it directly at the GK who was lucky to save it and a fellow teammate Mustafa Hukic took the rebound shot and scored to win the golden goal in sudden death OT. It was an incredible goal that brings tears of joy to my eyes even today.
RIP George!

[jstlouis]

Thanks for sharing your gifts with us George.

You will be sorely missed.

My favorite Bestie quote:

"I spent alot of money on cars, birds and drink....The rest I squandered."

[northbankbar]

R.i.p.

[TheNewOrleansHammer]

He died earlier than most will but he truely lived a life.

[CelticOnFire]

That tribute today was excellent. That was well done West Ham fans. Major props.

[147man]

That tribute today was excellent. That was well done West Ham fans. Major props.

The reason it was well observed was because it was a minutes APPLAUSE - Had it been a minutes silence it would not have been dso well observed.

Sections of the crowd won't have forgotten the lack of respect shown by the Mancs when Bobby Moore passed.

I'm just glad it is now behind us - I personally had little respect for the man.