George Best

[lampard10]

A report in the press this morning stated that " George Best's condition has slightly improved and his brain is still working"

Surely that's a massive improvement going by the last 35 years.

[ThaiPauly]

I understand he is improving which is good news, the Doctors were a little surprised that his first request when he came out of intensive care were "Where's that Vodka bottle I came in here with?"

[Nickerelastic]

I understand he is improving which is good news, the Doctors were a little surprised that his first request when he came out of intensive care were "Where's that Vodka bottle I came in here with?"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The guy is dying, pay some respect for goodness sake.

[Belfastboy]

just another Belfastboy paying respects to the LEGENDARY BELFAST BOY..the 5th beatle...

just like to say thanks george, for all entertaining thousands and inspiring millions...

IMO the best footballer to grace the field...considering his career ended so early in his 20's...

as the butler once said to george as he was lying on a hotel bed with cash spread across the bed with miss world in tow .." where did it all go wrong george?"

respect to a legend

[redrus]

just another Belfastboy paying respects to the LEGENDARY BELFAST BOY..the 5th beatle...

just like to say thanks george, for all entertaining thousands and inspiring millions...

IMO the best footballer to grace the field...considering his career ended so early in his 20's...

as the butler once said to george as he was lying on a hotel bed with cash spread across the bed with miss world in tow .." where did it all go wrong george?"

respect to a legend

I know its close but, he's not gone yet fella.

redrus

[Belfastboy]

i know mate..but the docs have said he wont make it through the night...

[Belfastboy]

[redrus]

&lt;deleted&gt;*&in mortified, not even old enough to see the guy play. He carries so much weight and aura in football, his old videos are amazing. For someone like Pele, arguably the best player ever to say that Georgie was. Says it all.

redrus

[redrus]

Update:

The family have all just left the hospital.

News as it comes.

redrus

[Rinrada]

One of his most famous comments:

I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars.

The rest I just squandered" .

A legend in his own lifetime and even now old George is still hanging on in there.... ...so sad

[mrbojangles]

One of his most famous comments:

Another one.

After having a blood transfusion, he told a reporter something like:-

"Yeah, i had 60 pints in 2 hours.....which was 20 minutes faster than my previous record"

[chuchok]

Some more GB quotes....

I used to go missing a lot...Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World

He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right.

-- (his assesment of Manchester United's David Beckham)

I'd have to be superman to do some of the things I'm supposed to have done, I've been at six different places at six different times.

Robert Redford used to be such a handsome man and now look at him: everything has dropped, expanded and turned a funny colour.

[mrbojangles]

One of his most famous comments:

Another one.

After having a blood transfusion, he told a reporter something like:-

"Yeah, i had 60 pints in 2 hours.....which was 20 minutes faster than my previous record"

After Googling, i would like to put the record straight. This is what George actually said. "I was in for 10 hours and had 40 pints - beating my previous record by 20 minutes.

-- (on a blood transfusion for his liver transplant, not on his Drinking)

I must have been thinking of my own performance in my original quote

[jsat]

I understand he is improving which is good news, the Doctors were a little surprised that his first request when he came out of intensive care were "Where's that Vodka bottle I came in here with?"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The guy is dying, pay some respect for goodness sake.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sky News UK have reporters parked outside his hospital along with all the other media vultures, but last report a few minutes ago he was "satisfactory" and receiving visitors.

I concur give the chap some respect.

Edited November 25, 2005 by jsat

[RDN]

Get well soon George, but I must tell you - not that he reads Thaivisa - that you are one of the biggest disappointments of my life. You started off so great, so brilliant, so full of promise... everyone expected you to get better and better. But you didn't. Fame went to your head, you hit the bottle and your game suffered. Very sad.

Get well soon, you silly old sod.

[redrus]

That time that some have prayed against has arrived, at just after 13:00gmt aged 59, George Best died.

The fifth Beatle has left us.

Lets hope that he wasn't in pain. Also let us remember that a football legend died today. Not the frail man that we saw recently.

He lived a life that most of us could only dream of, and then some. He just would not have it any other way, the strength of the man has been shown over the past couple of days. He was expected to die yesterday his agent, Phil Hughes was heard to say, "well no-ones told George".

George once said, "In 1969, I gave up women and alcohol: it was the worst 20 minutes of my life"

I never got the chance to see him play, too young. I wish that wasn't so. I grew up with many videos though. Lets have some nice quotes and any memories from those who may have had the privelidge to see him.

I will be paying a visit to Old Trafford on Sunday morning, to pay my last respects.

RIP George Best.

A very sad redrus.

[Rinrada]

Simply the Best........Bye George...R.I.P

[Belfastboy]

Respect..

thanks George...

[Belfastboy]

from one belfast boy to another...thanks George for all the great memories and inspiring millions...

"Georgie, Georgie they call him the BELFAST BOY.."

thanks George..RIP

[Noel]

I was lucky enough to watch him play at The Dell in Southampton for Man U one Boxing Day many years ago.

He was a footballing genius, pure magic.

[thaiflyer1]

He's gone.

R.I.P George.

[tayto]

from one belfast boy to another...thanks George for all the great memories and inspiring millions...

"Georgie, Georgie they call him the BELFAST BOY.."

thanks George..RIP

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

R.I.P George.

Ireland will sadly miss you.

He was a great inspiration for many young lads who left Irelands shores to play in the English leagues and though he didn't handle the fame very well, he will definitly be known as one of the first football superstars.

[chang35baht]

Saw him play for Hibernian a few times when you would have thought he was past it. Not the case. He was spraying balls around the park that the rest of the Hibs players were too slow to react to. He was miles ahead of them even in his latter playing days.

[Noel]

R.I.P.

[bannork]

I saw him play at Boothferry Park, Hull, in I think the early 70s. It must have been a charity game, but he still had that wonderful swerve and dribble that just left defenders furiously backpeddling not knowing which side he would pass them on. It's a cliche, but it was poetry in motion.

[pnustedt]

Another heidonistic p1ss artist bites the dust before his time.

Who used to play for a club who the Thai Premier wanted to buy - and that's as near to Thai related as ur gonna get!

[suegha]

When I was a lad in Dublin, George was a hero - we didn't have many. What a very sad end but he had a he11 of a life! He'll be sorely missed.

[lampard10]

Get well soon George, but I must tell you - not that he reads Thaivisa - that you are one of the biggest disappointments of my life. You started off so great, so brilliant, so full of promise... everyone expected you to get better and better. But you didn't. Fame went to your head, you hit the bottle and your game suffered. Very sad.

Get well soon, you silly old sod.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly: I didn't mean any disrespect when starting this topic. He had the world at his feet and traded it in for a bottle. Some might argue that is not brainless and what he wanted, but now he is dead, just two years older than me. And my life has just started. The bottle is a very hard opponent. And I should know.

[lovejoy]

Football legend George Best dies

By Colin Cameron

Published: November 25 2005 13:08 | Last updated: November 25 2005 13:08

The question most asked of footballer George Best, who has died at the age of 59, was where it all went wrong for him. For a former European footballer of the year who, on retirement from the game, was able to live off the reputation he earned as a player, it is an inquiry much at odds with his achievements.

George Best was truly one of the world's greatest footballers. For this, he was revered as a player, quickly promoted to social icon status, and co-opted by the world of fashion and celebrity in a way that is common place today but had never occurred before Best.

Although once declared bankrupt, Best enjoyed a lifestyle that was always protected from the mundane realities that most of his public endured. A destructive personality - Best battled with, most famously, drink, and also gambling addictions - did its utmost to separate him from the comforts his status earned him, gratis, from many admirers, even landing him in prison. But, for all the domestic and social chaos that seemed always to engulf him, more went right for Best than ever went wrong.

Best's greatness as a footballer is affirmed by fellow players and observers who shared in or witnessed his exploits for Manchester United throughout the 1960s. Their verdict is unanimous. Such universal acclaim is all the more worthy as the decade was so rich in quality for the game.A quantitative endorsement of Best's reputation is his playing record for Manchester United of 466 games and 178 goals (plus 37 international appearances for Northern Ireland between 1964 and 1977). This sets him above all club greats except, perhaps, Sir Bobby Charlton.

Whatever else Best got up to, he still found time to play a lot of football and score many goals for the club he loved above all - and he represented ten in total during a career that limped on until 1982.

George Best was born in Belfast, on May 22, 1946. He was spotted playing football for Cregagh Boys and the celebrated Boyland Youth Club and invited over to Manchester United as a 15 year old for trials in the summer of 1961. At first, he was homesick and returned to his parents but Sir Matt Busby, then the club's manager, persuaded him to return.

Busby did so because he believed he had identified a unique talent. The manager watched his precocious player's progress in the club's junior and reserve teams before giving him a first team debut against West Bromwich Albion in 1963. Best had established himself in the first team by the end of that season.

With Best, Manchester United won the first division in 1964/5 which qualified the club for the following season's European Cup. In that campaign, Best was central to a brilliant 5-1 victory over Benfica, scoring twice at the Stadium of Light, Lisbon, in the quarter final. On his return from Portugal, Best emerged from the plane wearing a sombrero, and true to the age, was dubbed "El Beatle" by European media and football fans.

Manchester United, with Best carrying an injury, were subsequently defeated in the semi final, but a second domestic title came in 1966/7, along with a place in the following season's European Cup. This time, Best's brilliance carried the club all the way to the final where at Wembley, Manchester United won 4-1, again defeating Benfica. It was an emotional success for Busby, who had survived the Munich Air Disaster ten years earlier. The plane crash killed eight players from the team dubbed the "Busby Babes" who were set to earn the club the same honour and died travelling in pursuit of the very cup Best eventually helped win.

By 1968, Best was at his peak as a player. He was English and European footballer of the year and the old First Division's top scorer with 28 goals. But after his greatest triumph, Best's career began its steep decline, along with the club's fortunes. Busby quit as manager in 1969, and Best's hectic off-field life style began to dilute seriously his effectiveness on it.

Successors to Busby as manager failed to control Best, who by now had begun to miss training session and develop a reputation for failing to show up that was to remain with him well after his football career came to an end.Neither could Busby, who returned to his old post for a while, persuade Best to conform. Comebacks raised expectations that Best might rediscover his old athletic discipline and appetite for football. Ultimately, though, Best's drinking and gambling meant that he and the club parted company during the 1973/4 season, at the end of which Manchester United were relegated.

Best was only 27 when he left Manchester United - an age when most players are usually regarded as being at or near their physical peak. It was a tragedy for him and for the club that he should have gone when he was still so young.

He went on to play for a number of other British clubs - usually to boost attendances in return for handsome payments - and in America. His performances were hampered by social revelry that drew more headlines than his football and by womanising. It was this which eventually brought to an end his first marriage in 1978 to Angie Janes - the couple had one son.

Best's final appearance was for Bournemouth in March, 1983. After 20 months of retirement, he was convicted of drink driving and spent three months in prison. There followed disputes with the tax man and a notorious appearance on the chat show, Wogan, in 1990 when drunk.

Best continued to lead a high profile life, still revered for his footballing brilliance. In 1995, Best married again - Alex Pursey, 26 years his junior. In 2000, he was admitted to hospital for liver failure and advised never to drink again. As with previous transgressions, this merely added to the legend of Best who was usually forgiven by his public for his excesses, having provided such thrills as a footballer years before. In the end, however, Alex was unable to go on forgiving his relapses into drinking and womanising. In April 2004, after announcing on a TV reality show - I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here - that the marriage was over, Alex obtained a divorce.

Yet George Best, who had shone so brightly as football's first superstar, seemed unrepentant about his slow, sad decline. “I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars, “ he said. “The rest I just squandered.“

[Neeranam]

Another heidonistic p1ss artist bites the dust before his time.

Who used to play for a club who the Thai Premier wanted to buy - and that's as near to Thai related as ur gonna get!

That's a bit harsh.

He was perhaps the best ever player from the UK.

I thought toxin wanted to buy liverpool.

It is related to Thailand, and in fact all of the football loving world, which is most of the world.