They were bad times, the Milan keeper was hit with something thrown out of the crowd and the game was stopped for some time. The 70s were the were worst times, I quickly learned not wear anything even half decent to matches because of people weeing, pouring beer and stuff. A freind of mine was hit with something sharp across his face, a sharpened penny most likely, those things were lethal; it ripped his cheek open and he still has the scar. And it only got worse when we were relegated......Millwall was the arse end of the earth!
George Best At His Brilliant Best
- Thread starter harms
- Start date
And Richmond sausages! Back then the cult of celebrity was in its infancy and only a few players like Best and Bobby Moore were what later became known as "brands" and Moore of course was ripped off because nobody was looking out for him. Before Best the only player to really make anything outside football was Sir Stanley Matthews on the back of cigarette cards! Britain was way behind the rest of the world in the way players were promoted, and more often than not, ie in the case of Bobby Moore, they were exploited, not promoted. Happy days? Innocent maybe, to a degree, but they were great days!
I actually thought of putting some ads in the video as they are hilarious but opted out of it in the end.
E for B and Georgie Best!
And the all-time classic, of course:
Sure, you could argue that. Young Ronaldo was definitely compared to Best.
He was, but it was more of a general comparison (young, exciting, immensely talented and entertaining) rather than something based on their playing style.
Fair point
Cudicini senior it was. Not a bad keeper but Denis Law's shot did cross the line. No doubt in my young mind that night. They were lucky. At 2-2, we would have gone on to meet Ajax in the final.
I was at the Den that night. Moved to London for college in 73. The special from Manchester didn't make it so the Cockney Reds held the line but it was a bit scary.
The worst weapon I heard of was the kung fu stars that they ran up in metalwork class. A cooper at Notts County had one stuck in his helmet.
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Bobby Moore. You can stick your Vitalis up your arse - sideways. He always laughed when we sang that. That reminds me of an old joke on The Comedians. One of them said Hughie Green was so tight that he opened a packet of fags and a picture of Stanley Matthews fell out.
Ha! Haven't seen those in donkey's years. Thanks.
Hey, harms, last night I watched The Big Match Revisited and saw George score for Fulham. He lobbed the keeper from the edge of the penalty area. I don't recall seeing this goal before. Do you know where I can see it online?
There are some brilliant comments under the video that I thought were worth sharing:
Rosa Lichtenstein said:
Sid Not Vicious said:
geoff harris said:
simon holmes said:
Great thread @harms
This is great.
Ooh, ta. Cheeky George.
The great man’s death anniversary was yesterday. Didn’t see anything on the forum so just thought I would comment on this thread. What a player he was. And the video by @harms is excellent.
IMO him, cr7 and Sir Bobby are the three best players to ever put on our jersey.
IMO him, cr7 and Sir Bobby are the three best players to ever put on our jersey.
I saw George Best play at Filbert Street, Leicester's old ground many times as well as watching him on TV many times. Leicester have always been my team but George Best was my idol !!
He was an absolutely amazing player who could perform magic with the ball at his feet.
I have never seen anyone who compares to him !!
He was an absolutely amazing player who could perform magic with the ball at his feet.
I have never seen anyone who compares to him !!
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In terms of pure football talent, I think he is at same level as Maradona and Messi.
Only difference is, he plays for N.Ireland, and he couldn't sustain his peak longer, and went on steep decline when he was only around 26, due to his pop star lifestyle and drinking problems.
Only difference is, he plays for N.Ireland, and he couldn't sustain his peak longer, and went on steep decline when he was only around 26, due to his pop star lifestyle and drinking problems.
I would say that he was better than Messi. He can play with both feet and it did not bother him to play on the left or right. He was very acrobatic as well and he played in an era that you can get away with anything short of murder.
Best was the greatest ever player from the British Isles and it's not close.
Those tackles are hilarious. Makes me laugh every time. Just trying to take him out and not even bothering going for the ball
His career would have ended even earlier with all the money he’ll get and all the women he’ll have access to from social media.
Still the Best! An absolute artist . I hate using terms like the greatest or the best ever but I have not seen anyone better.
He was the greatest player I have ever seen.
I know I will not see anyone better.
My dad though would say "Only after Edwards".
I can't remember who the commentator was and who the defender was ( but he had a hyphen in his name) and the commentator said George Best went right and then left and ( the defender's first name went to the right and his last name went to the left) and the hyphen was left in the middle.
I also saw a match for Fulham when he played with Rodney Marsh. It was pure entertainment. Both of them were tackling each other and laughing about it. Craven Cottage gets full a lot when he plays.
He was the best player certainly to play for United. Won us the European Cup for sure. I don't know about Duncan Edwards.
I also saw a match for Fulham when he played with Rodney Marsh. It was pure entertainment. Both of them were tackling each other and laughing about it. Craven Cottage gets full a lot when he plays.
He was the best player certainly to play for United. Won us the European Cup for sure. I don't know about Duncan Edwards.
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Great thread. I Love that there's loads of George Best footage/documentaries lying around..
Best, Law, Charlton and Cristiano our only Ballon d'Or winners.
Would've loved to have seen more Duncan Edwards stuff.,,not much around understandably...didn't Bobby Charlton say Edwards was the best ever?
Best, Law, Charlton and Cristiano our only Ballon d'Or winners.
Would've loved to have seen more Duncan Edwards stuff.,,not much around understandably...didn't Bobby Charlton say Edwards was the best ever?
Quite a lot of new footage of England in 1950's has been resurfacing lately thanks to @theheavyroller guy who sits on some absolute gems, so keep an eye on him if you're interested. I've made a few Edwards compilations based on the games that he has uploaded up to now. Not bad, considering that for a long time I was pretty sure that I won't see any other full game with him featuring aside from that damned FA Cup final against Villa.
Saw his first game and his last for utd., such a short career so many did not get to see him play, he really was an outstanding footballer. I recall watching him in one of his very early games against Chelsea. A very young Best, picked the ball up and advanced down the wing, he was confronted by Chopper Harris, who considered any part of the body below the waist fair game, hence his nick name "Chopper". Chopper goes in on George but is left kicking fresh air, Chopper recovers and has another go with the same result. Most players at this point would have been happy to have survived 2 attempted tackles from Chopper, but not George he actually went back and sent him, left, sent him right and eventually left him having kicked fresh air again on his backside near the corner flag. The crowd were by now cheering this young lad on, whilst makes numerous comments directed at Harris, George destroyed him in that game he never recovered his composure for the rest of the game.
Nice! cheers
Just so far ahead of his time. Fantastic player to watch.
First time I've seen this thread, great video @harms
I was so nearly a United supporter at 8 or 9 years old after getting George Best kit for my birthday from some Uncle and Aunt.
I was so nearly a United supporter at 8 or 9 years old after getting George Best kit for my birthday from some Uncle and Aunt.
It's been illuminating when the video got trending to get comments from non-United supporters about their personal experience watching George Best. Especially the Liverpool ones and the utmost admiration that they often have for him despite hating Manchester United as a whole.
Off-the-pitch stuff (sadly, not a very good one) aside, you almost never get a player who is loved by so many regardless of their club preferences. The ones like Ronaldo & Ronaldinho come to mind in the more recent times but I can't think of many others. Certainly not Messi or Cristiano who have their fair share of haters.
@harms brilliant thread mate, first time I have seen this I think.
Wish I had been fortunate enough to have witnessed him in his prime, many older relatives of mine say he was one of the very best. The turn of pace and feint of touch was magnificent.
Wish I had been fortunate enough to have witnessed him in his prime, many older relatives of mine say he was one of the very best. The turn of pace and feint of touch was magnificent.
If only he hadn't had his demons. Everyone I knew as a kid admired him, you couldn't believe what he was capable of and sometimes it was as if he was just having a kick-about on some wasteland or field, he didn't care what came at him, he must have felt such a low centre of gravity to just keep going. It was only later in my teenage years you realised that something was so very wrong, he became unreliable and then finished, over but you always remember his cheeky grin and the glint or maybe gleam in his eye. I read some auto-biography years ago, put it down to the United system when they brought young lads to the team, they put boys up in lodgings and so much free time during the week after training George would be in a snooker hall or bar, getting lost, or so they made out. What genius though, we can never forget. To my mind he was the best, better than anything since during his window.
Yep, talent wise he might be the best European ever but I don't know if it's appropriate to rank him above guys like sir Bobby etc considering his lack of longevity.
Had a pair of those
The eggs advert is still available somewhere on the web. I thought of including a couple of those in-between segments but figured that the video was busy enough.
@harms - brilliant video and glad it was bumped. Thank you.
He scored two in my first ever game at OT (1969) and I was at his comeback away at Burnley after going AWOL in America for a bit - though I cannot be absolutely certain that my facts on the latter are correct.
However, he did steal my pen at The Cliff. He took my pen to sign my autograph book, continued to sign others with it, then got into his Lotus and buggered off. It was only a Bic biro, so I will finally let it go after all these years.
Thanks again for posting the video - the greatest player I have ever seen.
He scored two in my first ever game at OT (1969) and I was at his comeback away at Burnley after going AWOL in America for a bit - though I cannot be absolutely certain that my facts on the latter are correct.
However, he did steal my pen at The Cliff. He took my pen to sign my autograph book, continued to sign others with it, then got into his Lotus and buggered off. It was only a Bic biro, so I will finally let it go after all these years.
Thanks again for posting the video - the greatest player I have ever seen.