George Best At His Brilliant Best

This is a work of art by @harms and a great tribute to one of the greatest players of all time. I saw a lot of the goals in the film live when I followed Utd all over the country. I have seen some brilliant footballers in my time but no one as consistently good as Georgie Boy. Pity his life ended in such tragic circumstances.
 
Demon Barber said:
@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.
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That was a strange season. We finished mid-table but got to the semis of the European Cup. I think that marked the beginning of the end for Bestie. I remember us losing in the cup to Everton at home and Best walking off in disgust. We should have hammered them that day but Joe Royle got a jammy winner. Going home on the bus, we got pelted by City fans. They had just beaten Spurs to get to the semi-final. Everyone charged off the bus but the coppers waded into the bitters and it all ended.
 
I have been lucky enough to have seen, live, some of the greatest, most awesome players who ever lived, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Jimmy Baxter, Eric Cantona, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore, Colin Bell, Thierry Henry, Ronaldo, Glenn Hoddle, Alan Shearer, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Denis Bergkamp, Paul Gascoigne..... just to name a few, but despite the great, incomparable Denis Law being my all time favourite player and Hero, there is only one player, one man who I believe is the greatest ever, of all time, and that is George Best.
I never saw Pele, Di Stefano, Eusebio, Maradona, Messi or Ronaldo Nazario to be fair, but Pele once said that in his opinion George was the best. Bestie could do anything and everything with a football, be it a soaking wet, heavy leather ball or one of the lighter balls which came in during the late 60s, and he so often did! Watching that fabulous United team of the 60s was pure joy; it was expected that Denis Law would do something incredible, that Bobby would unleash a rocket shot from 30 yards...but nobody ever knew exactly what Bestie would do, apart from be brilliant, probably not even George himself! Simply, George Best was THE BEST!
 
redmanx said:
I have been lucky enough to have seen, live, some of the greatest, most awesome players who ever lived, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Jimmy Baxter, Eric Cantona, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore, Colin Bell, Thierry Henry, Ronaldo, Glenn Hoddle, Alan Shearer, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Denis Bergkamp, Paul Gascoigne..... just to name a few, but despite the great, incomparable Denis Law being my all time favourite player and Hero, there is only one player, one man who I believe is the greatest ever, of all time, and that is George Best.
I never saw Pele, Di Stefano, Eusebio, Maradona, Messi or Ronaldo Nazario to be fair, but Pele once said that in his opinion George was the best. Bestie could do anything and everything with a football, be it a soaking wet, heavy leather ball or one of the lighter balls which came in during the late 60s, and he so often did! Watching that fabulous United team of the 60s was pure joy; it was expected that Denis Law would do something incredible, that Bobby would unleash a rocket shot from 30 yards...but nobody ever knew exactly what Bestie would do, apart from be brilliant, probably not even George himself! Simply, George Best was THE BEST!
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Watching the old footage is it me or was the ball massive?

I know it was heavier but it just looked bigger and harder to handle.
 
Marwood said:
Watching the old footage is it me or was the ball massive?

I know it was heavier but it just looked bigger and harder to handle.
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"Size 5" is the FIFA regulated official football to be used in the professional game, 69/71 cm in circumference, 410/450 grams in weight. The old "case ball" which had a bladder and laces did become much heavier when wet and was extremely difficult to control, shoot or pass with accuracy and power, and when wet the leather exterior would expand, meaning the ball was indeed slightly bigger. For the 1966 World Cup the FA decided to use modern balls without laces and bladders leading to them becoming officially recognised and used throughout the world. To see somebody like Bobby Charlton, David Herd or Peter Lorimar, 3 players recognised as having the most powerful shot in the game, letting fly was an incredible sight, and Bobby was as powerful with both left and right!
 
redmanx said:
The old "case ball" which had a bladder and laces did become much heavier when wet and was extremely difficult to control, shoot or pass with accuracy and power, and when wet the leather exterior would expand, meaning the ball was indeed slightly bigger.
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No kidding. We had to play with the old casey at school. On a wet pitch, you could barely kick it 5 yards. Heading it was painful and if you got it wrong, a nosebleed usually followed. You'd have to play on with cotton wool stuffed up your nose.

redmanx said:
To see somebody like Bobby Charlton, David Herd or Peter Lorimar, 3 players recognised as having the most powerful shot in the game, letting fly was an incredible sight, and Bobby was as powerful with both left and right!
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There were a few hot-shots back then. Geoff Hurst nearly broke the crossbar at Old Trafford from 25 yards out in one match. There was a WBA called Tony Brown whose shot was like a cannon. But Bobby was something special. Nice to hear David Herd get a mention. I was there when he broke his leg against Leicester. he was never the same player after that.
 
Moriarty said:
No kidding. We had to play with the old casey at school. On a wet pitch, you could barely kick it 5 yards. Heading it was painful and if you got it wrong, a nosebleed usually followed. You'd have to play on with cotton wool stuffed up your nose.


There were a few hot-shots back then. Geoff Hurst nearly broke the crossbar at Old Trafford from 25 yards out in one match. There was a WBA called Tony Brown whose shot was like a cannon. But Bobby was something special. Nice to hear David Herd get a mention. I was there when he broke his leg against Leicester. he was never the same player after that.
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Denis Law and Bobby Charlton always claimed that David Herd had the hardest shot in football. I was a big fan of David who might have lacked the silky skills of Bobby, Bestie or Denis but he will always be remembered for his 2 goals in the 63 Cup Final against Leicester City, the win which kicked off United glorious spell in the years between 63 and 69. I saw David play a couple of times and my father was at Wembley in 63 and always praised him.
 
Unbelievably brilliant and fast and such a quick thinker.
Pele once said that Best was The best
 
redmanx said:
I have been lucky enough to have seen, live, some of the greatest, most awesome players who ever lived, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Jimmy Baxter, Eric Cantona, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore, Colin Bell, Thierry Henry, Ronaldo, Glenn Hoddle, Alan Shearer, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Denis Bergkamp, Paul Gascoigne..... just to name a few, but despite the great, incomparable Denis Law being my all time favourite player and Hero, there is only one player, one man who I believe is the greatest ever, of all time, and that is George Best.
I never saw Pele, Di Stefano, Eusebio, Maradona, Messi or Ronaldo Nazario to be fair, but Pele once said that in his opinion George was the best. Bestie could do anything and everything with a football, be it a soaking wet, heavy leather ball or one of the lighter balls which came in during the late 60s, and he so often did! Watching that fabulous United team of the 60s was pure joy; it was expected that Denis Law would do something incredible, that Bobby would unleash a rocket shot from 30 yards...but nobody ever knew exactly what Bestie would do, apart from be brilliant, probably not even George himself! Simply, George Best was THE BEST!
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Spot on, I also saw Di Stefano and Eusebio and totally agree with your post.
 
He did things without touching the ball but just a shimmy of his hips sent players sprawling as they tried to scythe him down. Apart from his goals, he did such outrageous little things that often sent a ripple of laughter around the ground… he was enjoying himself and so were we. He took the pi$$ so often, especially when oafs and cloggers like Harris were trying to injure him. So many, but one of my fave goals was that cheeky lob vs Spurs at the Stretford. I was right above it and thought it was going over but it dropped beautifully into the net and very shortly after, on the video, he enjoyed nicking the ball off Harris near the corner flag and scored brilliantly from a tight angle. He was just ridiculously good. Call it instinctive or just speed of thought that he did things before defenders know what was happening. I remember sat on the old fella’s shoulders in a packed United Rd while it was mostly fenced off as the new cantilever stand was being built on his debut vs WBA.. Don’t t remember much about it tbh but I saw practically every home game he played and a lot of aways too. Unforgettable player. Made it look so easy. Oddly, my fave player was Denis. (I wasn’t alone) But really, this fella defied description at times. It was tragic that Herd and Law missed the 68 ECF. Imagine going to the most important match in the clubs history without your 2x top scorers. Luckily, Charlton was at his graceful best that night but it was George who pulled that win out of the fire to make it 2-1.. there were a lot of tired legs out there. The way he brought the ball under control and coolly rounded the keeper was pure Georgie.

I’ll leave it there - I think there’s something in my eye.

Thanks so much for this video, pal.
 
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Moriarty said:
No kidding. We had to play with the old casey at school. On a wet pitch, you could barely kick it 5 yards. Heading it was painful and if you got it wrong, a nosebleed usually followed. You'd have to play on with cotton wool stuffed up your nose.


There were a few hot-shots back then. Geoff Hurst nearly broke the crossbar at Old Trafford from 25 yards out in one match. There was a WBA called Tony Brown whose shot was like a cannon. But Bobby was something special. Nice to hear David Herd get a mention. I was there when he broke his leg against Leicester. he was never the same player after that.
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Weird you mentioned that game vs Leicester, because as I typed (above) about being in the Stretford End watching George’s lob vs Spurs, it reminded me of Denis chipping over Banks’ head and I was in the identical spot (the big step that led to the tunnel) . Again, I thought it was going over until it dropped out of the sky and into the net. He really dazzled that day. 5-2 on the day Herdie broke his leg as he was at the peak of his career. As you said, was never the same afterwards.
 
Prototype of modern footballer.
Sexy on the ball, rough off the ball. Even on Balkan, he had bad rep. And that's something.
 
Denis' cuff said:
He did things without touching the ball but just a shimmy of his hips sent players sprawling as they tried to scythe him down. Apart from his goals, he did such outrageous little things that often sent a ripple of laughter around the ground… he was enjoying himself and so were we. He took the pi$$ so often, especially when oafs and cloggers like Harris were trying to injure him. So many, but one of my fave goals was that cheeky lob vs Spurs at the Stretford. I was right above it and thought it was going over but it dropped beautifully into the net and very shortly after, on the video, he enjoyed nicking the ball off Harris near the corner flag and scored brilliantly from a tight angle. He was just ridiculously good. Call it instinctive or just speed of thought that he did things before defenders know what was happening. I remember sat on the old fella’s shoulders in a packed United Rd while it was mostly fenced off as the new cantilever stand was being built on his debut vs WBA.. Don’t t remember much about it tbh but I saw practically every home game he played and a lot of aways too. Unforgettable player. Made it look so easy. Oddly, my fave player was Denis. (I wasn’t alone) But really, this fella defied description at times. It was tragic that Herd and Law missed the 68 ECF. Imagine going to the most important match in the clubs history without your 2x top scorers. Luckily, Charlton was at his graceful best that night but it was George who pulled that win out of the fire to make it 2-1.. there were a lot of tired legs out there. The way he brought the ball under control and coolly rounded the keeper was pure Georgie.

I’ll leave it there - I think there’s something in my eye.

Thanks so much for this video, pal.
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Great post. He really was something else at his best.
 
Denis' cuff said:
He did things without touching the ball but just a shimmy of his hips sent players sprawling as they tried to scythe him down. Apart from his goals, he did such outrageous little things that often sent a ripple of laughter around the ground… he was enjoying himself and so were we. He took the pi$$ so often, especially when oafs and cloggers like Harris were trying to injure him. So many, but one of my fave goals was that cheeky lob vs Spurs at the Stretford. I was right above it and thought it was going over but it dropped beautifully into the net and very shortly after, on the video, he enjoyed nicking the ball off Harris near the corner flag and scored brilliantly from a tight angle. He was just ridiculously good. Call it instinctive or just speed of thought that he did things before defenders know what was happening. I remember sat on the old fella’s shoulders in a packed United Rd while it was mostly fenced off as the new cantilever stand was being built on his debut vs WBA.. Don’t t remember much about it tbh but I saw practically every home game he played and a lot of aways too. Unforgettable player. Made it look so easy. Oddly, my fave player was Denis. (I wasn’t alone) But really, this fella defied description at times. It was tragic that Herd and Law missed the 68 ECF. Imagine going to the most important match in the clubs history without your 2x top scorers. Luckily, Charlton was at his graceful best that night but it was George who pulled that win out of the fire to make it 2-1.. there were a lot of tired legs out there. The way he brought the ball under control and coolly rounded the keeper was pure Georgie.

I’ll leave it there - I think there’s something in my eye.

Thanks so much for this video, pal.
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Thanks for that!
 
Denis' cuff said:
He did things without touching the ball but just a shimmy of his hips sent players sprawling as they tried to scythe him down. Apart from his goals, he did such outrageous little things that often sent a ripple of laughter around the ground… he was enjoying himself and so were we. He took the pi$$ so often, especially when oafs and cloggers like Harris were trying to injure him. So many, but one of my fave goals was that cheeky lob vs Spurs at the Stretford. I was right above it and thought it was going over but it dropped beautifully into the net and very shortly after, on the video, he enjoyed nicking the ball off Harris near the corner flag and scored brilliantly from a tight angle. He was just ridiculously good. Call it instinctive or just speed of thought that he did things before defenders know what was happening. I remember sat on the old fella’s shoulders in a packed United Rd while it was mostly fenced off as the new cantilever stand was being built on his debut vs WBA.. Don’t t remember much about it tbh but I saw practically every home game he played and a lot of aways too. Unforgettable player. Made it look so easy. Oddly, my fave player was Denis. (I wasn’t alone) But really, this fella defied description at times. It was tragic that Herd and Law missed the 68 ECF. Imagine going to the most important match in the clubs history without your 2x top scorers. Luckily, Charlton was at his graceful best that night but it was George who pulled that win out of the fire to make it 2-1.. there were a lot of tired legs out there. The way he brought the ball under control and coolly rounded the keeper was pure Georgie.

I’ll leave it there - I think there’s something in my eye.

Thanks so much for this video, pal.
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Thank for that great write up! What a fantastic read.
 
harms said:


Figured that I'd share it on here as well for those of you guys who are interested in Manchester United's history. This is pretty much the complete overview of the remaining footage featuring George Best's. I've spent many months compiling this and searching for the most obscure bits footage, so you'll probably see something new even if you're fairly familiar with the subject.
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Superb video, well done.

Makes you cringe at modern footballers play acting. It’s like we are watching man children play at the top levels, not many men left in the game. And I don’t mean from bad or stupid tackles, I mean players going down under the slightest contact.
 
one of the best things about this forum is that we have supporters like @Denis' cuff who watched greats like the holy trinity live. There are a lot like me who’ve gone back to watch footage of these greats, but there’s nothing like watching them live.

My grandma came over from Northern Ireland and loved Best and United. He was also my mums favourite because, well, you know!
 
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I grew up listening to tales of George from my dad but I was just too young to see him live in his pomp. However got to see him at Sir Matt's testimonial when he took part in a mini game with United legends v city legends. He must have been in his 40s then but he still had it.
 
Having watched George from when he made he debut, the most outstanding part of his skills which made him outstanding for me was his balance and his ability to ride tackles ( now would be a red card )., this allowed him to do unbelievable things with a ball., regardless of the pitch condition, sun baked, mud, ice and snow made no difference to George he waltzed his way through defences, he was also a strong tackler as well as having a very wide range of passing skills, again regardless of the pitch conditions.
Remember, Harry Gregg referring, in glowing terms when he first came up against him. Its was in a training game, just after George had arrived from Belfast. Harry was in goal when this slightly built young player advanced on Harry in a one to one situation and in Harry's words he dummied me and the ball was in the net, it happened a second and third time with the same result despite Harry's attempts to stop him. I believe that Harry admitted that after that game he had seen a special player even at that young age.
 
Skillful, natural, instinctive, entertainer and brave to the nth degree.

Just a bit (his hey day) before my time but I remember the BBC having a “Best Night” which included loads of interviews, him and Parky and loads of videos of goals, including his goal in America …


His United years/hey day were just before my time but I did get to see him play in Gareth Davies testimonial - Wrexham v Wolves in the late 70s.

Spent most of the match stood around the centre circle but then he’d get passed to and just set off towards goal.

Got his autograph after the game to complete my Holy Trinity autographs.

Can’t believe it’s 20 years.
 
I watched George Best play at Filbert street, the Leicester ground in the 50/60's & he was absolutely amazing. My favourite footballer of all time !!
 
golden_blunder said:
From the George Best testimonial in 1988. He would have been early 40s then

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Genius is worded to frequently bandied about causing it to lose it's intended gravitas but best is without a shadow of doubt among the truly genius players who number less than a dozen.

Maybe he was doomed either way with how rough the game was on one's body back then but one could still wonder how it different it might have been were he to control his personal demons.
 
Nice footage.

Realise ive likely missed the boat on this considering the OP date, but the digitisation from 16/35mm looks real poor in some of that footage. @harms if you have any of the original reels, i can likely help with higher quality copy scanning and restoration.
 
owlo said:
Nice footage.

Realise ive likely missed the boat on this considering the OP date, but the digitisation from 16/35mm looks real poor in some of that footage. @harms if you have any of the original reels, i can likely help with higher quality copy scanning and restoration.
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As you can probably imagine, to call anything that I have “an original” would be quite a stretch. It’s a copy of a copy of a copy, endlessly converted from one format to another, reshot in a dark room on a potato and then converted again.
 
harms said:


Figured that I'd share it on here as well for those of you guys who are interested in Manchester United's history. This is pretty much the complete overview of the remaining footage featuring George Best's. I've spent many months compiling this and searching for the most obscure bits footage, so you'll probably see something new even if you're fairly familiar with the subject.
Click to expand...

Love the clip at 2:20. Gets absolutely smashed and just rides the challenge. He’s more interested in scoring than falling to the floor

How many attackers today would still be rolling around and more bothered about getting the defender sent off
 
Pughnichi said:
Love the clip at 2:20. Gets absolutely smashed and just rides the challenge. He’s more interested in scoring than falling to the floor

How many attackers today would still be rolling around and more bothered about getting the defender sent off
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All wasted during our awful post Busby years. Chelsea were a half decent side who we managed to beat, and then succumbed to Aston Villa (who were in the old 3rd division at the time) in the next round. Grimsby wasn’t unprecedented.
 
Pughnichi said:
Love the clip at 2:20. Gets absolutely smashed and just rides the challenge. He’s more interested in scoring than falling to the floor

How many attackers today would still be rolling around and more bothered about getting the defender sent off
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A prime example was the dreaded Dalot at the weekend, taking it around a Palace player, getting into a good position to possibly shoot only to throw himself to the ground dramatically because there was slight contact and didn't get a free for it.
 
I remember going to Northampton for an FA Cup tie in 1970. Best was just back from a long suspension and it was his first game in weeks. Northampton's goalie was the brother of City's captain, Tony Book and Best stuck 6 past him, with Brian Kidd getting the other two. Went to a League Cup tie on a miserable October night that same year. I was supposed to be studying for my O levels and I had a bit of a cold. Mum did not want me to go out but when my mates came around, she relented. We played Chelsea that night. It was foggy and damp but there was nigh-on 50,000 there. Best scored one of the greatest goals I've ever seen. A Chelsea attack broke down and Tony Dunne slipped the ball to Johnny Aston who found Best just over the half-way lane. Off he went like a hare. Peter Bonetti started to move off his line and Ron Harris dived in, but Bestie just rode the tackle, went round Bonetti, and slotted it into the empty net at the Stretford End. We won 2-1 with Bobby scoring our first. I got home at half-ten and my Mum, bless her, made me a cup of hot chocolate.
 
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