George Best Belfasts Best Athlete?

Georgie Best was a Belfast Boy. He was spotted by a Manchester United scout and recruited immediately. At first, he was homesick, but then he returned home to Belfast and was coaxed back to United, where he integrated into the team managed by United’s second-best manager, Sir Matt Busby. The fact that he got homesick suggests he was a delicate soul and found life difficult initially.

What Have Gazza And Giggsy got in Common With George Best?

In my lifetime, the two British footballers whom I compare to George Best are Ryan Giggs and Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne.  Both were genius footballers.

Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne

 Gazza was more off the rails than George. However, he was just a working-class footballer, so invisible that no one was interested in him, and he could do anything without the newspapers reporting on him. That was until the World Cup in 1990

 Gazza played absolutely brilliantly, a world-class performance, so the whole of England’s population began to notice him, not just standard football fans. The England team reached the semi-final against Germany, and England went crazy for him. In the semi-final against Germany, he was booked, which meant he would not be able to play in the final if England reached it.

Why Did The Front Pages Of Newspapers Get Interested In Gazza?

He started to cry in front of the cameras. The act of weeping made sure Gazza was not just famous on the back pages. The whole country was now interested in him. Like George Best the front pages of the newspapers were interested in him. Admittedly, as time went on, it became apparent that Gazza had far more issues than George, though the fame and the difficulty of dealing with it were similar.

How George Should Have Been Treated

Why do I bring up Ryan Giggs, you may ask? In his own way, Ryan Giggs was as good as George Best and just as good-looking. However, Alex Ferguson protected Giggs. He made sure he only appeared occasionally for United when he was young and was protected from the media so he would not become another fame casualty.

Anyway I don’t think I will spoil the rest of the story for you as George was before our time and the story so many of us are not aware of his story. So was the documentary any good?

I enjoyed it. Admittedly, for the first half hour, it was difficult to appreciate George’s ability. This was because the broadcast quality was rubbish, making it difficult to appreciate his ability. However, statistics do not lie, and it can be appreciated that he made professional footballers look rubbish while scoring wonderful goals. When he was older and still relatively young, when broadcasting quality improved, you can see that he can ‘play’.

However, I get the feeling that George was a shy man at heart, or at least grew up shy, and he needed alcohol to ‘make him party’. Getting drunk is fun, and as he grew more confident, as you do, he continued to drink as he enjoyed it.

George Could Always Find A Way To Get Drunk

However, he freely admitted it got out of control, and because people knew him, they would offer him one or two drinks out of ignorance, which would drive him off the rails.

The problems associated with alcoholism eventually took his life. He did try, but it was alas, too late.

Would I recommend it? Yes.

The one thing that got to George was people accusing him of being a failure and I can see his point on this. He played 12 years for Manchester United and won 2 league titles and 1 European Cup. That is not a bad record for any footballer. George, I salute you.

4 Stars

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