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George Best - Effects of Alcohol

“If I'd been ugly you'd never have heard of Pele,” said George Best, the greatest footballer the world ever glimpsed. It was hardly the most modest thing he ever said, though you could probably say that the drink was talking. It was not exactly the most truthful either. For George, women were only the beginning of the problem.

Best could have lived up to his name, and enjoyed a career comparable with any. A small, skinny winger, he combined astonishing balance, pace and skill with the strength and determination of a mountain goat. In 1968, at the age of 22, he reached his peak.

Manchester United reached the final of the European Cup where they beat Benfica 4-1. Best scored after rounding Benfica’s goalkeeper Henrique, and later claimed he had wanted to roll the ball in with his head before considering the wrath of manager Busby and thinking better of it. As the first division’s top scorer, he was crowned European Footballer of the Year and Football Writers' Association Player of the Year.

When you have the world at your feet you need a release, and Best chose them all. ‘The fifth Beatle’ enjoyed all the trappings that super stardom sent his way, and was soon hopelessly addicted. The effects of alcohol, women and gambling ate away at his talents and the delcine began. By 27 he had left United, and although he would play on in various guises for another ten years, he was never the same.

Alcohol was the biggest problem, and the remainder of his life was spent in a spiral of self-destruction as spectacular as anything he achieved on the field. Sad, drunken episodes saw him briefly imprisoned and tarnished with accusations of domestic violence. Time after time he tried to reform, and time after time he failed.

By 2005 he was dead, the liver transplant that had saved his life three years earlier unable to cope with relentless drinking. They have a saying in Belfast, Best’s home town: Maradona good, Pele better, George Best. The first two won world cups single handed. Best never even made it that far.