Three years ago today, Northern Ireland football player and popular Manchester United winger George Best passed away. This post is a tribute to one of the greatest characters in the history of football and includes both photographs and video along with a short biography.

Think what you want about Manchester United, personally I sympathize with Tottenham, but they for sure hosted one of the most interesting personalities in the history of football - George Best.

As the first of five siblings, George Best was born in south east Belfast, Northern Ireland in late May 1946. At the age of 15, his talent was discovered by United scout Bob Bishop whose telegram to the United manager at that time, Sir "Matt" Busby, is said to have read: "I think I've found you a genius.". In September 1963, at the age of 17, George Best made his debut at Old Trafford in a 1-0 victory against West Bromwich Albion. Two weeks later Best scored his first goal and at the end of the season he was booked for a total of six strikes. At the age of 27, 1 January 1974 "Georgie" played his last competitive game in the United shirt against Queens Park Rangers. The United career resulted in a total of 466 appearances and 178 goals (including six in one game against Northampton Town) - he was the club's top scorer for six consecutive years. From this point on Best's career went into a rapid decline as he drifted between clubs in Ireland, America, Scotland and Australia.

Remember him as the true player he was.







George soon became a media favorite and his talent and showmanship made him the favorite among the crowd as well. His long hair, good looks and luxury lifestyle gave him the nickname "The Fifth Beatle". He was a true womanizer and got married twice, first to Angela MacDonald-James (1978-1986) and then to Alex Pursey (1995-2004). Below is George Best in bed with Swedish Miss World 1977 winner Mary Stavin (Mary Ann-Catrin Stävin).


George Best with his ex-wife Alex Pursey.


British magazine GQ made George Best number four on their Top 50 Most Stylish Men list, beaten only by Marcello Mastroianni, Steven McQueen and David Bailey.

On the down side, George Best was a heavy drinker and over the years he developed alcoholism as well as gambling problems. In 1984 he was sentenced to three months in prison for drunk driving, assault on a police officer and failing to post bail. 20 years later, in February 2004 Best was convicted of another drunk driving offense and was banned from driving for 20 months. In September 1990, George Best appeared on BBC primetime chat show Wogan and clearly drunk he states "Terry, I like screwing!". Later George apologizes for his behavior, meaning his alcoholism was as worst during that time. A short clip from the show is posted below.



In August 2002 George Best had a successful liver transplant, but he continued his open drinking and attracted a lot of criticism for it. Three years later, in early October 2005 George admitted intensive care, suffering kidney infection caused by the side-effects of the drugs used to prevent his body from rejecting his transplanted liver. Five days prior to his death, in November 2005, British tabloid newspaper News of the World, on request by George Best published a photo of George in his hospital bed, along with his final message "Don't die like me". Five days later, the life of a legend ended.

Enjoy the photos of a footballer, a style icon and one of the most colorful characters in the history of sports.