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AmericasCardroom.com brings poker back
Million Dollar Sunday Tournament every Sunday

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George Best is through.

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He goes round Enrique. He must score.

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And the crowd rising to Best.

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Here comes Best again.

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- What a player this boy is. He's got another!
- What a...

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I'm taking my new baby for a check-up.

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It's raining and it's miserable.

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It's like a movie.

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The windscreen wipers are going and I'm really happy

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because I've got my little baby next to me...

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..and I see this man walking down the centre of the road,

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down the yellow lines.

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And this poor man is all hunched over, soaking wet and I think, oh,

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my God, that poor homeless tramp.

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Then I realise it's my husband.

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Drunk as a skunk, walking down the road, soaking wet,

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obviously staggering home,

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and I just keep driving.

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Taking my baby to the doctor.

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I'm done. I'm done.

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He was out of reach in so many ways.

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Out of reach of not just his mates who wanted to help,

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and perhaps tried to. Out of reach of defenders, of coaches,

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of his ladies, of his wife.

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A true story of Shakespearean tragedy.

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Sad, isn't it? When somebody sabotages themselves, really.

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I think he was a victim of his excess.

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For a time there, he was the best player in the world.

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You can't describe the feeling.

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You know, this little skinny 15-year-old kid from Belfast

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has been invited to one of the biggest clubs in the world

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for a trial.

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The furthest I think I'd ever been out of Belfast was to Bangor,

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which was about 15 miles down the road.

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I just seen him going out of my life into a country

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that he knew nothing about.

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Wondered what he would do because of him being so shy and backward.

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He was very frail.

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I went off with Eric McMordie, another young lad.

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Because it was such a footballing city,

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I'd heard about him before I'd actually seen him.

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His reputation then was already growing.

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Manchester United, the name itself is frightening.

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The first thing that struck me was the size of everybody.

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We were two little kids, but when we looked at people like Harry Gregg,

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he looked like a monster to us.

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George went very quiet and I said to him, George,

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how did you feel, type of thing, and before he could answer I thought I'd

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better tell him and be honest with him exactly how I felt.

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He just said to me, 'Do you want to go home?'

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You know, we'd been there half a day or something.

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He said, I think I'd be better going home as well, Eric.

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We decided yeah, we didn't want to be away from home, and really,

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we didn't think we were going to make it.

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I think it was just the fact the two of us hadn't been very far

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in life, really, and found it extremely difficult.

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It's very, very hard for kids at 14 or 15 to leave home

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and not have their parents to turn to and ask advice from.

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When I came home, my brothers happened to say to me,

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'You've given one of the best opportunities of your life up.'

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We all make mistakes in life and that was a mistake, a great mistake.

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On the fringe of a Munich airport lies the wreckage of an airliner.

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Still smouldering from a crash in which 21 people were killed.

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Tragedy enough at any time,

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but in that plane were a group of young men

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who were almost the personal friends of millions.

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Manchester United,

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the finest soccer team Britain has produced since the war.

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I was playing with Celtic then.

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I was only a kid on the reserve team.

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I remember going training on a Thursday night.

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It was only when we got to Celtic Park that we realised

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the number of players that more or less were dead

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and some of them that were near death.

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That's like the John Kennedy assassination.

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Everybody remembers that date

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and everyone remembers the date of Munich.

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Here is the news.

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The aircraft is a twin-engined Elizabethan on charter from BEA.

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It was returning from Belgrade,

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where Manchester United had entered the semifinal of the European Cup.

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Manchester United was the big name that everybody knew because of this

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European Cup, that had come into being at that time.

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Next to the World Cup, this was THE competition to be in.

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Manchester, from the moment the news came through,

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was a city in mourning.

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It was as though every family in a city

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of three quarters of a million people had suffered a personal loss.

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It was of such epic proportions at that time.

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What, 23 died?

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To me, they were everything.

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I mean, because they were a young side,

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most teams were full of old men.

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These were blokes who could've been my older brother.

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Matt Busby was their worst problem.

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For two days he lay between life and death with one of his lungs

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completely deflated. Then came the welcome news,

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Matt was off the danger list.

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I knew something terrible had happened.

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My wife was there.

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I said to her, you have to tell me what has happened.

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So when I went through the names,

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she either nodded her head or tossed her head like that.

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One really has to think football's going to go on,

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the club is going to manage.

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There are certain players that we know are survivors

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and I think with the help of a lot of the young fellows

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they have at Manchester United, then this Manchester United team

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will build itself again.

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I have lovely memories of home.

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We were never well off and I was the first of six, eventually.

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My father was an iron turner in the shipyards.

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My mother always had part-time jobs.

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She worked in an ice cream factory, a cigarette factory, anything,

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just to bring a few extra bob in.

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The sports freak in the family really was my mother.

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She was a hockey player.

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A very, very good hockey player and actually represented her country.

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I remember as a young kid, I used to go and watch her play.

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He walked before he was ten months old and he always had the ball,

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even at ten months old.

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And ever from that, he's played it right from ten months.

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The living room, bedroom, any place at all.

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Took the ball to bed.

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My whole life revolved around football.

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When I got home, poor mum and dad,

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they thought I'd done something wrong.

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They couldn't understand why I'd come home after a day.

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I felt I'd let my mum and dad down,

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so they contacted the club and spoke to Sir Matt.

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Sir Matt said, we'd like him to come back and try again.

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I'd gone there just three years after Munich.

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No-one really talked about the air crash.

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It wasn't taboo.

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People that had been involved in it who were still at the club really

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didn't want to discuss it, which you can understand, really.

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It was only a couple of years after Munich that George arrived.

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My mum, a widow,

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she was talked into taking in footballers from Old Trafford.

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He was treated as a son.

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If he stepped out of line, I mean, she'd tell him, same as she tell me.

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She was a typical landlady, you know?

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She became my second mum, looked after me and tried to protect me

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as much as she could.

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You did your training and in the afternoons

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you were cleaning the boots of your heroes.

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It was exciting, it really was.

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I went to watch a youth match at Old Trafford one day

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and this kid's playing outside left for United

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and I'm sitting beside Jack Crompton,

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who was the first team trainer.

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I'm struck, you know, right?

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God, almighty, what's this?

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And I turned to Jack Crompton, I says, "Who's the kid?"

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"Oh, it's George Best. We're try to keep it quiet."

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We're trying to keep him quiet and let nobody know about him.

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I says, well, you're going to make a big mistake because everybody's seen

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him on the pitch. You've no chance.

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He's was just sensational.

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I'd never seen anything like him.

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And you know something? You never met a nicer lad.

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Quiet, wrote to his parents every week

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to tell them how things were going and all that.

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I got to know him exceptionally well, George, and what a lovely lad.

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In Northern Ireland is George Best,

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the Manchester United boy from Cregagh district of Belfast

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who has done so well since he went in the team.

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George, tell me about yourself.

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Well, I've always been interested in football

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since I was a youngster and the first I ever played

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was at Lisnasharragh school in the school's teams

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and I played for Cregagh Boys Club and a Manchester United scout

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seen me playing for Cregagh and invited me for trials

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with Manchester United.

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At first when I went over,

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I only stayed a couple of days and I was homesick and I came back home.

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But my father, he had a talk with Matt Busby,

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and they said they'd give me another chance,

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so I went back and stayed since then.

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This one particular day, it was my day off,

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it was a Wednesday and Wednesday morning

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I ended up going to a cafe called the Kardomah,

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and I noticed George Best sat on his own in a corner.

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He'd just come back from Belfast, where he'd been homesick.

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We were just two lads who were lost in a big city

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and we were a bit lonely and we just spoke to each other

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and we got on very well. We never spoke about football.

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The relationship that we had was very, very close.

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It really was about two young lads who were lost, really.

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Once he got over the shyness, he was one of the lads,

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like all the rest of us.

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We'd go to the pictures together.

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On a Sunday evening George would come along to bingo at the church

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and then we'd go out with my mum in the local pub

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and we were allowed a shandy each.

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In that early period, we were good boys.

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We'd be in bed for 11, 12 o'clock at night,

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after the dot on the television.

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I always remember coming home from work and my mum said,

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'You're not going to believe it'. So I said, 'What?'

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She said, 'George is playing today.'

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When I actually made my debut, I'd been playing in the A team,

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not even in the reserves,

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and I had no thoughts in my head that I was going to play.

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But Sir Matt said, 'You're playing today, son,'

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and that was it.

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The funny thing, I wasn't nervous.

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I just couldn't wait to get out there.

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I was born with something and I didn't have to work very hard at it.

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If I was playing against a player in particular

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who was giving me a hard time and he was getting stuck in,

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I would stand on the ball and tell him to come and get it off me

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and the crowd went crazy, and I loved it.

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George became addicted to football.

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He spent every possible hour developing his abilities

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and just enjoying it, and almost having, one would imagine,

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transcendental experiences when he found what he could do

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on a football park.

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He put the ball through my leg, and he did it again.

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And he did it a third time.

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And I said,

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"Son, if you do that again, I'll break your ...ing neck."

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Best.

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Oh, he's going to get number five.

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Yes!

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Beautiful football by George Best.

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The boy with the Beatle haircut.

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I'd only been away from Belfast for two years

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and I played for one of the greatest club sides of all time

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when I was 17.

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Best.

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There's more... And it's 3-0!

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And Manchester United just carving this Arsenal team apart.

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The times I saw him playing and I played against him,

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he was coming on the field pulling his socks up, doing his boots up.

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It was as if you were going home from school and you were just,

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you went in the house and put your other shoes on

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and took your uniform off and went out and played football.

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That's how he was. Perfect footballer.

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McCreadie.

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Best.

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And it's a magnificent goal.

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CROWD CHEER

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What a magnificent goal!

246
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Truly brilliant football by Best.

247
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Number 11.

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Sheer brilliant individual effort there by Best.

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There are boys that would come to this club from leaving school

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and you get a tremendous kick out of a boy coming,

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and eventually coming through and making himself a top-class player

252
00:16:04,260 --> 00:16:08,780
and, of course, you get a tremendous sense of seeing a boy achieving

253
00:16:08,780 --> 00:16:11,380
this, and you get a tremendous sense of achievement yourself.

254
00:16:14,220 --> 00:16:17,620
The affinity was a father and son affinity

255
00:16:17,620 --> 00:16:20,020
between George and Sir Matt.

256
00:16:20,020 --> 00:16:22,380
Sir Matt just loved him to bits.

257
00:16:22,380 --> 00:16:24,820
From the first time I met him, even though I was a kid,

258
00:16:24,820 --> 00:16:26,580
I knew I was in the presence of someone

259
00:16:26,580 --> 00:16:28,060
who was a little bit special.

260
00:16:29,300 --> 00:16:32,260
He became such an important figure because of the way he treated you

261
00:16:32,260 --> 00:16:33,980
and the way he wanted to play football.

262
00:16:35,380 --> 00:16:38,300
He wanted to play the way I think it should be played.

263
00:16:38,300 --> 00:16:39,700
We didn't really have team talks.

264
00:16:39,700 --> 00:16:44,060
He basically threw the ball to us and said, go out and enjoy yourself.

265
00:16:44,060 --> 00:16:48,100
And it really was just, sheer enjoyment.

266
00:16:48,100 --> 00:16:50,180
It's like being in control of anything,

267
00:16:50,180 --> 00:16:52,020
if you think you are the best at it,

268
00:16:52,020 --> 00:16:54,340
whether it's acting or singing or whatever,

269
00:16:54,340 --> 00:16:56,180
it's nice to go out there knowing or feeling

270
00:16:56,180 --> 00:16:58,300
that you are better than anyone else.

271
00:17:00,300 --> 00:17:03,820
From winning the Youth Cup in '64 and '65, the League.

272
00:17:06,740 --> 00:17:08,420
It seemed like it was never going to end.

273
00:17:08,420 --> 00:17:10,460
It was just getting better and better.

274
00:17:15,500 --> 00:17:17,740
Because of the Munich crash everyone at Old Trafford,

275
00:17:17,740 --> 00:17:20,220
particularly people who had been there during that time,

276
00:17:20,220 --> 00:17:22,460
their dream, of course, was to win the European Cup.

277
00:17:24,060 --> 00:17:28,860
That was the aim. From Munich, the aim was to win that cup,

278
00:17:28,860 --> 00:17:33,420
for the fans, the players, Matt Busby, everybody.

279
00:17:33,420 --> 00:17:35,700
It was Manchester United's obsession.

280
00:17:44,380 --> 00:17:47,220
We played the first leg and beat them 3-2 at Old Trafford

281
00:17:47,220 --> 00:17:48,980
and we'd gone there to play them.

282
00:17:50,020 --> 00:17:52,980
They hadn't lost for years and years at home.

283
00:17:52,980 --> 00:17:55,180
Benfica, playing all in white, kick off.

284
00:17:56,580 --> 00:18:00,300
Matt was always a great believer in, for the first 10-15 minutes

285
00:18:00,300 --> 00:18:02,860
of every game, just keep it tight,

286
00:18:02,860 --> 00:18:03,900
quieten the crowd

287
00:18:03,900 --> 00:18:07,060
because there'd be 100-odd thousand people at the game.

288
00:18:07,060 --> 00:18:09,420
Beautifully intercepted by Best.

289
00:18:10,980 --> 00:18:12,940
Great little player this boy is.

290
00:18:12,940 --> 00:18:15,100
Quieten the crowd and then start from there.

291
00:18:16,460 --> 00:18:18,140
Quick goal essential for Benfica

292
00:18:18,140 --> 00:18:21,020
if they want to get back into this game.

293
00:18:21,020 --> 00:18:23,500
Trail 3-2 from the first leg.

294
00:18:23,500 --> 00:18:26,500
Tony Dunne was our left back and Tony wasn't the longest kicker

295
00:18:26,500 --> 00:18:29,260
of the ball you ever met in your life and George was outside

296
00:18:29,260 --> 00:18:32,140
and I said, "George, George, push over to that left-hand side.

297
00:18:32,140 --> 00:18:35,660
"Tony will never get it. He'll struggle to get it into the box."

298
00:18:35,660 --> 00:18:39,420
That was the free kick. Up goes Best, he scores!

299
00:18:39,420 --> 00:18:43,860
Best has got a goal for Manchester United!

300
00:18:43,860 --> 00:18:45,260
That was my genius.

301
00:18:45,260 --> 00:18:47,540
That's my claim to fame from now on.

302
00:18:47,540 --> 00:18:49,580
I made that first goal by telling George

303
00:18:49,580 --> 00:18:51,220
Tony couldn't kick it that far.

304
00:18:52,540 --> 00:18:57,620
After seven minutes played, Manchester United fans go mad.

305
00:18:57,620 --> 00:19:01,300
Best puts them in the lead.

306
00:19:01,300 --> 00:19:03,380
Georgie went daft!

307
00:19:04,700 --> 00:19:05,740
Incredible.

308
00:19:08,220 --> 00:19:10,100
Here comes Best again.

309
00:19:10,100 --> 00:19:12,700
What a player this boy is, he's got another!

310
00:19:15,420 --> 00:19:17,700
What a player!

311
00:19:17,700 --> 00:19:19,940
"Don't obey orders, George, do what you want to do."

312
00:19:19,940 --> 00:19:22,020
He was incredible.

313
00:19:22,020 --> 00:19:24,620
This is going to be a rout!

314
00:19:24,620 --> 00:19:27,460
The bigger the stage, the more I enjoyed it.

315
00:19:27,460 --> 00:19:30,220
It didn't get any bigger than Benfica.

316
00:19:30,220 --> 00:19:32,100
The control of this boy.

317
00:19:32,100 --> 00:19:34,660
It was 90 minutes of almost perfection.

318
00:19:34,660 --> 00:19:39,340
He just ran them ragged, won the game for them.

319
00:19:39,340 --> 00:19:42,860
The night George became a different person was the night

320
00:19:42,860 --> 00:19:45,580
that George scored two goals against Benfica.

321
00:19:48,820 --> 00:19:52,300
The fact that the child that the world hadn't really known about

322
00:19:52,300 --> 00:19:56,660
up to that time, on that night, became the legend

323
00:19:56,660 --> 00:19:58,700
that was George Best.

324
00:20:00,340 --> 00:20:03,500
Although George was the absolute star of that performance

325
00:20:03,500 --> 00:20:06,380
it wasn't enough to send Man United on their way

326
00:20:06,380 --> 00:20:08,140
to winning the European Cup.

327
00:20:08,140 --> 00:20:13,140
We beat Benfica 5-1, then we lost in the semifinal.

328
00:20:13,140 --> 00:20:16,580
That was a blow because we thought we were going to win it that year.

329
00:20:16,580 --> 00:20:18,460
But George was just sensational.

330
00:20:22,060 --> 00:20:25,660
You know when you go abroad sometimes and you do something daft,

331
00:20:25,660 --> 00:20:28,060
like if it's Spain, you buy a big hat as well.

332
00:20:28,060 --> 00:20:32,020
And he bought it for a laugh, George, more than anything.

333
00:20:32,020 --> 00:20:35,300
He didn't think for one minute it was going to be worldwide picture in

334
00:20:35,300 --> 00:20:37,340
the paper or anything like that.

335
00:20:37,340 --> 00:20:40,620
He just, for a laugh, wore this big sombrero.

336
00:20:43,140 --> 00:20:46,340
When George wore that thing, I remember saying, George,

337
00:20:46,340 --> 00:20:48,060
great people don't need gimmicks.

338
00:20:50,260 --> 00:20:54,820
In those days, footballers were always back page stuff.

339
00:20:54,820 --> 00:20:56,140
Front page, no.

340
00:20:56,140 --> 00:20:58,300
When George became the star that he was,

341
00:20:58,300 --> 00:21:00,500
he became the front page as well as the back page.

342
00:21:00,500 --> 00:21:04,700
He was capable of producing a remarkable performance

343
00:21:04,700 --> 00:21:08,540
against Benfica that had an accelerating effect

344
00:21:08,540 --> 00:21:12,180
on the granting of pop star status to George.

345
00:21:13,660 --> 00:21:16,500
He became a pop star footballer.

346
00:21:16,500 --> 00:21:17,900
You got the Rolling Stones,

347
00:21:17,900 --> 00:21:20,540
you got all the pop groups, but he was a footballer.

348
00:21:20,540 --> 00:21:22,740
There was just something special about him.

349
00:21:22,740 --> 00:21:24,220
It was like an Elvis Presley,

350
00:21:24,220 --> 00:21:27,820
like a young Paul McCartney, where they just had that special look.

351
00:21:27,820 --> 00:21:30,780
And I could understand why girls would be very much enamoured

352
00:21:30,780 --> 00:21:34,940
with him, apart from his being as good looking as he was.

353
00:21:36,700 --> 00:21:39,660
Girls wouldn't leave him alone until they had a date with him.

354
00:21:39,660 --> 00:21:42,700
Unfortunately, didn't last very long.

355
00:21:42,700 --> 00:21:45,260
Not many relationships lasted very long with George.

356
00:21:58,180 --> 00:22:00,420
I think so, yes. Weekends is...

357
00:22:00,420 --> 00:22:02,380
Shut up!

358
00:22:02,380 --> 00:22:04,340
That's your mates laughing at you.

359
00:22:04,340 --> 00:22:07,940
Weekends is really the only time, you know, I can let go.

360
00:22:10,380 --> 00:22:15,260
I was still only 19, and it became sort of total madness.

361
00:22:15,260 --> 00:22:16,860
A lot of things happened to him,

362
00:22:16,860 --> 00:22:18,860
that didn't happen to players before.

363
00:22:18,860 --> 00:22:22,180
If that happened nowadays they would be clamping down on it

364
00:22:22,180 --> 00:22:23,980
and trying to get help to the player.

365
00:22:23,980 --> 00:22:26,380
George. Georgie.

366
00:22:27,980 --> 00:22:29,940
Get out of the way, come on.

367
00:22:29,940 --> 00:22:33,340
Maybe if his family had lived in England at that particular time,

368
00:22:33,340 --> 00:22:36,740
I know Matt tried to get his family over but they wouldn't leave.

369
00:22:36,740 --> 00:22:39,980
That must have been a difficult period of time. You're a single lad,

370
00:22:39,980 --> 00:22:43,380
you can't go anywhere, the media are after you, women are chasing him,

371
00:22:43,380 --> 00:22:45,900
all sorts of things. It must have been very difficult.

372
00:22:51,820 --> 00:22:56,020
George, how did you get into this boutique business?

373
00:22:56,020 --> 00:22:59,860
I used to get a bit fed up, in the afternoons, with nothing else to do.

374
00:22:59,860 --> 00:23:02,180
I mean, once we finish training,

375
00:23:02,180 --> 00:23:05,180
I was walking about town and I hadn't a clue what to do.

376
00:23:05,180 --> 00:23:08,100
I was getting quite a bit of publicity so I thought,

377
00:23:08,100 --> 00:23:10,300
try and put it to an advantage.

378
00:23:10,300 --> 00:23:13,340
Does running two boutiques affect your football in any way?

379
00:23:14,700 --> 00:23:17,100
Not really. I don't let anything interfere with

380
00:23:17,100 --> 00:23:19,180
the football because it's put me where I am so

381
00:23:19,180 --> 00:23:21,860
I can't really afford to let anything get in the way of it.

382
00:23:23,580 --> 00:23:25,140
And you join us at Windsor Park,

383
00:23:25,140 --> 00:23:28,780
Belfast, in perfect footballing weather as two teams,

384
00:23:28,780 --> 00:23:32,020
Ireland and Scotland, come on side-by-side.

385
00:23:33,420 --> 00:23:37,740
Georgie Best, one of the key men in the Irish side.

386
00:23:37,740 --> 00:23:39,780
He could win the match on his own.

387
00:23:39,780 --> 00:23:42,260
George became the first boy, basically,

388
00:23:42,260 --> 00:23:45,300
who, what I call, was a superstar in football.

389
00:23:46,660 --> 00:23:47,700
Best.

390
00:23:50,260 --> 00:23:52,860
His nickname in the Ireland team was 007.

391
00:23:52,860 --> 00:23:54,060
Because that's how he lived.

392
00:23:54,060 --> 00:23:56,740
Best is the most dynamic marksman on the pitch today.

393
00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:05,340
Everybody got on particularly well with him.

394
00:24:05,340 --> 00:24:08,940
There was nothing where he thought he was better than anybody else.

395
00:24:08,940 --> 00:24:10,020
Here he goes again.

396
00:24:12,460 --> 00:24:15,500
I think that ball is tied to his feet.

397
00:24:15,500 --> 00:24:18,780
The Ireland team in particular had wonderful, wonderful times.

398
00:24:19,780 --> 00:24:21,860
George Best, the star of this game,

399
00:24:21,860 --> 00:24:24,660
has turned in another brilliant performance.

400
00:24:29,140 --> 00:24:31,260
The crowd rise to Ireland.

401
00:25:04,780 --> 00:25:05,820
You're on!

402
00:25:06,980 --> 00:25:09,780
You're on!

403
00:25:09,780 --> 00:25:14,180
I still think he has enough sense, you know, to know what he's doing.

404
00:25:14,180 --> 00:25:16,860
As I say, he's not a child any longer.

405
00:25:16,860 --> 00:25:21,100
To me, now, he's a man, and I think he should have a bit of sense now.

406
00:25:21,100 --> 00:25:22,140
A drink?

407
00:25:23,340 --> 00:25:25,180
Anything?

408
00:25:25,180 --> 00:25:26,220
What's anything?

409
00:25:27,540 --> 00:25:29,460
What about girls, Mrs Best?

410
00:25:29,460 --> 00:25:31,620
I just leave that up to the lad himself.

411
00:25:31,620 --> 00:25:37,100
He must know the good girls from the bad ones, and I hope that he,

412
00:25:37,100 --> 00:25:40,420
when he does decide to marry or take a girl,

413
00:25:40,420 --> 00:25:44,020
only would be sensible enough to take one that can look after him.

414
00:25:44,020 --> 00:25:48,020
Not one that's just wanting him for his looks, for his money,

415
00:25:48,020 --> 00:25:52,220
because he has a name. I'd like to see him settling well

416
00:25:52,220 --> 00:25:56,300
and making a real home for himself and a family,

417
00:25:56,300 --> 00:25:58,460
what have you, you know?

418
00:25:58,460 --> 00:26:01,060
But not one that's just after him for the name.

419
00:26:03,100 --> 00:26:07,540
The very first time I met him was in a club in Manchester.

420
00:26:07,540 --> 00:26:12,860
I mean, I knew who he was but to be honest,

421
00:26:12,860 --> 00:26:16,500
I was living in London at that time and I was writing films

422
00:26:16,500 --> 00:26:18,940
so I was involved in a completely different world.

423
00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:23,340
He was gorgeous. You know, he was a sweet boy,

424
00:26:23,340 --> 00:26:24,420
I thought.

425
00:26:26,020 --> 00:26:27,780
We were very much in love.

426
00:26:27,780 --> 00:26:30,460
George did talk about marriage to me but it was so early

427
00:26:30,460 --> 00:26:34,420
in our relationship, we were still swinging from the chandeliers.

428
00:26:36,500 --> 00:26:38,860
His football was the most important thing to him.

429
00:26:38,860 --> 00:26:41,500
He loved his football, he loved to train, he loved to play,

430
00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:44,620
he loved to show off. I mean, show off on the football field.

431
00:26:44,620 --> 00:26:46,180
So that was his focus.

432
00:26:46,180 --> 00:26:49,660
The rest of it was just a bit of fun and came naturally.

433
00:26:49,660 --> 00:26:53,060
Do you think, in fact, George, if professional football came to an end

434
00:26:53,060 --> 00:26:56,700
tomorrow you'd still want to play football seriously every week?

435
00:26:56,700 --> 00:26:58,420
I'd still play it, I play for anybody.

436
00:26:58,420 --> 00:27:00,540
And anyone that wanted me. I'd still play it.

437
00:27:01,540 --> 00:27:03,380
You just think you couldn't live without it?

438
00:27:03,380 --> 00:27:06,460
- I couldn't. It's impossible.
- Do you not feel on the other hand, Pat,

439
00:27:06,460 --> 00:27:10,140
that there is a very real danger that when you finish with all this

440
00:27:10,140 --> 00:27:14,860
tremendous drama of sport at this level, that the rest of your life is

441
00:27:14,860 --> 00:27:17,220
- liable to be an anti-climax?
- I think it is hard to say

442
00:27:17,220 --> 00:27:19,860
what the rest of your life is going to be like at the moment,

443
00:27:19,860 --> 00:27:21,220
probably, at our stage,

444
00:27:21,220 --> 00:27:24,700
but I think if you love football the way I love it, and I know George

445
00:27:24,700 --> 00:27:26,660
loves it, it would be a terrible anti-climax.

446
00:27:26,660 --> 00:27:28,220
I think most players dread the day

447
00:27:28,220 --> 00:27:30,580
when you've got to hang up your boots. I know I will.

448
00:27:30,580 --> 00:27:32,260
I'll go out and commit suicide, I think.

449
00:27:37,180 --> 00:27:38,580
They wanted to win Europe.

450
00:27:39,540 --> 00:27:42,260
We certainly believe we can win it in '68.

451
00:27:42,260 --> 00:27:46,380
We nearly won it in '66, but we believed we could win it in '68.

452
00:27:46,380 --> 00:27:47,940
We've got to win it this year.

453
00:27:49,220 --> 00:27:53,180
That is bigger than any other trophy for us, Manchester United fans,

454
00:27:53,180 --> 00:27:55,340
and the club, I think.

455
00:27:56,500 --> 00:27:57,580
That was the goal.

456
00:27:59,300 --> 00:28:02,580
Absolutely gorgeous day, a gorgeous evening.

457
00:28:02,580 --> 00:28:07,340
100,000 expectant fans pack the stands to see great football.

458
00:28:07,340 --> 00:28:11,060
The fact that it was at Wembley, yeah, was special anyway.

459
00:28:12,020 --> 00:28:15,900
The first English side to get there, and after the Munich disaster.

460
00:28:15,900 --> 00:28:17,820
Nobody mentioned Munich.

461
00:28:17,820 --> 00:28:19,380
That never got a mention.

462
00:28:19,380 --> 00:28:21,700
Lots of people were thinking about it, of course.

463
00:28:21,700 --> 00:28:23,460
That would be on everybody's minds.

464
00:28:23,460 --> 00:28:25,700
But nobody mentioned it.

465
00:28:25,700 --> 00:28:26,980
Skipper Bobby Charlton,

466
00:28:26,980 --> 00:28:31,420
and for manager Matt Busby this was the great occasion of their lives.

467
00:28:31,420 --> 00:28:33,340
There's Eusebio.

468
00:28:34,780 --> 00:28:39,180
Number seven. One man who just needs no identification.

469
00:28:39,180 --> 00:28:40,220
George Best.

470
00:28:42,740 --> 00:28:46,100
I've never known such tension in Wembley Stadium before.

471
00:28:46,100 --> 00:28:48,620
This is a tremendous emotional occasion.

472
00:28:50,140 --> 00:28:52,740
United, playing in blue, kick off.

473
00:28:56,460 --> 00:28:58,220
George Best was in terrific form.

474
00:28:58,220 --> 00:29:00,380
But so was Henrique.

475
00:29:28,100 --> 00:29:31,380
What a tonic for the fans. United one up in the 55th minute.

476
00:29:46,100 --> 00:29:47,580
One all, and time running out.

477
00:29:47,580 --> 00:29:49,180
I don't know why, but we were so sure

478
00:29:49,180 --> 00:29:50,860
of winning you wouldn't believe it.

479
00:29:50,860 --> 00:29:53,980
Every one of us knew we were going to win the game.

480
00:29:53,980 --> 00:29:58,300
Until the 91st minute when Alex made that save.

481
00:29:58,300 --> 00:30:01,820
Eusebio! Oh, what a save by Stepney!

482
00:30:01,820 --> 00:30:04,340
Eusebio, if you had given him the same chance 100 times

483
00:30:04,340 --> 00:30:09,140
he would stick it away 99 times and, fortunately for us, he didn't.

484
00:30:09,140 --> 00:30:11,540
90 minutes up, and still deadlock.

485
00:30:11,540 --> 00:30:14,540
I think it woke us up a little bit. It gave us a little bit of a jolt.

486
00:30:14,540 --> 00:30:16,260
And we thought we could have lost it.

487
00:30:19,020 --> 00:30:23,260
I remember Matt getting us all down and talking to us.

488
00:30:23,260 --> 00:30:26,380
"Don't give the ball away, because it's such a warm night.

489
00:30:26,380 --> 00:30:28,340
"Don't give the ball away.

490
00:30:28,340 --> 00:30:30,260
"They're a very tired team.

491
00:30:30,260 --> 00:30:32,300
"In fact, all get up on your feet.

492
00:30:32,300 --> 00:30:34,580
"You're not lying down. Get on your feet now.

493
00:30:34,580 --> 00:30:36,780
"Look at them. They're shattered."

494
00:30:36,780 --> 00:30:39,700
And so on into the first half of extra time.

495
00:30:39,700 --> 00:30:42,100
Went into extra time and all of a sudden,

496
00:30:42,100 --> 00:30:43,860
we did what all great sides can do.

497
00:30:43,860 --> 00:30:44,900
We changed gear.

498
00:30:46,700 --> 00:30:50,180
Shouldn't imagine that anyone will want to run about.

499
00:30:50,180 --> 00:30:52,700
Over much time as extra time.

500
00:30:54,940 --> 00:30:58,300
Sensible players will withhold, will conserve their energy.

501
00:31:06,500 --> 00:31:08,860
Best. Oh, he's got a great chance!

502
00:31:08,860 --> 00:31:10,140
Oh, he must!

503
00:31:15,140 --> 00:31:17,780
I still have dreams about the split-second where everything

504
00:31:17,780 --> 00:31:19,980
almost stood still.

505
00:31:19,980 --> 00:31:22,340
100,000 people. I mean, I knew I was going to score,

506
00:31:22,340 --> 00:31:24,620
but in that split-second between going past him

507
00:31:24,620 --> 00:31:26,820
and it going into the net, something might go wrong.

508
00:31:26,820 --> 00:31:29,820
A chance here for George Best. George Best is through.

509
00:31:29,820 --> 00:31:33,140
He goes round Henrique. He must score, George Best must score!

510
00:31:33,140 --> 00:31:35,180
George Best has scored!

511
00:31:35,180 --> 00:31:37,700
Second minute of extra time,

512
00:31:37,700 --> 00:31:40,660
George Best has put Manchester United into the lead.

513
00:31:45,820 --> 00:31:48,100
He simply walked the ball into the net.

514
00:31:49,940 --> 00:31:52,020
What a goal! United in the lead.

515
00:31:52,020 --> 00:31:53,820
I was the first player that met him,

516
00:31:53,820 --> 00:31:56,780
that crashed into him when we were, obviously, jumping up and down.

517
00:31:56,780 --> 00:31:59,900
And then he scored the second goal, because we knew that was the winner.

518
00:31:59,900 --> 00:32:01,380
We knew that was it.

519
00:32:01,380 --> 00:32:03,620
The Busby Babes were raring to go.

520
00:32:03,620 --> 00:32:04,980
They hammered Benfica.

521
00:32:08,060 --> 00:32:09,820
Watch this fantastic goal.

522
00:32:14,940 --> 00:32:16,300
But were United finished?

523
00:32:16,300 --> 00:32:17,980
Not on your life.

524
00:32:17,980 --> 00:32:19,820
Bobby Charlton made it 4-1.

525
00:32:23,060 --> 00:32:25,100
Manchester United had well and truly done it.

526
00:32:25,100 --> 00:32:27,260
They were supreme soccer champions of Europe.

527
00:32:33,980 --> 00:32:36,220
We have achieved the ultimate.

528
00:32:36,220 --> 00:32:39,860
We've won the big one. And did it the first time out as well.

529
00:32:39,860 --> 00:32:41,820
My first hero.

530
00:32:43,380 --> 00:32:45,140
I still see his face after the game.

531
00:32:48,780 --> 00:32:52,140
At last Matt Busby, the maestro of Manchester United,

532
00:32:52,140 --> 00:32:54,660
had groomed a team great enough to beat Europe's best.

533
00:32:57,860 --> 00:33:00,300
How they cheered as Bobby Charlton led his men

534
00:33:00,300 --> 00:33:02,740
up to receive the handsome, outsized trophy.

535
00:33:17,180 --> 00:33:19,940
I can remember quite a lot of the games and incidents in the games.

536
00:33:19,940 --> 00:33:22,540
I can't remember anything about after the game.

537
00:33:22,540 --> 00:33:24,700
I don't know where we went to celebrate,

538
00:33:24,700 --> 00:33:27,020
I don't know where I went. To this day I can't remember.

539
00:33:41,180 --> 00:33:45,660
He always maintained to me that at the height of it all,

540
00:33:45,660 --> 00:33:48,420
after he was in the shower after the European cup final, he said,

541
00:33:48,420 --> 00:33:50,180
"I immediately went on a downer,

542
00:33:50,180 --> 00:33:53,980
because I thought I may never in my life ever experience this again."

543
00:33:56,980 --> 00:33:58,980
He came probably about 11-ish or something.

544
00:34:00,420 --> 00:34:01,780
He was a bit subdued.

545
00:34:02,940 --> 00:34:04,980
It was so emotional for him and for Matt Busby

546
00:34:04,980 --> 00:34:07,780
and for people like Bobby Charlton who had been on the plane,

547
00:34:07,780 --> 00:34:09,020
you know, that crashed.

548
00:34:09,020 --> 00:34:12,020
After all those setbacks and all those years that had passed,

549
00:34:12,020 --> 00:34:16,620
and they finally, you know, got the Holy Grail or something, you know,

550
00:34:16,620 --> 00:34:21,220
and then, yeah, and then what? I guess there must have been

551
00:34:21,220 --> 00:34:23,620
a feeling of, "And now what?" You know.

552
00:34:27,380 --> 00:34:29,940
For a man of 22 at the height of his powers,

553
00:34:29,940 --> 00:34:32,140
to think that was as good as it gets,

554
00:34:32,140 --> 00:34:34,180
there's something wrong with him.

555
00:34:35,340 --> 00:34:36,740
BELLS PEAL

556
00:34:42,340 --> 00:34:46,340
I met a young lady. I mean, she probably saved my life,

557
00:34:46,340 --> 00:34:49,700
because, you know, she brought some stability to my life.

558
00:34:52,500 --> 00:34:56,220
When he was my best man, he was absolutely marvellous.

559
00:34:56,220 --> 00:34:57,820
He did everything perfectly.

560
00:34:57,820 --> 00:35:01,580
He was brilliant. But Tina always said to me, she said,

561
00:35:01,580 --> 00:35:05,340
"I could never imagine George being an old man, like you!"

562
00:35:08,380 --> 00:35:11,020
May I have your autograph, please, Mr Best? I seen you on telly.

563
00:35:11,020 --> 00:35:13,780
And I've seen you on telly. You're Aunt Et's nephew, aren't you?

564
00:35:13,780 --> 00:35:15,740
- Yeah.
- Remember that last match in Spain?

565
00:35:15,740 --> 00:35:18,180
Terrible game. Didn't have an egg for breakfast.

566
00:35:18,180 --> 00:35:20,820
- Well, there you are.
- I always play better when I have had my E for B.

567
00:35:20,820 --> 00:35:22,260
E for B, and be your best.

568
00:35:22,260 --> 00:35:24,340
Cool. So I play centre forward, you know.

569
00:35:24,340 --> 00:35:26,340
E for B and Georgie Best!

570
00:35:33,380 --> 00:35:34,900
Can I have my kiss now, please?

571
00:35:39,140 --> 00:35:41,380
Commercially, he was really the first.

572
00:35:42,420 --> 00:35:44,220
Well, he was unprecedented.

573
00:35:44,220 --> 00:35:47,060
He had no real support, if you like.

574
00:35:47,060 --> 00:35:51,260
What the man means is, Cookstown are the best family sausages.

575
00:35:51,260 --> 00:35:54,380
It was a step into the unknown. Nobody knew what they were doing.

576
00:35:54,380 --> 00:35:56,260
Nobody knew how big he was going to be,

577
00:35:56,260 --> 00:35:58,020
or what he could do commercially.

578
00:35:58,020 --> 00:36:02,260
We anticipated that we would sell in the region of 2,000 pairs.

579
00:36:02,260 --> 00:36:05,540
We, in point of fact, sold 28,000 pairs.

580
00:36:05,540 --> 00:36:07,660
David Beckham can say thank-you to George,

581
00:36:07,660 --> 00:36:10,540
because George Best was the first professional footballer

582
00:36:10,540 --> 00:36:11,780
to become a fashion icon.

583
00:36:11,780 --> 00:36:13,780
They made a lot of mistakes along the way and I can

584
00:36:13,780 --> 00:36:18,020
understand why, because you just didn't know what was involved.

585
00:36:18,020 --> 00:36:21,900
The thing with George was that he didn't really want to do it.

586
00:36:21,900 --> 00:36:24,180
That was the thing.

587
00:36:24,180 --> 00:36:25,820
Unless there were girls involved.

588
00:36:25,820 --> 00:36:28,740
And, usually, the photo shoots did involve girls,

589
00:36:28,740 --> 00:36:29,980
so he used to do them.

590
00:36:30,940 --> 00:36:33,580
Men's grooming aids, real masculine.

591
00:36:33,580 --> 00:36:36,660
Aftershave, hairspray, talc.

592
00:36:36,660 --> 00:36:40,060
The lot. Fore brings out the best in a man.

593
00:36:44,500 --> 00:36:47,020
The early start of the season means a timely shot in the arm

594
00:36:47,020 --> 00:36:49,420
for millions of fans who miss even a few days

595
00:36:49,420 --> 00:36:51,500
without their favourite relaxation.

596
00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:53,900
It was a chance to see how the European champions would fare

597
00:36:53,900 --> 00:36:56,460
against their traditional Merseyside opponents, Everton.

598
00:36:58,620 --> 00:36:59,980
With their European triumph,

599
00:36:59,980 --> 00:37:02,420
United have set themselves a terrifically high standard.

600
00:37:05,300 --> 00:37:08,180
When we won the European Cup, everybody said,

601
00:37:08,180 --> 00:37:10,660
"This is the start of something beautiful and wonderful."

602
00:37:12,140 --> 00:37:13,740
Best. Oh!

603
00:37:16,500 --> 00:37:18,220
That is what makes this slip of a lad

604
00:37:18,220 --> 00:37:22,180
one of the great players - sheer speed.

605
00:37:25,100 --> 00:37:28,660
That's when Matt decided that he was going to retire.

606
00:37:34,820 --> 00:37:37,860
I went to the board and mentioned that I felt,

607
00:37:37,860 --> 00:37:41,420
in the best interests of the club, that I should give up

608
00:37:41,420 --> 00:37:44,860
all things appertaining to team management.

609
00:37:44,860 --> 00:37:48,100
And they accepted with reluctance

610
00:37:48,100 --> 00:37:51,940
and immediately appointed me general manager.

611
00:37:51,940 --> 00:37:55,700
I think he got tired. I mean, he had achieved it.

612
00:37:55,700 --> 00:37:59,860
Still a great man, but it was time for someone else to come in.

613
00:38:01,860 --> 00:38:03,260
To follow Matt Busby?

614
00:38:03,260 --> 00:38:06,540
God Almighty. God Almighty.

615
00:38:08,620 --> 00:38:11,740
We had been so used to the one man at Manchester United.

616
00:38:11,740 --> 00:38:13,220
A great, great manager.

617
00:38:14,580 --> 00:38:16,900
You know, how do you replace him? And they tried.

618
00:38:18,300 --> 00:38:21,060
Will you refer all your decisions to Sir Matt?

619
00:38:21,060 --> 00:38:26,220
Well, I think that's why he has relinquished the team duties,

620
00:38:26,220 --> 00:38:29,860
to let somebody else have those decisions

621
00:38:29,860 --> 00:38:31,740
and make those decisions.

622
00:38:35,020 --> 00:38:36,700
Foul given.

623
00:38:36,700 --> 00:38:38,540
I was 22.

624
00:38:38,540 --> 00:38:41,420
And I wasn't going to reach my peak for another seven or eight years.

625
00:38:41,420 --> 00:38:43,540
It's an own goal by Sadler.

626
00:38:43,540 --> 00:38:47,580
After losing Sir Matt, the team started to disintegrate very,

627
00:38:47,580 --> 00:38:50,980
very quickly. From going out week in, week out,

628
00:38:50,980 --> 00:38:53,180
not ever thinking we were going to lose a game,

629
00:38:53,180 --> 00:38:55,900
we were starting to go out thinking we were going to lose,

630
00:38:55,900 --> 00:38:59,020
or knowing we were going to lose to certain sides, which was a disaster.

631
00:38:59,020 --> 00:39:00,340
Good goal.

632
00:39:00,340 --> 00:39:02,700
Good goal.

633
00:39:02,700 --> 00:39:05,260
I started to have a lot of doubts about what was going on

634
00:39:05,260 --> 00:39:06,980
within the club, which hurt me, you know,

635
00:39:06,980 --> 00:39:09,180
because Manchester United had been my whole life.

636
00:39:13,180 --> 00:39:15,540
The team weren't playing particularly well.

637
00:39:15,540 --> 00:39:18,820
In fact, I think, you know, they did go on a bit of a downward spiral,

638
00:39:18,820 --> 00:39:21,820
so that must have been really heartbreaking for him.

639
00:39:21,820 --> 00:39:24,940
He wasn't big-headed, but he wasn't falsely modest, either.

640
00:39:24,940 --> 00:39:27,500
He knew his worth as a footballer.

641
00:39:27,500 --> 00:39:31,340
He felt that they should have been building a younger team around him.

642
00:39:33,020 --> 00:39:35,660
Collins' header, that was.

643
00:39:35,660 --> 00:39:37,580
Comes to Best.

644
00:39:37,580 --> 00:39:42,500
And it's there. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful!

645
00:39:42,500 --> 00:39:44,780
I personally felt I was still doing it on the field.

646
00:39:44,780 --> 00:39:47,780
But what's the good in me going out there and being top goal-scorer

647
00:39:47,780 --> 00:39:49,740
this season if we're finishing

648
00:39:49,740 --> 00:39:52,380
19th in the league and 13th in the league?

649
00:39:53,780 --> 00:39:56,860
George was starting to get strange things into his head.

650
00:39:56,860 --> 00:40:00,300
Doing certain things that he basically had never done before,

651
00:40:00,300 --> 00:40:02,620
and continued to go through a spell after that

652
00:40:02,620 --> 00:40:05,220
which was really the start of the downfall.

653
00:40:06,820 --> 00:40:09,180
And now, is Best going to have his name taken?

654
00:40:09,180 --> 00:40:12,340
Ungentlemanly conduct, the book is out...

655
00:40:12,340 --> 00:40:15,300
I think quite honestly, if you start throwing mud at the referee,

656
00:40:15,300 --> 00:40:17,900
even today, I think you're going to be sent off, really, in a way,

657
00:40:17,900 --> 00:40:19,260
you know.

658
00:40:19,260 --> 00:40:21,540
George was starting to make his own rules up

659
00:40:21,540 --> 00:40:23,100
a little bit as it went along.

660
00:40:23,100 --> 00:40:26,020
George Best is the mercury of Manchester United.

661
00:40:26,020 --> 00:40:28,500
Banned a month, a long time for a footballer.

662
00:40:30,340 --> 00:40:32,660
It was the constant expectations of the fans.

663
00:40:32,660 --> 00:40:35,980
They've got to see George Best play fantastic every week.

664
00:40:35,980 --> 00:40:38,500
That's a difficult burden to carry.

665
00:40:38,500 --> 00:40:40,740
I think we all just depended on him,

666
00:40:40,740 --> 00:40:43,220
and expected him to do it week in and week out.

667
00:40:53,220 --> 00:40:54,500
Once the football was...

668
00:40:54,500 --> 00:40:56,380
the enjoyment of that was taken away,

669
00:40:56,380 --> 00:40:59,180
I started looking for things to replace the excitement

670
00:40:59,180 --> 00:41:01,020
that I got from football.

671
00:41:04,660 --> 00:41:09,140
He was the star of the club scene, and a bit of a pop idol.

672
00:41:10,580 --> 00:41:14,060
His fondness for drink was bound to become

673
00:41:14,060 --> 00:41:16,540
more than just a leisure activity.

674
00:41:18,820 --> 00:41:22,460
I always thought the only time he took a drink was to bolster

675
00:41:22,460 --> 00:41:25,820
his confidence. He was so shy, and George found it difficult

676
00:41:25,820 --> 00:41:29,860
to talk to people. But a drink made him confident.

677
00:41:29,860 --> 00:41:32,980
It was the '60s. People were drinking, you know,

678
00:41:32,980 --> 00:41:38,380
he was drinking, I was drinking. And it just gradually became a problem.

679
00:41:38,380 --> 00:41:40,900
You want more and more and more, there's no satisfaction.

680
00:41:40,900 --> 00:41:43,140
Why do you want more? Because you're not satisfied.

681
00:41:43,140 --> 00:41:44,300
Why are you not satisfied?

682
00:41:44,300 --> 00:41:46,380
Because you're seeking happiness in things

683
00:41:46,380 --> 00:41:47,900
that can't give you happiness.

684
00:41:47,900 --> 00:41:51,140
You know, like alcohol, or sex, or whatever the thing is,

685
00:41:51,140 --> 00:41:56,260
when you become addicted, there's no happiness there.

686
00:41:56,260 --> 00:41:59,420
He started missing training.

687
00:41:59,420 --> 00:42:03,500
That was a nightmare, a disaster, all the things you want to call it.

688
00:42:04,740 --> 00:42:06,660
George had a few pals in Manchester,

689
00:42:06,660 --> 00:42:08,460
and a couple of pals that were United fans,

690
00:42:08,460 --> 00:42:11,140
that should have known a bit better and maybe given him a kick up the

691
00:42:11,140 --> 00:42:13,100
backside, and said, "You should be in training.

692
00:42:13,100 --> 00:42:15,980
"It's important for Manchester United, it's important for you."

693
00:42:17,580 --> 00:42:19,020
I'm saying, blame his pals,

694
00:42:19,020 --> 00:42:22,460
but then you can only point the finger at one person at the end,

695
00:42:22,460 --> 00:42:24,340
and that's George.

696
00:42:24,340 --> 00:42:26,900
And it was downhill on a toboggan after that.

697
00:42:26,900 --> 00:42:29,860
It wasn't as if it was a slow downhill, it was...

698
00:43:01,260 --> 00:43:03,500
The white one with the brown, and, er...

699
00:43:03,500 --> 00:43:07,220
Stripes at the bottom, please. We've got them with their ties on.

700
00:43:07,220 --> 00:43:09,740
At the beginning when I was with him, he would go to training.

701
00:43:09,740 --> 00:43:12,020
But then gradually, he started to miss training.

702
00:43:12,020 --> 00:43:14,780
And I mean sometimes, I'd get Matt Busby on the phone ringing up,

703
00:43:14,780 --> 00:43:17,060
saying, "Is George with you? And he's not turned up,

704
00:43:17,060 --> 00:43:18,900
"and isn't it time you two got married?"

705
00:43:18,900 --> 00:43:20,700
And all this kind of thing, you know.

706
00:43:20,700 --> 00:43:22,740
I'd say, what do you what me to do? You know?

707
00:43:22,740 --> 00:43:25,700
Do you see any kind of permanent relationship here, Jackie?

708
00:43:25,700 --> 00:43:27,140
I mean, would you like to marry him?

709
00:43:29,300 --> 00:43:33,500
I don't know. I haven't told him, so I don't see why I should tell you!

710
00:43:38,900 --> 00:43:41,060
Well, if Jackie wasn't there, it was...

711
00:43:41,060 --> 00:43:44,540
Unfortunately he wasn't the most faithful animal in the world,

712
00:43:44,540 --> 00:43:50,140
and of course, very difficult to keep up a relationship where,

713
00:43:50,140 --> 00:43:53,340
from her part, the trust wasn't there.

714
00:43:53,340 --> 00:43:56,300
And she knew the temptations that were there for him.

715
00:43:57,940 --> 00:43:59,780
I had a tremendous amount of relationships,

716
00:43:59,780 --> 00:44:01,860
because I suppose I was in a position to.

717
00:44:01,860 --> 00:44:04,300
I was getting a lot of publicity, I had plenty of money,

718
00:44:04,300 --> 00:44:08,420
and I went to the sort of functions where there were always plenty of beautiful women around.

719
00:44:10,180 --> 00:44:13,980
He'd gone from being quite a fresh and sweet boy

720
00:44:13,980 --> 00:44:17,500
to starting to become quite jaded, and I think, you know,

721
00:44:17,500 --> 00:44:21,260
because of the alcohol and girls throwing themselves at him.

722
00:44:21,260 --> 00:44:23,020
If you imagine you're in a sweet shop

723
00:44:23,020 --> 00:44:26,060
and you're eating sweets all the time, you're going to get sick.

724
00:44:26,060 --> 00:44:28,140
It's fun at first, but then you get sick.

725
00:44:28,140 --> 00:44:31,260
And I think it became like that with everything.

726
00:44:32,860 --> 00:44:34,260
He was very fond of Jackie,

727
00:44:34,260 --> 00:44:38,660
and I think it's a pity that relationship never continued.

728
00:44:38,660 --> 00:44:42,540
Once your trust has been betrayed, you can't really get that back.

729
00:44:42,540 --> 00:44:44,020
I can't see any future in this.

730
00:44:49,340 --> 00:44:54,260
There was far more focus on him than any other player in the country.

731
00:44:56,500 --> 00:45:00,700
Once you get that cross-fertilisation

732
00:45:00,700 --> 00:45:06,540
between football and showbiz, then you're going to heighten interest

733
00:45:06,540 --> 00:45:08,940
in everything you're up to.

734
00:45:28,420 --> 00:45:30,740
On face value, it looks like you have everything.

735
00:45:32,460 --> 00:45:34,780
The money's coming in, you're doing something you love,

736
00:45:34,780 --> 00:45:35,900
the adulation is there.

737
00:45:35,900 --> 00:45:37,300
Best...

738
00:45:37,300 --> 00:45:39,860
Here's the record! There it is!

739
00:45:39,860 --> 00:45:43,260
What a way to come back into big-time football, Georgie Best!

740
00:45:47,260 --> 00:45:49,420
The whole thing just became a total nightmare.

741
00:45:52,860 --> 00:45:54,980
They stopped writing about the football

742
00:45:54,980 --> 00:45:58,500
and writing about my private life, which is nothing to do with them.

743
00:45:58,500 --> 00:46:02,060
Have you any idea why he didn't do any training during the week?

744
00:46:02,060 --> 00:46:04,020
I... I really don't know, I don't know...

745
00:46:04,020 --> 00:46:05,980
Carolyn, are you going to marry George Best?

746
00:46:07,060 --> 00:46:09,060
No, that was a rumour.

747
00:46:10,100 --> 00:46:13,140
Best's frenetic social life had been chronicled with the sort of

748
00:46:13,140 --> 00:46:16,540
thoroughness that is usually reserved for the Burtons.

749
00:46:16,540 --> 00:46:20,460
Many people were at once bored and fascinated by the saga.

750
00:46:20,460 --> 00:46:23,380
Almost everybody had an opinion about what was wrong with Georgie,

751
00:46:23,380 --> 00:46:24,860
or what should be done about him.

752
00:46:26,420 --> 00:46:28,060
Do you feel sorry for George Best?

753
00:46:28,060 --> 00:46:30,220
No, not in the least, no.

754
00:46:30,220 --> 00:46:34,180
Got plenty of money, hasn't he? He's been very silly, I think.

755
00:46:34,180 --> 00:46:36,140
I think he's selfish, and always has been.

756
00:46:36,140 --> 00:46:38,780
Be better if he got his hair cut and got his whiskers off.

757
00:46:38,780 --> 00:46:40,460
That's my opinion of him.

758
00:46:40,460 --> 00:46:44,060
You ask most of the people who come to Old Trafford, George Best,

759
00:46:44,060 --> 00:46:45,100
all the time.

760
00:46:46,460 --> 00:46:48,620
It was the constant changes of managers

761
00:46:48,620 --> 00:46:51,460
that was getting to the fans, not so much George.

762
00:46:51,460 --> 00:46:52,980
It was like, "not another manager".

763
00:46:54,020 --> 00:46:56,860
Frank O'Farrell, what are your feelings as you take over this job?

764
00:46:56,860 --> 00:46:59,540
I feel optimistic. I feel that inevitably,

765
00:46:59,540 --> 00:47:01,300
this club will again win honours.

766
00:47:01,300 --> 00:47:04,580
How soon I can't say at the present time, obviously.

767
00:47:04,580 --> 00:47:08,140
The stability went, and I think that's what the fans saw,

768
00:47:08,140 --> 00:47:10,020
not that George is the big bad boy.

769
00:47:15,340 --> 00:47:17,580
It hurts me a lot, when I listen to stories.

770
00:47:18,980 --> 00:47:22,500
On one occasion, I was standing having a drink with one man,

771
00:47:22,500 --> 00:47:24,980
and he was actually ridiculing George to me,

772
00:47:24,980 --> 00:47:28,780
in a football conversation. And he left the bar that night,

773
00:47:28,780 --> 00:47:31,100
and he still didn't know that I was George's mum.

774
00:47:33,300 --> 00:47:35,700
He brought a lot of pressure on the family.

775
00:47:35,700 --> 00:47:39,780
He brought them a lot of pressure that they didn't know how to handle.

776
00:47:39,780 --> 00:47:44,540
And I think George was hurt about that.

777
00:47:46,180 --> 00:47:49,620
The effect it has on your family, when you become famous.

778
00:47:49,620 --> 00:47:52,100
My poor old mother couldn't handle it.

779
00:47:52,100 --> 00:47:56,260
My dad, he's as strong as an ox, and he's got a strong character,

780
00:47:56,260 --> 00:47:57,500
but my mum couldn't handle it.

781
00:47:57,500 --> 00:47:59,940
And for a long time I blamed myself, I thought it was me.

782
00:47:59,940 --> 00:48:01,940
But I'd been away from home since I was 15,

783
00:48:01,940 --> 00:48:03,940
and I certainly couldn't look after her,

784
00:48:03,940 --> 00:48:05,540
because I was having enough problems

785
00:48:05,540 --> 00:48:07,820
looking after myself, and failing most of the time.

786
00:48:09,260 --> 00:48:13,140
The Best family, they were absolutely wonderful people, beautiful.

787
00:48:13,140 --> 00:48:17,780
They had to face part of that, which was not very pleasant for them.

788
00:48:17,780 --> 00:48:20,180
No-one at Old Trafford has seen George Best

789
00:48:20,180 --> 00:48:24,260
since Manchester United's 3-0 defeat at West Ham last Saturday.

790
00:48:24,260 --> 00:48:26,700
Other members of the team have been training daily,

791
00:48:26,700 --> 00:48:28,580
but there's been no sign of the talented

792
00:48:28,580 --> 00:48:30,020
but temperamental Irishman.

793
00:48:38,340 --> 00:48:40,180
The announcement of Best's suspension

794
00:48:40,180 --> 00:48:42,860
was made by United's general manager, Sir Matt Busby,

795
00:48:42,860 --> 00:48:46,340
at the club's ground at Old Trafford at lunchtime today.

796
00:48:46,340 --> 00:48:48,060
Friday morning, hadn't heard a thing.

797
00:48:48,060 --> 00:48:49,540
Saturday, Sunday and this morning.

798
00:48:49,540 --> 00:48:51,340
In fact you've no idea where he is, Sir Matt?

799
00:48:51,340 --> 00:48:53,580
I couldn't tell you whether he was in Manchester

800
00:48:53,580 --> 00:48:56,260
or whether he's in England, London, I couldn't tell you.

801
00:48:56,260 --> 00:48:58,220
I've had no contact. He's made no contact.

802
00:48:58,220 --> 00:49:02,860
And as I said to all the lads this morning, he knows where to find me.

803
00:49:02,860 --> 00:49:04,260
The door's there waiting for him.

804
00:49:04,260 --> 00:49:06,220
I'm not going looking for George Best.

805
00:49:07,380 --> 00:49:10,420
If Matt Busby hasn't been prepared to chase after George Best,

806
00:49:10,420 --> 00:49:12,780
there have been plenty of journalists who have,

807
00:49:12,780 --> 00:49:17,180
and after a search which has gone on in London and Manchester all day,

808
00:49:17,180 --> 00:49:21,940
it's at last been established that he's here at this flat in Islington,

809
00:49:21,940 --> 00:49:26,940
north London. It's the home of a 22-year-old actress, Sinead Cusack.

810
00:49:26,940 --> 00:49:29,540
And it's known that over the last few days,

811
00:49:29,540 --> 00:49:32,820
she's listened to a lot of George Best's complicated

812
00:49:32,820 --> 00:49:35,740
and apparently incomprehensible troubles,

813
00:49:35,740 --> 00:49:39,180
the troubles that have given rise to such strange conduct

814
00:49:39,180 --> 00:49:40,620
over the last few days.

815
00:49:41,940 --> 00:49:44,660
It turned into one of those mad sieges.

816
00:49:48,980 --> 00:49:50,300
It wasn't planned.

817
00:49:50,300 --> 00:49:52,780
I think he just said, "Where am I going to run to?"

818
00:49:52,780 --> 00:49:56,100
And that's where he went, but everybody followed him there.

819
00:49:56,100 --> 00:49:58,780
It was no mad, crazy love affair or anything.

820
00:50:00,420 --> 00:50:03,420
He got frustrated and angry with the team,

821
00:50:03,420 --> 00:50:08,140
and angry with himself for not being able to do what he could do best.

822
00:50:08,140 --> 00:50:11,900
But then, we're drinking now, we're seriously drinking now.

823
00:50:14,620 --> 00:50:16,900
First of all, he's got to find out who his friends are.

824
00:50:18,180 --> 00:50:19,860
Do you think he's made mistakes...?

825
00:50:19,860 --> 00:50:22,140
I think that he's got so many hangers-on, it's a joke.

826
00:50:23,700 --> 00:50:26,580
And I tell you what, when you've got genuine friends and when you're in

827
00:50:26,580 --> 00:50:28,540
trouble, you can go to them and they'll help you.

828
00:50:28,540 --> 00:50:30,100
And you need a lot of help in football.

829
00:50:30,100 --> 00:50:32,100
And at the moment, George Best needs help.

830
00:50:34,740 --> 00:50:37,820
I don't think he showed the same respect to football as he showed,

831
00:50:37,820 --> 00:50:40,540
maybe has shown, a couple of years ago.

832
00:50:40,540 --> 00:50:43,860
It's come to a point now with George, he's reached the apex,

833
00:50:43,860 --> 00:50:46,460
he's got to go either that way or that way.

834
00:50:46,460 --> 00:50:49,260
- Yes.
- And I think he'll have to work very hard to go that way.

835
00:50:49,260 --> 00:50:51,140
Right, George, you have your say, son.

836
00:50:54,780 --> 00:51:01,340
Well, firstly, I've apologised to Mr Busby and the United club,

837
00:51:01,340 --> 00:51:03,460
for the way I behaved over the weekend,

838
00:51:03,460 --> 00:51:05,500
which was completely wrong, and I know it was.

839
00:51:05,500 --> 00:51:07,660
You're going to have to serve this suspension,

840
00:51:07,660 --> 00:51:09,580
and you say you're taking a couple of days off.

841
00:51:09,580 --> 00:51:12,380
Are you confident that when this time has passed, you'll be back,

842
00:51:12,380 --> 00:51:14,460
George Best that we knew before?

843
00:51:14,460 --> 00:51:15,700
Well, I'm going to try,

844
00:51:15,700 --> 00:51:18,460
try as hard as I can, to get back to where I was before.

845
00:51:24,180 --> 00:51:27,380
Probably the first big mistake you made was ever to leave

846
00:51:27,380 --> 00:51:29,980
Mrs Fullaway's house and have your rather expensive

847
00:51:29,980 --> 00:51:31,620
and spacious place...

848
00:51:33,100 --> 00:51:35,940
Do you think that's true, looking back?

849
00:51:35,940 --> 00:51:38,180
It wouldn't have been true if I hadn't, at the time,

850
00:51:38,180 --> 00:51:39,220
been public property.

851
00:51:41,020 --> 00:51:43,980
The first time I saw it, I thought, my God, what have you had built?

852
00:51:45,020 --> 00:51:49,140
It looked awful. But God, it's nice inside.

853
00:51:49,140 --> 00:51:53,180
It had everything that a young bloke would want, snooker room,

854
00:51:53,180 --> 00:51:55,900
every modern gadget you could wish to have.

855
00:51:55,900 --> 00:51:58,940
Bearing in mind, we'd only just had colour television a couple of years

856
00:51:58,940 --> 00:52:02,100
earlier, you know. So, anything that moved without you touching it

857
00:52:02,100 --> 00:52:03,180
was an amazing thing.

858
00:52:03,180 --> 00:52:05,380
The remote control in our house was my mother.

859
00:52:07,620 --> 00:52:09,020
Very nice for its time.

860
00:52:09,020 --> 00:52:12,820
It was wonderful, but for him there rattling about on his own,

861
00:52:12,820 --> 00:52:13,860
not really.

862
00:52:15,020 --> 00:52:16,660
He didn't like his own company.

863
00:52:17,900 --> 00:52:19,180
He didn't like to be on his own.

864
00:52:20,500 --> 00:52:22,860
How do you say, I think you're making a mistake?

865
00:52:23,940 --> 00:52:27,900
He wanted this house to have a quiet time and be by himself.

866
00:52:27,900 --> 00:52:31,060
But he did lots of things which really was the opposite

867
00:52:31,060 --> 00:52:33,100
to what he had been saying he really wanted.

868
00:52:33,100 --> 00:52:36,500
You know, he always told me that he didn't like people recognising him,

869
00:52:36,500 --> 00:52:40,620
and yet he had a Rolls-Royce with GB on it, you know, George Best!

870
00:52:40,620 --> 00:52:43,620
And he actually would take it to the football stadiums as well!

871
00:52:46,300 --> 00:52:49,260
He never really sat down and said, what do you think?

872
00:52:50,340 --> 00:52:52,780
What do you think we should do? Do you think we should...?

873
00:52:52,780 --> 00:52:54,660
How do you think we should play this?

874
00:52:54,660 --> 00:52:56,740
It was always... He always seemed to know,

875
00:52:56,740 --> 00:52:58,660
and always seemed to have that vision

876
00:52:58,660 --> 00:53:00,220
that he knew what he was doing.

877
00:53:00,220 --> 00:53:04,060
And very difficult to get him out of that frame of mind.

878
00:53:06,060 --> 00:53:08,340
That's when he really went off the rails.

879
00:53:09,420 --> 00:53:11,260
Got fed up, properly.

880
00:53:11,260 --> 00:53:12,300
"I'm going."

881
00:53:16,740 --> 00:53:18,460
He went off saying he was going to retire.

882
00:53:18,460 --> 00:53:22,540
I mean, God Almighty! He wouldn't be 25 in those days, George.

883
00:53:22,540 --> 00:53:25,180
I mean, he loved playing football. That's what astonished me.

884
00:53:25,180 --> 00:53:29,100
He loved playing football, he loved playing for United.

885
00:53:29,100 --> 00:53:31,020
And then it all of a sudden, stopped.

886
00:53:33,740 --> 00:53:36,980
We went to Marbella, and all the press were hounding him.

887
00:53:36,980 --> 00:53:38,860
Too dramatic a way to do it, really.

888
00:53:38,860 --> 00:53:40,820
He should have been a bit more subtle about it.

889
00:53:42,260 --> 00:53:44,780
It seemed as if someone had taken my enjoyment away from me,

890
00:53:44,780 --> 00:53:47,220
and taken away the only thing that I'd ever wanted to do.

891
00:53:48,260 --> 00:53:49,620
I got totally confused,

892
00:53:49,620 --> 00:53:52,660
because possibly everything had gone too smoothly,

893
00:53:52,660 --> 00:53:55,140
and I'd achieved everything before I was 22.

894
00:53:57,220 --> 00:53:59,740
I think I'd become used to being number one so much

895
00:53:59,740 --> 00:54:02,820
that it frightened me to think that I couldn't be number one.

896
00:54:06,180 --> 00:54:09,100
What sort of pressures do you feel that you've been under?

897
00:54:09,100 --> 00:54:11,300
I don't know, a lot of different reasons.

898
00:54:11,300 --> 00:54:15,300
I feel now like I can't play as I could before.

899
00:54:15,300 --> 00:54:20,620
So, I don't want to play a lower standard than I'm used to myself.

900
00:54:20,620 --> 00:54:25,060
And I don't think I can play to a high standard, so I decided to quit.

901
00:54:25,060 --> 00:54:27,780
Why not? Why can't you play at a high standard any more?

902
00:54:27,780 --> 00:54:30,380
Er... I don't know. Because I'm not physically fit

903
00:54:30,380 --> 00:54:34,020
and I don't think I'm mentally fit to play football.

904
00:54:34,020 --> 00:54:36,260
So I've decided to call it a day.

905
00:54:36,260 --> 00:54:38,900
What's caused it, basically? Strains, pressures, tensions?

906
00:54:39,980 --> 00:54:45,820
I suppose so. Over this last few years, they've got worse, and, er,

907
00:54:45,820 --> 00:54:47,780
maybe I just can't take it.

908
00:54:47,780 --> 00:54:51,620
I built the image in the first place, and it backfired on me.

909
00:54:51,620 --> 00:54:53,660
The whole thing's turned about.

910
00:54:53,660 --> 00:54:57,020
At the moment, how would you describe your mental state?

911
00:54:57,020 --> 00:54:59,700
Er, at the moment, I think I'm a complete wreck.

912
00:55:01,140 --> 00:55:02,300
In every way.

913
00:55:06,180 --> 00:55:08,500
He didn't know where to go.

914
00:55:08,500 --> 00:55:10,860
He was lost. He really was lost.

915
00:55:12,780 --> 00:55:14,260
A few of his friends were concerned

916
00:55:14,260 --> 00:55:17,620
that he might have done something terrible.

917
00:55:17,620 --> 00:55:19,020
We were concerned for him, yes.

918
00:55:49,660 --> 00:55:51,580
Have you absolutely nothing to say to us?

919
00:55:51,580 --> 00:55:53,380
Nothing at all?

920
00:55:53,380 --> 00:55:55,900
- No plans at all that you're going to tell us at this stage?
- No.

921
00:56:03,020 --> 00:56:06,100
It was never the same for George, I don't think, after Matt.

922
00:56:06,100 --> 00:56:07,660
It was never the same for him.

923
00:56:07,660 --> 00:56:11,100
Frank O'Farrell came in, Tommy Docherty came in.

924
00:56:11,100 --> 00:56:14,580
Everybody tried everything to try and help him, but...

925
00:56:14,580 --> 00:56:16,540
it was never the same.

926
00:56:16,540 --> 00:56:19,500
It became impossible in the end.

927
00:56:19,500 --> 00:56:22,100
George was saying that they were all letting him down,

928
00:56:22,100 --> 00:56:23,700
but I mean, it was George.

929
00:56:25,660 --> 00:56:28,500
Sir Matt and Pat Crerand felt that George could do us a turn,

930
00:56:28,500 --> 00:56:29,620
which I did as well,

931
00:56:29,620 --> 00:56:32,260
because we weren't blessed with great players at the time.

932
00:56:32,260 --> 00:56:34,460
We brought him back, and it was a disaster, actually.

933
00:56:34,460 --> 00:56:36,420
He played about three or four matches, and...

934
00:56:37,460 --> 00:56:38,700
He'd just gone.

935
00:56:38,700 --> 00:56:43,540
Not being as fit as he should be, not training like he should be.

936
00:56:43,540 --> 00:56:45,580
That's always going to affect you.

937
00:56:45,580 --> 00:56:48,780
And the minute that affects you, forget it, it's gone.

938
00:56:48,780 --> 00:56:51,700
And that's what happened to George. It was gone, then.

939
00:56:51,700 --> 00:56:53,500
And you knew it was the end.

940
00:56:56,780 --> 00:56:58,700
I feel very sorry about the whole thing.

941
00:56:59,900 --> 00:57:02,780
Here is a player extraordinary.

942
00:57:04,060 --> 00:57:08,540
All the talents that one would wish they'd got from the gifts of God

943
00:57:08,540 --> 00:57:11,260
and everything else. And it's a very sad thing.

944
00:57:17,260 --> 00:57:19,820
I had 11 years at one of the greatest football clubs

945
00:57:19,820 --> 00:57:23,780
in the world, and achieved almost everything that was possible.

946
00:57:23,780 --> 00:57:26,220
We won the league twice, won the European Cup,

947
00:57:26,220 --> 00:57:29,300
I was Footballer of the Year in Europe and England.

948
00:57:29,300 --> 00:57:32,060
I was Manchester United's leading goal-scorer for six years.

949
00:57:33,500 --> 00:57:37,060
I did it all at the highest level for a long time.

950
00:57:37,060 --> 00:57:38,980
So you'd be an idiot not to be hurt.

951
00:57:41,180 --> 00:57:46,060
There was a finality about it for him.

952
00:57:46,060 --> 00:57:51,220
Although there would be a lot of other chapters after that,

953
00:57:51,220 --> 00:57:58,460
he wasn't entirely wrong in thinking that, in a very real sense,

954
00:57:58,460 --> 00:57:59,980
the curtain had come down.

955
00:58:02,060 --> 00:58:07,660
It was a curtain that he'd only be peeking through afterwards.

956
00:58:57,662 --> 00:59:01,462
TVS presents NASL Championship Soccer.

957
00:59:01,462 --> 00:59:04,302
Not long ago, a dogfight would attract a bigger crowd

958
00:59:04,302 --> 00:59:06,942
in this country than a soccer game.

959
00:59:06,942 --> 00:59:08,902
But something has happened.

960
00:59:08,902 --> 00:59:10,462
His name is Johan Cruyff...

961
00:59:10,462 --> 00:59:12,182
Franz Beckenbauer...

962
00:59:12,182 --> 00:59:14,662
A retired Brazilian football player named Pele...

963
00:59:14,662 --> 00:59:17,142
Almost anywhere you go in this country these days,

964
00:59:17,142 --> 00:59:20,622
you're likely to find boys AND girls kicking a soccer ball around.

965
00:59:20,622 --> 00:59:22,982
It is the fastest-growing sport in the country.

966
00:59:24,342 --> 00:59:27,822
It was a time that has never been repeated and will never,

967
00:59:27,822 --> 00:59:31,062
ever be repeated, with such a unique league

968
00:59:31,062 --> 00:59:36,222
that attracted the most phenomenal footballers from around the world.

969
00:59:36,222 --> 00:59:40,182
By the time George came here, Pele had already started with the Cosmos,

970
00:59:40,182 --> 00:59:43,622
and they were building a team that really was rivalling

971
00:59:43,622 --> 00:59:46,022
any superstar team in the world at the time.

972
00:59:46,022 --> 00:59:49,782
In Los Angeles, erm, George was the one they chose.

973
00:59:51,982 --> 00:59:55,142
I have a man with me who looks an awful lot like Elton John.

974
00:59:55,142 --> 00:59:57,862
And behind me, the LAPD motorcycle drill team.

975
00:59:59,582 --> 01:00:00,822
My spies tell me

976
01:00:00,822 --> 01:00:03,822
you had something to do with getting a fellow named George Best to come

977
01:00:03,822 --> 01:00:06,022
out of retirement and play for Los Angeles. True?

978
01:00:06,022 --> 01:00:08,222
Er, I don't think I can take hardly any credit for that,

979
01:00:08,222 --> 01:00:10,302
but I know George knew I was involved with,

980
01:00:10,302 --> 01:00:11,662
you know, with the club.

981
01:00:11,662 --> 01:00:14,742
And he came out here. I'm so glad.

982
01:00:14,742 --> 01:00:17,582
It was great for him, because George came out of retirement,

983
01:00:17,582 --> 01:00:19,662
came out here, got himself fit.

984
01:00:19,662 --> 01:00:22,222
I think it's improved him as a player, and it's incredible.

985
01:00:24,022 --> 01:00:26,662
I was still only 29 when I went.

986
01:00:26,662 --> 01:00:30,542
Players like Johann Cruyff was there, Beckenbauer, Pele, Eusebio,

987
01:00:30,542 --> 01:00:33,462
Gordon Banks. A tremendous amount of British players.

988
01:00:35,742 --> 01:00:39,822
I got the pleasure of playing against him, watching him,

989
01:00:39,822 --> 01:00:42,502
and then in the end playing with him.

990
01:00:42,502 --> 01:00:46,142
I mean he had obviously past his best but he was still better than

991
01:00:46,142 --> 01:00:49,982
everybody else, and to play in the same team as him, what a gift.

992
01:00:57,462 --> 01:01:00,782
When we first got there we rented a house.

993
01:01:00,782 --> 01:01:03,862
We were team-mates, roommates,

994
01:01:03,862 --> 01:01:06,302
there was a little bar just round the corner

995
01:01:06,302 --> 01:01:09,862
and the name of the bar was Fat Face Fenner's Falloon,

996
01:01:09,862 --> 01:01:11,702
and we used to hang out in there.

997
01:01:13,182 --> 01:01:18,382
I didn't go there to LA on that day

998
01:01:18,382 --> 01:01:20,502
expecting to sign George Best as a client.

999
01:01:20,502 --> 01:01:23,062
I just said to him, you're going to need some help,

1000
01:01:23,062 --> 01:01:25,262
and I'm happy to do it if you want.

1001
01:01:25,262 --> 01:01:31,022
And he said yes. So I became George's agent in 1976.

1002
01:01:32,822 --> 01:01:37,222
From a commercial point of view, basically, you've touched gold.

1003
01:01:39,222 --> 01:01:40,262
He was a lovely fella.

1004
01:01:41,502 --> 01:01:44,902
And women just flocked around him like bees on honey.

1005
01:01:46,862 --> 01:01:50,062
It was quite an unbelievable experience to see it.

1006
01:01:50,062 --> 01:01:53,182
I mean, you see it with pop stars and you kind of expect it,

1007
01:01:53,182 --> 01:01:56,022
but he was a pop star in his own right.

1008
01:01:57,422 --> 01:02:01,742
And...along came this girl that was a little bit different.

1009
01:02:04,422 --> 01:02:08,982
I'm working for Cher, living with her in Beverly Hills.

1010
01:02:08,982 --> 01:02:11,902
We get a phone call to the house from a man

1011
01:02:11,902 --> 01:02:15,862
called Henry Wynberg, I think it was, Elizabeth Taylor's boyfriend

1012
01:02:15,862 --> 01:02:18,582
at the time, and says George would like you to come

1013
01:02:18,582 --> 01:02:20,342
to his party in Hermosa Beach.

1014
01:02:20,342 --> 01:02:23,862
So he picks me up, drives me down Hermosa Beach.

1015
01:02:23,862 --> 01:02:25,262
There's no party.

1016
01:02:25,262 --> 01:02:28,462
There's George in his flip-flops and his shorts and his T-shirt

1017
01:02:28,462 --> 01:02:30,302
and there's me all dressed up!

1018
01:02:32,382 --> 01:02:36,382
And he's sitting at the bar all by himself.

1019
01:02:37,822 --> 01:02:39,782
So I thought, "Ah, sweet."

1020
01:02:43,262 --> 01:02:44,302
She was a challenge.

1021
01:02:45,302 --> 01:02:48,382
She didn't fall all over him and she didn't know who he was

1022
01:02:48,382 --> 01:02:51,022
and she wasn't there because it was "George Best".

1023
01:02:52,822 --> 01:02:54,862
With Ange, she wasn't in it for the money.

1024
01:02:54,862 --> 01:02:58,022
There was none of that involved because he didn't have anything

1025
01:02:58,022 --> 01:02:59,342
at the time.

1026
01:03:01,022 --> 01:03:03,102
I said to him, why did you come here?

1027
01:03:03,102 --> 01:03:06,302
He said, because I want to be on the beach in the sun.

1028
01:03:07,622 --> 01:03:09,422
I said, you could have done that in Spain.

1029
01:03:09,422 --> 01:03:13,222
He said no, because the English press would have found me.

1030
01:03:13,222 --> 01:03:14,342
He had freedom.

1031
01:03:15,622 --> 01:03:18,782
He goes in his flip-flops to play football

1032
01:03:18,782 --> 01:03:25,382
and then he could finish and go down to his bar, play pool, have a drink.

1033
01:03:26,502 --> 01:03:27,702
That was his happiest.

1034
01:03:36,062 --> 01:03:39,822
He said to me, "Listen, what do you think about me getting married?"

1035
01:03:39,822 --> 01:03:42,782
I said, "If you love her, why don't you do it?"

1036
01:03:42,782 --> 01:03:45,862
I thought that would settle him down and he would stay on the,

1037
01:03:45,862 --> 01:03:47,942
or closer to, the straight and narrow.

1038
01:03:50,062 --> 01:03:51,662
I went to the hairdresser.

1039
01:03:51,662 --> 01:03:53,742
First, I looked like a school ma'am,

1040
01:03:53,742 --> 01:03:55,302
I had this long grey skirt.

1041
01:03:55,302 --> 01:03:57,502
I mean, God Almighty.

1042
01:03:59,382 --> 01:04:01,182
George said, "What do you look like?"

1043
01:04:01,182 --> 01:04:03,862
I said, "Excuse me? Have you seen your jacket?"

1044
01:04:03,862 --> 01:04:05,982
We both looked hideous.

1045
01:04:05,982 --> 01:04:09,742
He didn't have rings, didn't have licence, had nothing.

1046
01:04:11,542 --> 01:04:12,822
But that was George.

1047
01:04:12,822 --> 01:04:15,302
And I understood that about him.

1048
01:04:15,302 --> 01:04:18,822
I suppose that's where I then took over and said, "Now, come on,

1049
01:04:18,822 --> 01:04:21,462
"we're going to do this properly, or were going to try to anyway."

1050
01:04:21,462 --> 01:04:24,822
I think Angie straightened him up and he got fit again

1051
01:04:24,822 --> 01:04:27,702
and Bobby was there to help.

1052
01:04:27,702 --> 01:04:29,542
But then they opened a bar.

1053
01:04:37,102 --> 01:04:40,782
It takes a very strong person to invest in somewhere

1054
01:04:40,782 --> 01:04:42,622
and then not go drink there.

1055
01:04:42,622 --> 01:04:46,742
The difference was that his drinking was a little more than

1056
01:04:46,742 --> 01:04:48,502
the average bar owner.

1057
01:04:49,582 --> 01:04:51,582
Remember, football is a drinking culture.

1058
01:04:53,142 --> 01:04:58,902
At that time he had no shortage of helpers, if you like.

1059
01:04:58,902 --> 01:05:02,662
If 70,000 men had wanted to have one drink with George,

1060
01:05:02,662 --> 01:05:05,342
they had one drink, George had 70,000.

1061
01:05:06,862 --> 01:05:09,782
In those days it was just, it's just George being George,

1062
01:05:09,782 --> 01:05:11,302
he's had a few, and that's it.

1063
01:05:11,302 --> 01:05:13,862
Alcoholism is now termed as an illness.

1064
01:05:13,862 --> 01:05:16,422
We didn't have that kind of knowledge in those days.

1065
01:05:16,422 --> 01:05:19,422
If you had had a few too many, sleep it off

1066
01:05:19,422 --> 01:05:20,902
and you'll be fine tomorrow.

1067
01:05:23,302 --> 01:05:27,702
We didn't know the extent of...the problem.

1068
01:05:35,462 --> 01:05:38,822
I cannot for the life of me,

1069
01:05:38,822 --> 01:05:41,022
because in my mind,

1070
01:05:41,022 --> 01:05:44,262
and, of course, a lot of people would say "It's a disease."

1071
01:05:44,262 --> 01:05:46,262
It's not. It's a choice.

1072
01:05:46,262 --> 01:05:48,502
You choose not to drink that day.

1073
01:05:48,502 --> 01:05:50,422
A disease doesn't give you a choice.

1074
01:05:52,222 --> 01:05:53,742
But alcoholics have a choice.

1075
01:05:53,742 --> 01:05:56,102
He would never have admitted he had a problem.

1076
01:05:57,142 --> 01:05:58,702
He didn't see it as a problem.

1077
01:06:00,222 --> 01:06:03,622
I don't think there's anything wrong with any healthy sportsman having a

1078
01:06:03,622 --> 01:06:05,622
drink. And going out when he feels like it,

1079
01:06:05,622 --> 01:06:08,942
as long as he's training hard and doing what he's being paid for

1080
01:06:08,942 --> 01:06:10,382
and doing it well.

1081
01:06:11,462 --> 01:06:15,502
Most people I could understand would maybe go off the rails during bad

1082
01:06:15,502 --> 01:06:19,662
times, but George had this habit of going off the rails during the good

1083
01:06:19,662 --> 01:06:23,462
times. When things were really good and everything was going really well

1084
01:06:23,462 --> 01:06:25,542
for him, then he had this self-destruct button.

1085
01:06:27,702 --> 01:06:31,302
When things are going well you're tempted to think, well,

1086
01:06:31,302 --> 01:06:34,342
everything is going to be OK, so I can afford to slip a little bit.

1087
01:06:35,622 --> 01:06:38,182
But that little bit, with me, became a lot.

1088
01:06:39,342 --> 01:06:41,102
He had so much going for him.

1089
01:06:41,102 --> 01:06:42,822
When he was on a roll, he was great.

1090
01:06:42,822 --> 01:06:47,582
Then all of a sudden, it became too much and he just let himself down.

1091
01:06:53,142 --> 01:06:56,942
They didn't want the aggravation, if that's the right word.

1092
01:06:58,182 --> 01:06:59,782
They wanted to trade him.

1093
01:07:02,022 --> 01:07:05,502
Who would take the risk of managing him?

1094
01:07:05,502 --> 01:07:08,862
The playing side of it wasn't the problem.

1095
01:07:08,862 --> 01:07:12,022
It seemed that he would always be able to produce magic

1096
01:07:12,022 --> 01:07:15,182
and I think the promise of magic is something very special.

1097
01:07:16,382 --> 01:07:20,462
The promise of magic is what George Best always brought,

1098
01:07:20,462 --> 01:07:23,942
whether it be the glittering Manchester United

1099
01:07:23,942 --> 01:07:27,422
or the other 18 teams that he went to play for.

1100
01:07:27,422 --> 01:07:29,622
Good lord, gypsies, we were gypsies.

1101
01:07:31,702 --> 01:07:35,542
Yes, we were gypsies, but it was fine. I was happy.

1102
01:07:35,542 --> 01:07:37,062
As long as I was hanging out with him,

1103
01:07:37,062 --> 01:07:39,182
I couldn't have cared where we went or what we did.

1104
01:07:39,182 --> 01:07:41,822
That's the Best. My goodness, he hit the post.

1105
01:07:51,822 --> 01:07:53,942
Although people were let down at different times

1106
01:07:53,942 --> 01:07:56,542
and the clubs were let down and chairmen were let down

1107
01:07:56,542 --> 01:07:59,302
I think he brought a lot of happiness to the clubs

1108
01:07:59,302 --> 01:08:00,542
and a lot of revenue.

1109
01:08:01,742 --> 01:08:04,622
Now and again you would see a wee bit of the old stuff

1110
01:08:04,622 --> 01:08:07,862
and sometimes quite a wee bit of it.

1111
01:08:07,862 --> 01:08:12,782
But he looked like a bad impersonator of George Best.

1112
01:08:15,342 --> 01:08:17,302
Then we went to, er...

1113
01:08:20,102 --> 01:08:21,142
..Florida.

1114
01:08:22,542 --> 01:08:24,462
We knew that there were issues.

1115
01:08:24,462 --> 01:08:27,102
We spoke to George about them.

1116
01:08:27,102 --> 01:08:29,542
He felt he needed a change of scenery.

1117
01:08:29,542 --> 01:08:34,742
He insisted that he was really trying to stay sober

1118
01:08:34,742 --> 01:08:38,942
and that we would not be disappointed in his play

1119
01:08:38,942 --> 01:08:40,782
or his behaviour.

1120
01:08:41,902 --> 01:08:47,622
So it was a gamble, but it was a risk that we felt was worth taking.

1121
01:08:47,622 --> 01:08:49,382
Turning to Fort Lauderdale, George Best,

1122
01:08:49,382 --> 01:08:51,702
of course this is one of the great stars of world soccer,

1123
01:08:51,702 --> 01:08:54,102
a temperamental man, he is not always at his happiest,

1124
01:08:54,102 --> 01:08:56,542
but he seems to have found a new home in Fort Lauderdale.

1125
01:08:56,542 --> 01:08:59,022
He is playing marvellously well for them.

1126
01:08:59,022 --> 01:09:00,782
George struggled with his fitness.

1127
01:09:00,782 --> 01:09:02,622
There's no question about that.

1128
01:09:02,622 --> 01:09:07,222
During the course of a match you might have long periods of time

1129
01:09:07,222 --> 01:09:12,302
where he was invisible, but when you got the moments of brilliance

1130
01:09:12,302 --> 01:09:14,302
out of him it was worth it.

1131
01:09:17,902 --> 01:09:19,382
Kicked over the bar.

1132
01:09:19,382 --> 01:09:22,022
He could turn the game on a dime.

1133
01:09:22,022 --> 01:09:25,342
I recall the first match that we had after we acquired him.

1134
01:09:25,342 --> 01:09:29,142
We won the game 5-3, and George had three of the goals.

1135
01:09:37,102 --> 01:09:42,942
I think we were able to get about as much out of George as anyone could.

1136
01:09:49,302 --> 01:09:53,502
It is 3-1 Fort Lauderdale. This is NASL Championship Soccer.

1137
01:09:56,302 --> 01:10:01,262
The day that you were traded, was it a day of liberation for George Best?

1138
01:10:01,262 --> 01:10:03,502
I just feel good, the fact that it's worked out.

1139
01:10:03,502 --> 01:10:06,302
I don't think I could have written a better script.

1140
01:10:06,302 --> 01:10:09,182
The only thing I can say is that I know I can play.

1141
01:10:09,182 --> 01:10:10,782
I didn't have to convince myself.

1142
01:10:11,862 --> 01:10:16,662
George at the time was doing his best to stay away from alcohol,

1143
01:10:16,662 --> 01:10:20,862
and for the most part he was staying clean and sober.

1144
01:10:20,862 --> 01:10:26,062
He truly was a really good guy.

1145
01:10:26,062 --> 01:10:27,902
He was a good guy, that had demons.

1146
01:10:32,422 --> 01:10:34,782
You keep thinking that you can fix it

1147
01:10:34,782 --> 01:10:38,102
and that all he needs is a nice home-cooked meal,

1148
01:10:38,102 --> 01:10:39,982
a nice house and to settle down.

1149
01:10:39,982 --> 01:10:43,022
But it never quite works like that when there's alcohol involved.

1150
01:10:44,102 --> 01:10:45,502
That was just in his blood.

1151
01:10:45,502 --> 01:10:47,982
God love her, his mother was an alcoholic,

1152
01:10:47,982 --> 01:10:49,582
so it was just in his blood.

1153
01:10:56,662 --> 01:10:59,622
She, for whatever her own particular reasons was,

1154
01:10:59,622 --> 01:11:02,142
she got involved with drinking too much.

1155
01:11:03,542 --> 01:11:05,302
It was my fault. I should have been there.

1156
01:11:05,302 --> 01:11:07,222
I should have called. I should have written.

1157
01:11:07,222 --> 01:11:10,262
That was a guilt thing I carried for quite a while.

1158
01:11:10,262 --> 01:11:13,142
Whether it is related to me, or not, I'll never know.

1159
01:11:15,942 --> 01:11:18,102
It was another reason to have a few more drinks.

1160
01:11:19,222 --> 01:11:25,582
George, in the end, wore out his welcome here in Fort Lauderdale.

1161
01:11:27,062 --> 01:11:30,182
He could have stayed and played and been a manager

1162
01:11:30,182 --> 01:11:32,582
and done everything David Beckham is doing.

1163
01:11:33,902 --> 01:11:36,702
They threw him out because he got drunk.

1164
01:11:36,702 --> 01:11:38,582
He didn't show up for games.

1165
01:11:38,582 --> 01:11:40,382
They couldn't have that.

1166
01:11:40,382 --> 01:11:42,342
They didn't know how to deal with that.

1167
01:11:45,022 --> 01:11:47,062
We weren't quite sure what to do with him

1168
01:11:47,062 --> 01:11:50,022
and San Jose said they would take him. We let him go there.

1169
01:11:50,022 --> 01:11:52,942
I don't think there were any other takers at the time.

1170
01:11:54,582 --> 01:11:58,102
Each time he got thrown out he got less and less of a choice.

1171
01:11:58,102 --> 01:11:59,622
"Dude, you want to make some money?

1172
01:11:59,622 --> 01:12:01,902
"You are going to play here. Nobody else wants you."

1173
01:12:05,502 --> 01:12:08,382
The time I got to San Jose, all the top players started to leave

1174
01:12:08,382 --> 01:12:11,782
the States, the crowds were down, the best players were leaving.

1175
01:12:11,782 --> 01:12:15,462
All the reasons I had gone there for the buzz were disappearing.

1176
01:12:15,462 --> 01:12:19,542
I started really, that was the serious down, in San Jose.

1177
01:12:19,542 --> 01:12:23,062
I was begging, stealing, borrowing, just to have a drink.

1178
01:12:23,062 --> 01:12:25,702
It's that knock-on effect of depression and booze.

1179
01:12:27,262 --> 01:12:29,102
You feel self-destructive.

1180
01:12:29,102 --> 01:12:34,462
Two weeks before going on a bender, he would sleep late,

1181
01:12:34,462 --> 01:12:38,422
he would start to eat a lot of sugary foods

1182
01:12:38,422 --> 01:12:39,782
and he would stop shaving.

1183
01:12:41,302 --> 01:12:47,022
And that would kind of be the build-up to...gone.

1184
01:12:48,782 --> 01:12:54,702
What caused that was this...black taking over his brain.

1185
01:12:54,702 --> 01:12:56,502
I'm sure he was depressed at times.

1186
01:12:56,502 --> 01:12:58,502
I'm sure he suffered from depression.

1187
01:12:59,702 --> 01:13:02,662
When he let people down, he suffered.

1188
01:13:02,662 --> 01:13:05,742
When he was sober and things like that he realised what he had done,

1189
01:13:05,742 --> 01:13:09,582
I think he found it difficult to accept his actions.

1190
01:13:09,582 --> 01:13:13,182
He would think of the people he'd let down, the things he'd done...

1191
01:13:14,502 --> 01:13:18,382
..and he couldn't deal with that. And I think, to get away from it...

1192
01:13:19,782 --> 01:13:23,222
..from the depression that that caused him, that guilt,

1193
01:13:23,222 --> 01:13:24,382
he started drinking again.

1194
01:13:27,062 --> 01:13:29,142
It controlled me totally.

1195
01:13:29,142 --> 01:13:32,462
When I was going out I didn't give a toss about anything,

1196
01:13:32,462 --> 01:13:34,022
whether it was family or friends.

1197
01:13:34,022 --> 01:13:37,222
The worst problem was that I didn't care about myself.

1198
01:13:37,222 --> 01:13:38,542
You know, I couldn't care less.

1199
01:13:38,542 --> 01:13:41,222
I wasn't bothered whether I woke up in the morning or not.

1200
01:13:41,222 --> 01:13:42,982
Sometimes I wished I didn't.

1201
01:13:44,942 --> 01:13:48,622
What really struck home was, I found out I was pregnant.

1202
01:13:49,582 --> 01:13:51,182
So I went looking for him.

1203
01:13:51,182 --> 01:13:55,862
And I found him at some obscure bar on the beach, all by himself

1204
01:13:55,862 --> 01:13:58,382
with his drink in front of him, hunched over

1205
01:13:58,382 --> 01:14:01,982
with his face almost in his drink, so I knew he was pretty far gone.

1206
01:14:01,982 --> 01:14:03,902
And I sat down next to him and he looked at me.

1207
01:14:05,422 --> 01:14:08,902
"What are you doing here?" And I said, "I have some news for you.

1208
01:14:08,902 --> 01:14:10,382
"You're going to be a dad."

1209
01:14:11,382 --> 01:14:12,702
No reaction whatsoever.

1210
01:14:12,702 --> 01:14:16,662
He just said to me, "Let me finish this bender and I'll come home."

1211
01:14:22,822 --> 01:14:26,742
San Jose was so good because they actually made the effort

1212
01:14:26,742 --> 01:14:29,582
to put him into rehab and to deal with him.

1213
01:14:29,582 --> 01:14:31,502
Take one.

1214
01:14:33,542 --> 01:14:36,622
When things are going badly, it's always a reason or an excuse

1215
01:14:36,622 --> 01:14:39,262
you can say, well, it's a bad day today, it's raining

1216
01:14:39,262 --> 01:14:42,862
or I've just lost money on the horses, or the business is bad.

1217
01:14:42,862 --> 01:14:45,982
You can always find excuses or reasons for having a drink.

1218
01:14:45,982 --> 01:14:48,662
But I was running out of excuses and reasons,

1219
01:14:48,662 --> 01:14:50,542
and things were going so well.

1220
01:14:50,542 --> 01:14:53,262
The baby had arrived and our home was settled

1221
01:14:53,262 --> 01:14:56,422
and I had signed a good contract, but I was still getting drunk

1222
01:14:56,422 --> 01:14:59,662
and still going on binges for four, five, six days, sometimes a week,

1223
01:14:59,662 --> 01:15:01,582
where Angela wouldn't know where I was.

1224
01:15:01,582 --> 01:15:05,382
And I think the thing was that I had look at myself and say,

1225
01:15:05,382 --> 01:15:08,782
"You're a mess here, you know, you're going to blow everything,

1226
01:15:08,782 --> 01:15:10,302
"you're a disaster area."

1227
01:15:10,302 --> 01:15:13,182
That's the hardest part, to stand and look at yourself and say to

1228
01:15:13,182 --> 01:15:16,102
yourself, "You're no good. You know, you've got to get better."

1229
01:15:16,102 --> 01:15:18,702
So, I know it's difficult to say what lies ahead in the future,

1230
01:15:18,702 --> 01:15:20,062
but if you could choose,

1231
01:15:20,062 --> 01:15:22,702
what would you choose for the next couple of years?

1232
01:15:22,702 --> 01:15:26,142
50-50. Six months in America, six months in England.

1233
01:15:26,142 --> 01:15:29,342
- And another baby.
- Oh, you have it!

1234
01:15:29,342 --> 01:15:31,542
I wish I could, I'd have more than one!

1235
01:15:31,542 --> 01:15:32,582
Make a fortune as well.

1236
01:15:36,582 --> 01:15:38,822
It was a fabulous time.

1237
01:15:38,822 --> 01:15:45,142
For me, to be a young woman, with my man that I was smitten with,

1238
01:15:45,142 --> 01:15:47,862
in the sunshine, in a beautiful place.

1239
01:15:49,222 --> 01:15:52,662
And it was magically, perfectly beautiful.

1240
01:16:01,582 --> 01:16:05,102
It was San Jose Earthquakes at Spartan Stadium.

1241
01:16:05,102 --> 01:16:08,502
We had just scored a goal that should have been ruled offside.

1242
01:16:10,062 --> 01:16:14,422
George got into a real heated dispute with the referee.

1243
01:16:14,422 --> 01:16:16,742
Now Best is furious with Ian Foot.

1244
01:16:16,742 --> 01:16:19,582
He's going to get a card now.

1245
01:16:19,582 --> 01:16:21,702
- Best gets a yellow card.
- Best will get a card.

1246
01:16:21,702 --> 01:16:25,222
Like T Rex with haemorrhoids, Bestie was going nuts.

1247
01:16:26,862 --> 01:16:30,982
The goal stood, so San Jose gets the ball to kick off.

1248
01:16:30,982 --> 01:16:32,742
So concerned with the officiating

1249
01:16:32,742 --> 01:16:35,022
that their minds are really not on the soccer game

1250
01:16:35,022 --> 01:16:36,702
and then things start going against them

1251
01:16:36,702 --> 01:16:39,062
and the next thing you know, there's a goal.

1252
01:16:41,102 --> 01:16:44,702
I could hear him. I was lining up just on the other side of the circle

1253
01:16:44,702 --> 01:16:48,782
and, "Give me... just give me the ball!"

1254
01:16:49,942 --> 01:16:54,542
He started on this slalom, like Alberto Tomba going downhill.

1255
01:16:54,542 --> 01:16:58,582
Slating through the players. I'd never seen balance like this.

1256
01:16:58,582 --> 01:17:01,582
I think one or two of the players had two bites at him.

1257
01:17:01,582 --> 01:17:02,942
Manoeuvring unbelievably.

1258
01:17:02,942 --> 01:17:06,702
Best still has it. I don't believe this.

1259
01:17:09,342 --> 01:17:11,462
That's the greatest soccer goal I've ever seen!

1260
01:17:14,582 --> 01:17:18,382
It was anger, it was inspirational,

1261
01:17:18,382 --> 01:17:21,782
it was a demonstration of everything George had compacted

1262
01:17:21,782 --> 01:17:26,942
throughout his career into that playback, instantly, over time.

1263
01:17:26,942 --> 01:17:29,662
That is the greatest soccer goal I've ever seen.

1264
01:17:29,662 --> 01:17:31,462
Oh, man!

1265
01:17:32,982 --> 01:17:34,102
Outstanding!

1266
01:17:34,102 --> 01:17:37,942
It was still there, but sometimes it needed a big red-hot poker

1267
01:17:37,942 --> 01:17:40,182
pushed into very sensitive place

1268
01:17:40,182 --> 01:17:43,742
for George to call on it, to summon it up.

1269
01:17:43,742 --> 01:17:45,382
Talk about an individual effort!

1270
01:17:45,382 --> 01:17:49,702
This was a virtuoso performance by Best.

1271
01:17:49,702 --> 01:17:53,182
They'll give him the goal and they'll give him three assists!

1272
01:17:53,182 --> 01:17:55,582
These weren't Maldinis, I'll give you that,

1273
01:17:55,582 --> 01:17:57,742
that were defending against him,

1274
01:17:57,742 --> 01:18:00,462
but you go through seven or eight players,

1275
01:18:00,462 --> 01:18:02,862
you ask anybody that's played the game,

1276
01:18:02,862 --> 01:18:07,062
that's an elevation of skill that is just staggering,

1277
01:18:07,062 --> 01:18:08,902
jaw-dropping genius.

1278
01:18:10,542 --> 01:18:13,662
That was really flying. I've never seen one close to that.

1279
01:18:13,662 --> 01:18:16,582
George Best. He did it all by himself.

1280
01:18:16,582 --> 01:18:18,702
A soccer genius.

1281
01:18:18,702 --> 01:18:21,422
We hope you've enjoyed all the action that led to the Budweiser

1282
01:18:21,422 --> 01:18:25,862
Goal of the Year. To soccer fans everywhere, this Bud's for you.

1283
01:18:28,342 --> 01:18:31,222
I think it was a special banquet that was put together

1284
01:18:31,222 --> 01:18:34,742
and George's goal had been given the Budweiser Goal of the Year.

1285
01:18:35,902 --> 01:18:38,142
It was a nice night. It was really my night.

1286
01:18:38,142 --> 01:18:40,502
And I hadn't had a drink for 11 months.

1287
01:18:40,502 --> 01:18:44,462
And I left the presentation with my trophy and put it in the car

1288
01:18:44,462 --> 01:18:48,022
and I went and got drunk in a bar.

1289
01:18:48,022 --> 01:18:49,942
Then went for 22 days on a binge.

1290
01:19:02,622 --> 01:19:07,182
Oh, there were so many sad bits, but I realised it was over...

1291
01:19:09,542 --> 01:19:15,222
I always wanted to look after him, but enough is enough.

1292
01:19:15,222 --> 01:19:17,862
I can't look after both babies.

1293
01:19:17,862 --> 01:19:19,182
The big one's got to go.

1294
01:19:21,862 --> 01:19:25,302
After that, George drank every single day for 30 years.

1295
01:19:26,462 --> 01:19:27,502
That's all I know.

1296
01:19:36,142 --> 01:19:38,462
I think George was looking for a high.

1297
01:19:39,942 --> 01:19:42,182
Playing football in front of all of those

1298
01:19:42,182 --> 01:19:44,222
thousands and thousands of people.

1299
01:19:44,222 --> 01:19:47,822
And I think when that stops, there's kind of like a void in your life.

1300
01:19:54,142 --> 01:19:56,262
In the end he didn't want to stop drinking.

1301
01:19:58,702 --> 01:19:59,742
Or couldn't.

1302
01:20:12,102 --> 01:20:15,222
At one o'clock today, my father has passed away.

1303
01:20:16,302 --> 01:20:21,262
Not only have I lost my dad, but we've all lost a wonderful man.

1304
01:20:21,262 --> 01:20:23,822
And I'd just like to take the time to thank all the well-wishers

1305
01:20:23,822 --> 01:20:26,902
and the fans, and the letters, and the flowers, and the e-mails.

1306
01:20:26,902 --> 01:20:29,102
It all means so much to all of us.

1307
01:20:29,102 --> 01:20:31,222
And that's all I have to say.

1308
01:20:31,222 --> 01:20:32,262
Thank you very much.

1309
01:20:38,462 --> 01:20:40,822
The Belfast boy who came to Manchester United

1310
01:20:40,822 --> 01:20:44,262
with magic in his feet and a self-destruct button in his soul

1311
01:20:44,262 --> 01:20:47,262
died just before one o'clock this afternoon.

1312
01:20:47,262 --> 01:20:50,502
His was a life of bright talent, darkened by drink.

1313
01:20:52,702 --> 01:20:54,462
I never went to see him in hospital.

1314
01:20:56,782 --> 01:20:58,902
I didn't really want to do that anyway.

1315
01:20:58,902 --> 01:21:00,902
I didn't want to see George as he was, you know.

1316
01:21:00,902 --> 01:21:05,462
I wanted to remember him as a person that I played against

1317
01:21:05,462 --> 01:21:08,662
and also had as a great friend. Simple as that.

1318
01:21:08,662 --> 01:21:11,222
I couldn't go and see him in hospital. I couldn't do it.

1319
01:21:12,662 --> 01:21:15,902
Remembering George for what he was, and all that sort of thing.

1320
01:21:17,542 --> 01:21:20,382
And you knew that he was a goner. We knew that he was going to die.

1321
01:21:20,382 --> 01:21:23,262
That was a certainty, that he was...

1322
01:21:23,262 --> 01:21:24,422
Ach, it was just sad.

1323
01:21:25,862 --> 01:21:26,902
Sad.

1324
01:21:28,622 --> 01:21:30,982
I always feel as though we let him down.

1325
01:21:30,982 --> 01:21:32,942
He needed someone to say to him,

1326
01:21:32,942 --> 01:21:36,142
"George, this is what we'll do, this is what we should do.

1327
01:21:36,142 --> 01:21:40,262
"Let's get a plan and let's follow it through. Let's do this."

1328
01:21:41,262 --> 01:21:47,542
And there was nobody really...that he respected enough,

1329
01:21:47,542 --> 01:21:48,862
with the right plan.

1330
01:21:51,062 --> 01:21:53,622
It's impossible, of course, to tell the George Best story

1331
01:21:53,622 --> 01:21:56,782
only in terms of his spectacular talent on the field.

1332
01:21:56,782 --> 01:21:59,982
Off it, his was a life besieged by alcoholism.

1333
01:21:59,982 --> 01:22:03,182
Drink brought him trouble with managers and with the law.

1334
01:22:03,182 --> 01:22:07,942
He even served two months in prison in 1984 for drink-driving.

1335
01:22:09,462 --> 01:22:10,822
But he couldn't stop.

1336
01:22:14,582 --> 01:22:16,982
I married George when I was 23.

1337
01:22:18,902 --> 01:22:20,182
He had a vulnerable side

1338
01:22:20,182 --> 01:22:21,902
and it was almost as though you just

1339
01:22:21,902 --> 01:22:23,342
felt like looking after him,

1340
01:22:23,342 --> 01:22:25,102
like looking after a little child.

1341
01:22:26,942 --> 01:22:30,422
George, sober, was the most fantastic husband you could ask for.

1342
01:22:31,902 --> 01:22:33,982
But, unfortunately, when he was drinking

1343
01:22:33,982 --> 01:22:36,582
it was like two totally different people.

1344
01:22:36,582 --> 01:22:41,702
And the sober George wouldn't have particularly liked the drunk George.

1345
01:22:42,782 --> 01:22:44,542
It was a demon.

1346
01:22:44,542 --> 01:22:47,062
You know, that's why they call it the demon drink.

1347
01:22:47,062 --> 01:22:49,382
Terry, I like screwing, all right?

1348
01:22:50,382 --> 01:22:52,182
All right!

1349
01:22:52,182 --> 01:22:56,102
So, what do you do with your time these days?

1350
01:22:56,102 --> 01:22:57,342
- Screw.
- I see.

1351
01:22:57,342 --> 01:22:58,822
Ladies and gentlemen, George Best.

1352
01:23:00,382 --> 01:23:04,782
George swears blind that they spiked his drink, but he would do.

1353
01:23:04,782 --> 01:23:08,782
It shows him in the light, that the people who don't like him

1354
01:23:08,782 --> 01:23:10,782
would like to see him.

1355
01:23:12,622 --> 01:23:15,742
A drunken womaniser, and that's all he came over us.

1356
01:23:15,742 --> 01:23:18,582
And that isn't the sharp, smart Bestie that I know.

1357
01:23:19,822 --> 01:23:22,782
Fortunately that night, he was a happy drunk,

1358
01:23:22,782 --> 01:23:24,502
but he wasn't always a happy drunk.

1359
01:23:24,502 --> 01:23:30,582
George could be particularly violent with drink inside of him.

1360
01:23:31,902 --> 01:23:34,622
It could get pretty bad at times.

1361
01:23:34,622 --> 01:23:37,222
He could become quite aggressive.

1362
01:23:37,222 --> 01:23:39,182
It was...

1363
01:23:39,182 --> 01:23:40,662
It was not nice to witness.

1364
01:23:42,582 --> 01:23:45,502
A couple of times, you know, we did have a few fights.

1365
01:23:45,502 --> 01:23:48,142
And I did end up in hospital a couple of times.

1366
01:23:48,142 --> 01:23:50,542
She picked me up at the airport and she had a black eye.

1367
01:23:53,782 --> 01:23:56,062
I said, "Babes, what is that?"

1368
01:23:56,062 --> 01:23:58,622
They'd both been drunk, had a fight and he punched her.

1369
01:23:58,622 --> 01:24:05,422
And I said, I tried to warn her, I said, "Alex, what are you doing?"

1370
01:24:05,422 --> 01:24:08,782
But, you know, when you're in love, you're in love.

1371
01:24:12,742 --> 01:24:16,022
It was only really when George became sick with his liver disease

1372
01:24:16,022 --> 01:24:19,342
and we moved to Northern Ireland that I had a proper husband.

1373
01:24:20,462 --> 01:24:21,862
We did everything together.

1374
01:24:21,862 --> 01:24:25,222
We decorated the house together. We went shopping together.

1375
01:24:25,222 --> 01:24:26,902
It was absolutely fantastic.

1376
01:24:32,262 --> 01:24:35,942
Deep down, when I knew that he was going to get a liver transplant,

1377
01:24:35,942 --> 01:24:38,862
there was kind of like a little inkling, thinking,

1378
01:24:38,862 --> 01:24:42,622
I really do hope that this is, you know, for ever,

1379
01:24:42,622 --> 01:24:45,382
that he doesn't ever, ever drink again.

1380
01:24:47,222 --> 01:24:51,662
He had his new liver, he's got a beautiful wife,

1381
01:24:51,662 --> 01:24:56,702
he's got his whole life to live for now, because he's been saved.

1382
01:24:58,262 --> 01:25:00,702
And yet he goes back to the alcohol.

1383
01:25:02,422 --> 01:25:07,422
We went to Switzerland with some kids that had transplants.

1384
01:25:07,422 --> 01:25:09,182
And there was this lady there,

1385
01:25:09,182 --> 01:25:11,382
she had had a glass of wine in her hand,

1386
01:25:11,382 --> 01:25:13,502
and George looked and he went, well,

1387
01:25:13,502 --> 01:25:16,702
"She's drinking wine, but she's had a transplant."

1388
01:25:17,982 --> 01:25:20,382
Even after the terrible warning from the doctors

1389
01:25:20,382 --> 01:25:24,022
that one more drink could kill him, the press tracked him down

1390
01:25:24,022 --> 01:25:26,742
to a Surrey Pub, and he fell off the wagon.

1391
01:25:26,742 --> 01:25:29,262
It's one of the saddest things George ever told me.

1392
01:25:29,262 --> 01:25:31,902
After he hadn't drank, I think it was about three years,

1393
01:25:31,902 --> 01:25:34,182
and he had started again and we were sitting down

1394
01:25:34,182 --> 01:25:36,022
and I said, "What happened, George?"

1395
01:25:36,022 --> 01:25:37,382
He said, "Do you know what?"

1396
01:25:37,382 --> 01:25:39,622
He said, "There's not one day in the last three years

1397
01:25:39,622 --> 01:25:41,782
"that I hadn't thought about drinking,"

1398
01:25:41,782 --> 01:25:44,742
which I found really sad, because I thought he was doing so well.

1399
01:25:46,302 --> 01:25:49,422
It was kind of like watching a soap opera untangle

1400
01:25:49,422 --> 01:25:50,862
right in front of you.

1401
01:25:50,862 --> 01:25:53,222
And people find that interesting.

1402
01:25:53,222 --> 01:25:55,662
And the more pressure it was putting on George,

1403
01:25:55,662 --> 01:25:57,622
the more he drank and the worse it got.

1404
01:25:58,782 --> 01:26:01,062
Yeah, it was a tough one.

1405
01:26:06,262 --> 01:26:09,782
There was no doubt that there were times when he had done things wrong

1406
01:26:09,782 --> 01:26:12,182
and all the rest of it, and we cashed in on it.

1407
01:26:13,502 --> 01:26:15,902
We made a lot of money out of the newspapers,

1408
01:26:15,902 --> 01:26:17,982
because they wanted to use him anyway

1409
01:26:17,982 --> 01:26:21,182
and I was firmly of the opinion that if they were going to use him,

1410
01:26:21,182 --> 01:26:22,502
they were going to pay us.

1411
01:26:34,022 --> 01:26:36,742
I actually took the picture which,

1412
01:26:36,742 --> 01:26:41,262
I certainly regret doing it now, you know, it was done for a reason.

1413
01:26:41,262 --> 01:26:44,902
We had a contract with the News of the World to do a story

1414
01:26:44,902 --> 01:26:49,742
with them, when we came home, so it was money, really,

1415
01:26:49,742 --> 01:26:55,542
and George was quite happy to show the world what drink had done.

1416
01:26:56,702 --> 01:26:58,102
I never ever believed

1417
01:26:58,102 --> 01:27:00,702
that that would be the last picture taken of George.

1418
01:27:07,662 --> 01:27:11,022
It was tremendous to see the respect of the people of Northern Ireland.

1419
01:27:11,022 --> 01:27:13,822
It must have been something between a quarter of a million,

1420
01:27:13,822 --> 01:27:17,702
half a million people, out on the road. And George would have loved that.

1421
01:27:17,702 --> 01:27:21,462
He would have envisaged that as a proper send-off.

1422
01:27:22,862 --> 01:27:24,742
They named an airport after him.

1423
01:27:26,582 --> 01:27:29,382
Staggering, really, for a footballer.

1424
01:27:29,382 --> 01:27:32,182
Everybody in Northern Ireland was so proud of George at the end

1425
01:27:32,182 --> 01:27:34,502
of the day. And that was one of the saddest things,

1426
01:27:34,502 --> 01:27:39,262
because nobody thought George would go in the direction that he went in.

1427
01:27:39,262 --> 01:27:41,302
And he was just so well liked.

1428
01:27:43,822 --> 01:27:46,142
Sad, isn't it, when somebody kind of...

1429
01:27:51,262 --> 01:27:53,422
..sabotages themselves really.

1430
01:27:54,542 --> 01:27:56,982
But not wilfully, obviously.

1431
01:27:56,982 --> 01:28:01,902
I mean, I think he was a victim of his excess.

1432
01:28:07,822 --> 01:28:11,022
Everybody had wanted him to do better.

1433
01:28:11,022 --> 01:28:13,262
Everybody had tried to help him.

1434
01:28:14,262 --> 01:28:19,542
But he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to live it on his terms

1435
01:28:19,542 --> 01:28:22,502
and burn the candle all too quickly.

1436
01:28:26,062 --> 01:28:30,222
He came up with the expression, "Just remember me for my football."

1437
01:28:30,222 --> 01:28:33,902
Because he had to find a reason to deflect away from

1438
01:28:33,902 --> 01:28:36,102
who and what he had become.

1439
01:28:37,542 --> 01:28:39,942
What would you want people to think of you?

1440
01:28:41,662 --> 01:28:44,102
Well, I know what they will think.

1441
01:28:44,102 --> 01:28:47,742
They'll forget all the rubbish when I'm gone

1442
01:28:47,742 --> 01:28:50,542
and they'll remember the football.

1443
01:28:50,542 --> 01:28:52,142
It's as simple as that.

1444
01:28:52,142 --> 01:28:54,502
You know, I don't give a toss about everything else.

1445
01:28:54,502 --> 01:28:56,182
As long as they remember the football.

1446
01:28:56,182 --> 01:28:58,862
And if only one person thinks I was the best player in the world,

1447
01:28:58,862 --> 01:29:01,302
that will do for me, because that's what it was all about

1448
01:29:01,302 --> 01:29:02,422
as far as I'm concerned.

1449
01:29:02,422 --> 01:29:04,662
Oh, that's a forlorn hope.

1450
01:29:04,662 --> 01:29:08,502
I mean, none of us is entitled to ask for that.

1451
01:29:09,542 --> 01:29:13,902
To think people can look upon it as a career perfectly executed

1452
01:29:13,902 --> 01:29:16,502
would be madness.

1453
01:29:16,502 --> 01:29:21,902
You've just got to hope that the glorious stuff in George's career

1454
01:29:21,902 --> 01:29:27,382
far outweighs and outshines the rubbish and, to me, it does.

1455
01:29:27,382 --> 01:29:29,262
And George Best going through here!

1456
01:29:31,102 --> 01:29:32,742
Yes, it must be for George Best!

1457
01:29:34,102 --> 01:29:35,622
Georgie Best has done it!

1458
01:29:39,342 --> 01:29:41,582
I remember once in the hospital in America,

1459
01:29:41,582 --> 01:29:44,022
there was an Irish guy had become a counsellor,

1460
01:29:44,022 --> 01:29:46,902
and had been dry for something like 20-odd years.

1461
01:29:46,902 --> 01:29:49,822
And he said, the way I looked at it was like you have got a choice

1462
01:29:49,822 --> 01:29:51,262
of switching the light off or on.

1463
01:29:51,262 --> 01:29:53,542
He said it sounds oversimplified, but that's it.

1464
01:29:53,542 --> 01:29:56,502
And one day he said, you'd better decide whether you want the light

1465
01:29:56,502 --> 01:29:58,502
to keep shining or you want to switch it off.

1465
01:29:59,305 --> 01:30:05,775
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