Dancing Shoes - The George Best Story
About George Best
George Best:
A Time line
22 May 1946
George Best is born in Belfast, the first child of Dickie and Anne.
1957
Aged 11, the academically gifted Best passes the 11 plus and goes to Grosvenor High School, but he soon plays truant as the school specialises in rugby. Best then moves to Lisnasharragh Secondary School, reuniting him with friends from primary school and allowing him to focus on football.
1963
At the age of 15, Best is discovered in Belfast by Manchester United scout Bob Bishop, whose telegram to United manager Matt Busby read: "I think I've found you a genius." He was subsequently given a trial and signed up by chief scout Joe Armstrong.
14 September 1963
Aged 17, Best makes his Manchester United debut playing against West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford in a 1–0 victory.
28 December 1963
In a First Division match against Burnley Best scores his first goal for United in a 5–1 win.
15 April 1964
Best débuts for northern Ireland in an away game against Wales.
1966
Best hits the headlines at the age of twenty when he scores two goals in a European Cup quarter-final match against Benfica, his long hair prompts the Portuguese press to dub him "El Beatle".
1968
Best wins the European Cup with Manchester United, and is named European Footballer of the Year.
1970
German avantgarde film director Hellmuth Costard makes a film entitled Fußball wie noch nie, translated into English as Football like never before. The film shows only Best, filmed from 8 cameras, during a regular Manchester United match. The film is screened in the year 1971 by German public broadcast ARD.
15 May 1971
While playing for Northern Ireland Best scores possibly the most famous "goal" of his career at Windsor Park in Belfast against England. As Gordon Banks, the English goalkeeper, releases the ball in the air in order to kick the ball downfield, Best manages to nick the ball in mid air, sending it high over their heads heading towards the open goal. Best outpaces Banks and heads the ball into the empty goal, but the goal is wrongly disallowed by referee Alistair Mackenzie.
1972
After a night on the town, Best misses an away game against Chelsea. Insteda, he decides to visit actress girlfriend, Sinead Cussack at her mews house. Very soon the house is put under siege as the media/press spend the weekend camped outside the house.
1 January 1974
Best plays his last competitive game for Manchester United winning against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. In total Best makes 470 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions from 1963 to 1974, scoring 179 goals (including six in one game against fourth division Northampton Town.
1976
Best signs to the Los Angeles Aztecs and moves to play football in the USA.
1978
While in the states George receives word his Mother, Anne has died aged 55.
24 January 1978
George Best marries Angela MacDonald-Janes in Las Vegas, the marriage is annulled in 1986.
6 February 1981
Calum Best is born.
1984
George plays his last competitive game for Tobermore United.
December 1984
Best spends Christmas of 1984 behind bars having received a three month sentence for drink driving, assaulting a police officer and failing to answer bail sentence, he turns out as a player for Ford Open Prison.
1995
George marries Alex Pursey in Kensington and Chelsea, London. They later divorce in 2004.
1998
Best becomes a football pundit on the Sky Sports live show Soccer Saturday. His last appearance on the show is in 2004.
1999
Best is voted 11th at the IFFHS European Player of the Century election, and 16th in the World Player of the Century election.
2001
An honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast is awarded to Best (alongside Marie Jones, playwright).
August 2002
Best undergoes a successful liver transplant at King's College Hospital in London.
November 2004
58-year-old Best agrees to join Premier League club Portsmouth as a youth coach, citing his desire to get involved in football again.
3 October 2005
Best is admitted to intensive care at the private Cromwell Hospital in London, suffering from a kidney infection caused by the side effects of immuno-suppressive drugs used to prevent his body from rejecting his transplanted liver.
20 November 2005
British tabloid News of the World publishes a picture of Best at his own request, showing him in his hospital bed, along with what was reported to be his final message: "Don't die like me".
25 November 2005
Treatment on George is stopped; he eventually dies, aged 59, after a battle that lasts longer than doctors expect, at 13:06 that day as a result of a lung infection and multiple organ failure.
26 November 2005
The FA Premier League announces that a minute's silence will be observed before all Premier League games to be held over the weekend of Best’s death; this is ignored at many grounds, in favour of a minute's applause in his honour. The first match at Old Trafford following his death is a League Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion, the club against which he made his début for Manchester United in 1963.
3 December 2005
His body leaves the family home at Burragh Way, Cregagh Estate, East Belfast, shortly after 10 a.m. on Saturday, 3 December 2005. The cortege travels the short distance to Stormont. The route is lined with around 100,000 mourners. There is an 11 a.m. service in the Grand Hall relayed to around 25,000 mourners inside the grounds of Stormont. The Funeral is live on several TV stations including BBC One. Afterward, Best is buried beside his mother Anne in a private ceremony at the hill-top Roselawn Cemetery, overlooking east Belfast.
March 2006
Airline Flybe, name a Dash 8 (Q400) plane The George Best. The aircraft is later used to carry Best's family across to the Manchester memorial service for Best.
22 May 2006
Belfast City Airport is renamed George Best Belfast City Airport as a tribute to Best. The official new name and signage is unveiled to a gathering of the Best family and friends at the airport .
25 November 2006
Ulster Bank issue one million commemorative five pound notes. The notes sell out in five days. Today the notes sell on online auction sites for up to £30.
2007
GQ Magazine name George as one of the 50 most stylish men of the past 50 years.
16 April 2008
Best’s father, Dickie dies aged 88.
|
1963–1974 |
361 |
(137) |
|
|
1974 |
→ Jewish Guild (loan) |
5 |
(0) |
|
1974 |
→ Dunstable Town (loan) |
0 |
(0) |
|
1975 |
3 |
(2) |
|
|
1975–1976 |
3 |
(0) |
|
|
1976 |
23 |
(15) |
|
|
1976–1978 |
42 |
(8) |
|
|
1977–1978 |
32 |
(12) |
|
|
1978–1979 |
26 |
(6) |
|
|
1979–1981 |
17 |
(3) |
|
|
1980–1981 |
56 |
(28) |
|
|
1980–1981 |
San Jose Earthquakes (indoor) |
16 |
(25) |
|
1982 |
2 |
(0) |
|
|
1982 |
1 |
(0) |
|
|
1983 |
5 |
(0) |
|
|
1983 |
2 |
(0) |
|
|
1983 |
1 |
(1) |
|
|
1983 |
|||
|
1984 |
1 |
(0) |
|
|
Total |
