He then dropped back into the reserves, before scoring his first goal for the first team in his second appearance in a 5–1 win over Burnley on 28 December. He was given a job as an errand boy on the Manchester tesco slots casino Ship Canal, allowing him to train with the club twice a week. Best then moved to Lisnasharragh Secondary School, reuniting him with friends from primary school and allowing him to focus on football. In his autobiography, Best mentioned how important the Order was to his family. However, his extravagant lifestyle led to various personal problems, most notably alcoholism, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. He won two League titles, two Charity Shields and the European Cup with the club. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1968 and came fifth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote.
Dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries, the Van Gogh Museum houses the largest collection of the artist’s work anywhere in the world. The exhibition is open all year round and guests can visit the ‘secret annexe’ the family stayed in. This 17th-Century canal house, where Anne Frank, her family and four others hid from the Nazis for two years, is now a museum and educational centre. Don’t miss the beautiful rose garden or the famous open-air theatre where, if you’re lucky, you might catch an impromptu show. Locals come here to run, cycle, play sports or chill, and there are plenty of activities for those looking to make a day of it.
He played only three league games, the others against Bohemians and Shelbourne, but despite attracting big crowds he failed to score or impress. During his short time there, he was the main draw attracting thousands of spectators to the matches. Frustrated with the club's decline, Best went missing in December to party at the London nightclubs. With 27 goals in 54 appearances, Best finished as the club's top-scorer for the sixth – and final – consecutive season. In the quarter-finals, United advanced past Polish club Górnik Zabrze 2–1 on aggregate, having held on to their aggregate lead in freezing temperatures in front of 105,000 at Silesian Stadium. Best assisted John Aston for the first and scored the second himself and was described by Geoffrey Green of The Times as "the centrepiece of the chessboard … a player full of fantasy; a player who lent magic to what might have been whimsy". Best stated that "if the championship was decided on home games we would win it every season. This time our away games made the difference. We got into the right frame of mind." An ever-present all season long, he scored 10 goals in 45 games.
What’s Happening In Amsterdam In 2026?
Tributes were paid to Best from around the world, including from arguably three of the greatest football players ever, Pelé, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff. Contrary to popular belief and urban legend, he never played football for the prison team. In a 2015 interview, José Mourinho, then manager of Chelsea, named Best as the player from any era he would most like to sign, describing him as "amazing" and "30 years ahead of his time". He is regarded as one of the greatest players never to have played at a World Cup, being "hamstrung in World Cup terms by hailing from a global minnow". On 29 October 1984, Best played as a special guest for Reading against the New Zealand national team in a friendly game, alongside 1966 World Cup winner Martin Peters. His time with the "Cottagers" is particularly remembered for a match against Hereford United on 25 September 1976 in which he jokingly tackled his own teammate and drinking mate, Rodney Marsh.
Personal Life
When Best played football, salaries were a fraction of what top players earn today, but, with his pop star image and celebrity status, Best still earned a fortune. "George Best was one of the most talented players of all time and probably the best footballer who never made it to a major world final." While in Hong Kong, Best also played darts for a team called Presstuds, made up of a combination of professional footballers and sports journalists. After failing to agree terms with Bolton Wanderers in 1981, he was invited as a guest player and played three matches for two Hong Kong First Division teams (Sea Bee and Rangers) in 1982. United's decline continued in the 1972–73 season, as Best was part of the 'old guard clique' that barely talked to the newer, less talented players.
Manager Matt Busby then kept Best in the team; by the end of the 1963–64 season, he had made 26 appearances, scoring six goals. His first time moving to the club, Best quickly became homesick and stayed for only two days before going back home to Northern Ireland. In 1957, the academically gifted Best passed the 11-plus and went to Grosvenor High School, but he soon played truant as the school specialised in rugby union. After football, he spent some time as a football analyst, but his financial and health problems continued into his retirement. The Irish Football Association described him as the "greatest player to ever pull on the green shirt of Northern Ireland". He considered his international career as being "recreational football", with the expectations placed on a smaller nation in Northern Ireland being much less than with his club.
Amsterdam’s greatest, grandest, and most classical museum, with a huge collection of Dutch art dating back to the Golden Age. There’s not much difference between most operators, but it’s worth going on a longer tour that also heads out onto the IJ (the best ones are around 75 minutes). There are many tour operators with boats, most of which depart from around Centraal. Don’t miss the Rijksmuseum, truly one of the world’s great art institutions. But no visit should be without a canal cruise – it’s the best way to see the city and provides a unique perspective of the UNESCO World Heritage canal ring. You could stay here a week and not have time to see all the main attractions.
During this, fans in every seat held aloft pictures of Best, which were given out before the match. British prime minister Tony Blair described him as "probably the most naturally gifted footballer of his generation, one of the greatest footballers the UK has ever produced". Best continued to drink and was sometimes seen at his local pub in Surbiton, London. At the end of July and start of August 2002, he had a successful liver transplant at the private Cromwell Hospital in London. In September 1990, Best appeared on the primetime BBC1 chat show Wogan in which he was heavily drunk and swore, at one point saying to the host, "Terry, I like screwing".
He returned to the US to play for the San Jose Earthquakes in what was officially described as a "loan", though he only managed a handful of appearances for Hibs in the First Division in the following season. In 1975, Best played three matches for Stockport County in the Fourth Division. Best then announced his retirement from football, but nevertheless turned up for pre-season training and continued to play. The rising star of English football, Best was catapulted to superstar status at the age of 19, when he scored two goals in a European Cup quarter-final match against Benfica at the Estádio da Luz on 9 March 1966. A combination of the team's performance and his lack of fitness in 1982 meant that he never played in the finals of a major tournament. There are several outstanding artworks, and it’s still used for the occasional service (and even weddings). This former church, spread across the top three floors of a 17th-century canal house, was where Catholics would come to pray after public displays of worship were banned by the Alteration of 1578.
He would be the subject for a second time in 2003 when Michael Aspel surprised him at Teddington Studios. Instead, he spent his time with Miss Great Britain 1971, Carolyn Moore. Busby returned as manager in December 1970, though the 1970–71 season also ended without a trophy. I remember thinking George was going to go one way, but he dropped his shoulder and went the other, and by then I was already on the deck. United improved slightly under new boss Wilf McGuinness, but still only managed an eighth-place finish in the 1969–70 season.
