BS: George Best

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: akenaton
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 11:40 AM

.....And then what kind of democracy we want....and then...and then ....boy it gets complicated....

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: akenaton
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 06:26 AM

I suppose the question is ...Should organs be given to anyone who can afford them regardless of other circumstances? That takes the whole aruement away from whether George was at fault,and on to what sort of health service we want. AKE..

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Liam
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 03:17 AM

I know the point you are trying to make ake, but surely the bugbear of this is that the man took away an opportunity for another person to live out hjis life. I am aware of how alcohol can affect some people in the way that it does, but cant understand the need or reason to revisit this situation. Why? Why? Why?

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: akenaton
Date: 23 Aug 03 - 05:06 PM

The area in which i grew up, and I suppose many others alcohol abuse was part of the culture ...for a man anyway..Alcoholism was very common and even seen as the sign of a "real " man. Iv seen many people destroyed by alcohol,both folk singers and ordinary punters.
Although I very much agree with the point regarding the shortage of   organs, I think we might all have tried to have another grab at life if we were in Georges position...Whether we would have been able to keep on the straight and narrow, nobody knows..Ake

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Kj
Date: 23 Aug 03 - 01:58 PM

Well said Barb'ry

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: Barb'ry
Date: 23 Aug 03 - 01:53 PM

The man was one of the best footballers ever - he went off the rails - sadly, thousands of people do. He became an alcoholic - again, sadly thousands of people do. When he became seriously ill he desperately tried to give up the bottle and for a time was successful. It all went wrong though but I'm not going to sit in judgement of him. I don't think he ever asked for our sympathy. It is just a shame that alcoholism is still ruining lives today - any lives.
As C_flat says, another hero gone wrong
Barb'ry

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: jacqui c
Date: 23 Aug 03 - 01:32 PM

I read a letter in a paper recently which suggested giving George another liver transplant - his old liver.

OK,so he's a tortured man, but, having come so close to death AND taking the transplant option, surely he should have a little more responsibility. He says that he can't stop drinking, a fact that he must have been aware of prior to the transplant, so why possibly take away someone else's chance of life if he couldn't look after his own? If he really wanted to stop he has the wherewithall to get the best psychological/psychiatric treatment but, it would appear, just wants to follow his own selfish lifestyle.

Sorry, I've got no sympathy - I do carry a donor card and would not want to make any conditions on the use of any of my organs but this man is taking the piss. He's also not helping the cause of organ donation, is he, and who's going to suffer for that? I know a lovely family where father has just had a kidney transplant after nearly five years on dialysis and know how much someone else's generosity can mean. I also knew a wonderful guy who didn't get his heart transplant in time and died at the age of 49. Best might just have persuaded some people, or their relations after death that donating organs can be a waste of time. How many lives might be lost or blighted as a result?

The man had the opportunity for a really good life, based on his undeniable talent. He has let a lot of people down on the way, including his fans.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Janice
Date: 23 Aug 03 - 01:09 PM

Akenaton makes a good point about the folk greats devoured by the demon, although I wouldn't say we were being smug.

Having lost a very dear folky to the bottle, I am sensitive to this matter, and it always reminds me of how much of a product of our environment we all are. I don't sympathise much with George Best, but I must say that probably a lot of the folk that he grew up with are either already dead from alcohol abuse or on their way there, fast !

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: C-flat
Date: 22 Aug 03 - 05:06 PM

The papers do headline Georges antics because there's nothing the British press like more than a fallen idol.
To my generation he was a hero who took football to another level, almost art. I'm not angry at him, just saddened to see another boyhood hero in reduced circumstances. Yes, they're of his own making, but he's also a victim of the press, the times he lived in and his own compulsive personality.
We're all losers.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Liam
Date: 22 Aug 03 - 09:25 AM

Smug, not me. The bloke is a loser yet all the papers seem to headline his antics.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Aug 03 - 03:28 AM

Who's being smug?
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: akenaton
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 08:55 PM

I dont think we should all be so smug...What about the folk greats who were devoured by the "demon"

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Den
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 11:46 AM

Probably hungover.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Liam
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 10:33 AM

Besty is a disgrace to the human race. He was asked to appear at the transplant games in London recently. He declined the invite.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 03:39 PM

With Roy Keane it's the uncontrollable aspect of his persona, I was alluding to rather than any alchoholic tendencies.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Cheeky
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 11:44 AM

Thanks Chris. I meant it to be funny, but you are so right.. it is a serious matter.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Chris Fincham
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 11:42 AM

Cheeky you are so right. The liver he has been given to prolong his life is an insult to the (probable) male twenty three year old who lost his life in a motoring accident and carried a donor card enabling a desperately ill person to have a chnace in life.

Shame on George Best.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Cheeky
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 10:41 AM

Would you donate your liver to George Best ?

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: Beardy
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 09:41 AM

Not now Fiolar. I lived there from 1962 (just after birth) until 1994. Now in Farnham but spending most of my time in Hull with brid widder.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Den
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 08:58 AM

Giok, I fail to see how Roy Keane (not sure about Eddie Irvine) fits into your little group of alcoholics above. He captains Man Utd one of the biggest clubs in the world and still competes at the highest level at the age of 32. His career (barring injury) could continue for another three years and after that I tip him to be future manager at United. You can't compete at that level in the modern game and be a heavy drinker.

I used to have sympathy for Best but now I feel he's run out of excuses. Grow up George, get a life.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: Fiolar
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 08:42 AM

Why do so many gifted sports persons finish up pissing their talents away against the nearest pub wall? Bloody sad. There was an article recently in one of the Sunday colour magazines about Alex Higgins. Apparently he has been banned from every hotel in Manchester.
Thread creep: Beardy: Do you live in Chertsey? I worked at St Peter's Hospital in the 1960s doing my SRN training. Happy days.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: C-flat
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 08:37 AM

I agree Ard Mharcha, and as long as the morons who go out looking for trouble are allowed to go to football matches, it shall remain so.
If there wasn't any football however, I feel sure that spectator violence would creep into that sport too. It's been happening to cricket in recent years.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: ard mhacha
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 08:05 AM

Never any trouble with the 70,000 supporters at Murrayfield. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: C-flat
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 04:31 PM

I don't think you can blame football for the divisions in Glasgow. Let's face it, if it wasn't tagged on to football it would be tagged on to something else where crowds gather.
Those problems reach further than the terraces.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: ard mhacha
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 04:03 PM

Giok, I don`t find fault with your opinion of what passes for sport in Glasgow between Celtic and Rangers. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Peter Blythe
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 10:57 AM

Did he not play for an American team. Tampa Bay Rodies or something like that?

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: Beardy
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 07:22 AM

Kenny Sansom reduced by drinking and excessive gambling to having to play for my local non-league team, Chertsey Town, in the mid 90's. Helped us get 2 promotions and win 3 cups. Not bad for a bloody 'gooner'.

Stewart

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Peter Blythe
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 07:09 AM

Anagram of George Best...

Go get beers

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Peter Blythe
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 05:51 AM

George's downfall has indeed led to other future sporting greats acknowledging what can happen and has led to mentors and the like being put in place to look after them.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 03:13 AM

I don't have a favourite team. I loathe football. I'm a Glaswegian, and to me football, is a means of perpetuating mindless sectarian hatred, and I would never be party to religious prejudice. My Father was Belfast born and he hated Catholics, but I don't think he really knew why. It's just a religion/ethnic thing that seems to be part of some sad peoples genes.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: Teribus
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 01:52 AM

Without a shadow of a doubt, probably the greatest footballing talent ever to come out of the British Isles (Geographic feature). Unfortunately I think he was in the right place at the wrong time, surrounded by the wrong people.

The 1960's and the emergence of the "permissive society", salaries and transfers fees for footballers had just started to really take off. Had George Best come on the scene about 10 - 15 years later, I believe that the story would have been different.

Taking being in the right place, by that I meant the English First Division, not the club he played for. In the 60's, had he played for Don Revie's Leeds, or Shank's Liverpool, I also believe the story would have been different, either of those managers would have looked after his best interests.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Liam
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 05:38 PM

His mother was a well known alchoholic around the streets of Belfast. Do you think it may be in his genes then?

Stan Bowles

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 05:36 PM

Tont Adams
Paul Merson

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: ard mhacha
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 04:28 PM

Dennis Law?, for the goals he scored against your favourite team, Giok. Chick Calderwood?, neither of these two behaved badly during their careers.
George Best and Jimmy Greaves drunk themselves stupid during their careers. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: Amos
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 04:14 PM

Elmer Fudd
Alfred E. Neuman
Scrooge Mc Doich

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 04:09 PM

Chick Calderwood
Dennis Law

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Liam
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 02:47 PM

Jimmy Greaves

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 01:48 PM

Gosh you really had to reach back for those Ard Macha ;-)
I'm a Scot, and I'm sure we could build an even longer list of celts, if we added our lot to the soup.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: ard mhacha
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 01:37 PM

Paul Gascoigne,
Freddie Mills,
Randy Turpin,
Oh, er sorry, all English. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Liam
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 12:52 PM

Met George in a bar in London. Spoke for several minutes regarding the state of the country (UK early eighties). Very knowledgable man regarding current affairs. Shame to see him making the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: C-flat
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 12:01 PM

I can certainly see the similarities in the flawed genius of Alex Higgins and Best.
They both found success in their respective sports easily, without having to work at their talents like the competition. Imagine what a footballer George would have been if he had the application and dedication of some of the more workmanlike proffessionals in the game.

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 10:44 AM

George Best
Roy Keane
Alex "Hurricane" Higgins
Eddie Irvine

A certain sad celtic synchronicity.

Giok

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 10:32 AM

Sad, sad story that is going to end up in an obit for him on here..

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Red Eye
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 10:31 AM

One of his 'jokes' is that he observed an advertisment requesting people to Drink Canada Dry (mixer). So he did by starting in Quebec!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 09:10 AM

I thought he was fratenising with a bottle of Jamesons or some such?

Only two tales. Mrs G's claim to fame (Before she became Mrs G that is!) was the Besty jumped over her while she was sunbathing in Heaton Park. For my part I never met him but when a guy looking EXACTLY like him approached me for £1 for a cuppa last year I had to give at least a fiver. Still not sure it wasn't him:-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: George Best
From: C-flat
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 09:09 AM

There can't be much left to write about George Best, his life is so well documented. He seems a sad, tragic figure now, trading on his one-time undoubted football genius.
I used to watch him from the terraces, spellbound, and would rather see old clips of that George than read about his self-destruction now.
Todays sports stars are much better prepared and protected from themselves but in his glory days he was a modern phenomena, without proper management, and did what I suspect most young men would do, faced with hordes of screaming fans and pockets bulging with cash.
The trouble with George is he never grew up.
My favourite "Best" story is the one when he was stopping in a swanky hotel with his current love (Miss World), having just had a huge win at the races, and was enjoying a few bottles of fine champagne in his hotel suite.
The room-service waiter enters the room, there's George with Miss World, drinking champagne on a bed strewn with the days winnings.
"Where did it all go wrong, George?" says the waiter........

Subject: BS: George Best
From: GUEST,Red Eye
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 08:39 AM

Thread to discuss the trials and tribulations of George Best, gifted soccer player in the late sixties and seventies. Has battled against alcoholism for much of his life. Imprisoned for it (drink driving) and recently had a new liver transplant. Best now aged 57 has been left alone by his beautiful wife Alex (31) when it was disclosed that he was fraternising with another woman.

He has a new book out later this month.