Reply to: Best the greatest? No way!

[Joe Black]

He's lost a lot of weight recently by the way.

Yep, they had to otherwise he wouldn't have made it onto the plane to visit his mate in Cuba.

I believe they stapled his stomach or something...now if they'd done something like that with Best as well, cut his drinking down to a glass or two a day, then he might still be around.

[Bagpuss]

When anyone has a "best" this or that poll they are always biased towards the latter day. Remember the best doesn't mean the most talented. One thing people seem to forget about Best is he was brilliant on football pitches you don't see outside of the natiowide conference these days i.e. a ploughed field. Imagine how good he would of been on today's playing surfaces.

George may not have been the best, but he was one of them!


Cue some smarmy little sh1t being nasty because he's so cool, man.

[SupremeSpod]

"He's lost a lot of weight recently by the way."

So has Best!

21 grams...

[BoredBloke]

"He's lost a lot of weight recently by the way."

So has Best!

[stackpole]

BennO is right. Stackpole are you by any chance just a young wipper snapper?
I am lucky enough to remember watching George on the ol' black an white with my Grandad...and belive me he was the best. Pele was a great player and a gentleman...Maradonna was great in flashes and as a flawed Genius a cheating bar-steward. Best was a natural genius..and if he had played for England and not Northern Ireland....well

I take your point, but I can only go on what I've seen on TV and the opinions of people who saw them. I have only seen the world cup videos of Pele, and hardly anything of Di Stefano, which makes it difficult, but I've seen a lot of videos of Best and Maradona.

I'm also old enough to remember the 1986 and 1990 world cups, and I hated Maradona. But on relection he seemed able to do anything, and he dragged Argentine to two world cup finals almost on his own. Few people remember any of those two Argentine teams, whereas even I know some of the other great players for Brazil in 1970 and Man Utd in 1968.

My dad thought Best was great, but Maradona was something else. He saw both play live, although that's not always conclusive.

The fact that Maradona was also a cheating bar steward and all-round nasty piece of work is neither here nor there really, we aren't voting for president.

[benn0]

Hmm...and you would trust this guys opinion?...

On football related matters, yes.

He's lost a lot of weight recently by the way.

[Joe Black]

Maradona and Pele have both have gone on record to say Best was one of, if not THE, greatest.

Hmm...and you would trust this guys opinion?...

[Phoenix]

George Best will be the greatest footballer ever for a few weeks, then the world will return to normal and it will be back to Maradona or Pele, or perhaps someone else.

BennO is right. Stackpole are you by any chance just a young wipper snapper?
I am lucky enough to remember watching George on the ol' black an white with my Grandad...and belive me he was the best. Pele was a great player and a gentleman...Maradonna was great in flashes and as a flawed Genius a cheating bar-steward. Best was a natural genius..and if he had played for England and not Northern Ireland....well

[benn0]

Just being sarcastic. I only saw Best play once, in Bryan Robson's testimonial and at that stage he was gone. However, people tell me he that some of the things he did with a football defied belief. The problem is that a lot of games in those days just weren't televised so footage doesn't exist.

Maradona and Pele have both have gone on record to say Best was one of, if not THE, greatest. Pele in particular played at the same time so I respect his opinion more than that of a load of teenagers and twenty somethings who probably only started supporting United in the early 90s.

[stackpole]

George Best was rubbish

Who said that?

[benn0]

George Best was rubbish

[stackpole]

To add another name to the mix...

...I think the fans voted for Eric Cantona.

Correct.

In a couple of years time it will be Wayne Rooney.

[wendigo100]

To add another name to the mix...

Furthermore, in their widely-publicised poll in 2001, Man United fans didn't even vote him the best United player ever.

...I think the fans voted for Eric Cantona.

[woo]

only last week, roy keane was the greatest united player ever. so they ALL said on tv, I heard it from at least 5 top manu people + others on sky sports including frank stapleton.

[WageSlave]

In terms of 'the greatest', Di Stefano is nearly always overlooked. I'd say Maradona was the best (and Madonna had/has a fantastic pair of charlies - better than Madona's?).

I think a fairer comparision in terms of ability would be Best/Cruyff.