Valencia Trader

George Best- my tribute

So much has recently been written about George Best and all words have been crafted in a lot better way than mine, but I managed to glimpse  the recent tribute at Old Trafford and whilst wiping away a tear, I thought I could write my own tribute.

You see, as a 10 year old football mad kid who particularly didn't  like Manchester United, George represented a major sea change in the way football was played, you could grow your hair long like a Beatle and still beat 5 players before putting the ball in the net. He wore a shirt outside his shorts, no shin pads. We all wanted to be like him because  just at the time I was being brain washed by the Johnny Haynes football book and Stanley Matthews metal toecap boots. Nothing bad in that you may say but here was clearly something different and when I saw him for the first time in a team that also included Law and Charlton ,they destroyed a West Ham side 6.1 that included Peters, Moore and Hurst.

He played as he lived, with a flamboyance and flair which mean't that any game with him playing was always exciting.

And so I started to wear my shirt outside of  the shorts, as we all did, but unfortunately it didn't make any difference to my football!
We were all with him when he didn't turn up for training, who likes that anyway, and he could still play.
Started growing my hair a bit longer , i can still remember my Mum complaining!

So George meant more to me than football, he was part of my growing up.

Thanks George