LONDON - George Best, one of the most dazzling players in soccer history who also reveled in a hard-drinking, playboy lifestyle, died Friday after decades of alcohol abuse, hospital officials said. He was 59.
The 1960s and 1970s star for Manchester United and Northern Ireland had a liver transplant three years ago and had been hospitalized since Oct. 1 because of a reaction to medication to control his alcoholism.
This guy definately believed that it is better to burn out than to fade away.
"We all know that George Best was probably the most naturally gifted footballer of his generation, one of the greatest footballers the UK has ever produced," Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
"Unfortunately there is no solution to alcohol, you can't make it go away," Best wrote in a recent update to his second autobiography "Blessed." "Drink is the only opponent I've been unable to beat."
Best humiliated defenders and frustrated coaches during his wayward career. He scored 180 goals in 465 appearances for Manchester United, helping the team win the 1968 European Cup. He also played in the North American Soccer League, scoring 54 goals in 139 games for the Los Angeles Aztecs, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and San Jose Earthquakes.
Best was only 17 when he began baffling defenders with his extraordinary dribbling, thrilling fans with spectacular goals for Manchester United.
Slightly built but with amazing balance and devastating speed, Best would run at defenders and leave them tackling thin air. Sometimes he would embarrass them further by going back to beat them again.
Best made 37 international appearances for Northern Ireland. But the team had few other stars capable of making an impact in the World Cup or European Championship, and Best played in neither competition.
He starred in United's 5-1 win at Benfica's Stadium of Light in Portugal in 1966, scoring twice in the first 12 minutes, and the shaggy-haired star with screaming fans became known as the fifth Beatle. He was voted European Player of the Year after the club's Champions Cup triumph over the same Portuguese club at Wembley in 1968.
Best retired at 27 in 1972 to concentrate on his business ventures, which included nightclubs and clothing boutiques, only to come out of retirement three years later, considerably overweight.
Best slimmed down and went to the United States, where he played for the Aztecs of the now-defunct NASL. After agreeing to join Fulham in 1976, he walked out on the second-division English club. FIFA imposed a worldwide ban on Best because he broke his contract, ruling out a move to Fort Lauderdale. He later played for the team.
After the FIFA ban was lifted, Best had a successful spell with San Jose. He then moved to the Scottish club Hibernian but was fired when he failed to show for two games because of late-night drinking binges.
"Pele called me the greatest footballer in the world," Best once said. "That is the ultimate salute to my life."
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars," he once said. "The rest I just squandered."
"I used to go missing a lot _ Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World," he said.
In 1983, with his playing career over, Best was hit over the head with a beer glass in a London pub hours after he appeared in bankruptcy court for failing to pay back taxes. Just before Christmas the following year, Best was jailed for three months for drunk driving, assaulting a policeman and jumping bail.
In 1990, Best appeared wildly drunk on a live TV show, uttering expletives and embarrassing the host. But, with his second wife, Alex Pursey, standing by, he contained his drinking enough to make regular appearances on Sky TV's afternoon soccer program, giving his game analysis.
In 2004, Alex Best was granted a divorce after nine years of marriage on grounds of her husband's adultery. Best had a son, Calum, from a four-year marriage to his first wife, Angie.
