True Genius: George Best

Product Information

When he left United, George immediately took responsibility for his actions, saying that he had let the club down with his behaviour. He would be the subject for a second time in 2003 when Michael Aspel surprised him at Teddington Studios. He died in 2005, aged 59, from complications from the immunosuppressive drugs he needed to take after a liver transplant in 2002. However, the ' holy trinity' of Best, Law and Charlton were still as effective as ever in the 1968–69 campaign. They also reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where a defeat to West Ham United cost Best the chance to break a record; in the final Preston North End's Howard Kendall became the youngest ever player in a FA Cup Final – he shared the same birth date as Best.

On 20 November, the tabloid News of the World published a picture of Best (at his own request) showing him in his hospital bed with jaundice, along with a warning about the dangers of alcohol with his message: "Don't die like me". A panel of seven academics, journalists and historians named Best among the group of people in the UK "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character". The reek of embrocation, the crack of the broken leg and the snap of the ruptured achilles tendon are all gone, or at any rate shoved to the margins, and in their place comes a billowing cloud of glory.On numerous occasions, George told him that he would like to be remembered for his football - so Phil decided his wish should be committed to print. That is only one half of the story, and I won’t spoil either half, suffice it to say that it completely reframes George’s exit and almost completely removes his culpability. Matches of the Day: How footballing marriages of yesterday compare to Coleen and Wayne's lavish nuptials". His cause of death was a kidney infection, a side-effect of the immuno-suppressive drugs he was required to take after a liver transplant. And don't bother to look for any mistakes or omissions in there because I suspect you won't find any (one or two minor typos excepted).

Un’ultima nota con riferimento all’edizione italiana: essendo stata pubblicata quando Best era già morto – mentre l’edizione originale uscì prima che ciò accadesse – avrei gradito una postfazione in cui si raccontasse cosa è successo tra la pubblicazione del libro e la tragica fine (causata ovviamente dall’alcol) del protagonista. 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.La bebida estaba casi siempre presente en todos nuestros dramas, así que, en un intento desesperado por desintoxicarme durante un tiempo, me fui a Copenhague para que me cosieran pastillas de Disulfiram en el estómago.