'Rare breed' Best remembered on what would have been his 80th birthday
- Published
George Best would have been 80 years old today.
It is six decades since he started to dazzle home audiences and over 40 years since he last played a game - but he is one of a rare breed whose legacy endures.
Either in the colours of Manchester United or Northern Ireland, the highlights of his career encapsulate why many who saw him still argue he was the best player ever.
For those who are younger, whose parents were too young to see Best play, there is a modern-day comparison.
"Lionel Messi is close to George Best in the way he plays," said another former United and Northern Ireland great, Sammy McIlroy. "He can dribble, beat people, score goals and make goals."
McIlroy counted Best as a hero when he was growing up in Belfast. Best later became his mentor and team-mate.
"Messi has this amazing dribbling ability," McIlroy added. "Best had it too, but this was in the 1960s when the conditions were much different to the way they are now. The pitches were terrible and your opponents wanted to hurt you.
"Norman Hunter, Tommy Smith and Ron Harris were good players, but they were cruel in the way they played. It didn't bother George, though.
"It didn't matter who was dishing it out. He used to take the rough stuff, get up, and say: 'Come on then, let's have some more'.
But there was more to Best than what he did on matchday.
McIlroy recounts he was a fierce competitor in training and, at odds with the devil-may-care attitude his off-field antics often portrayed, he was also a father figure to young players from Northern Ireland like him who had travelled to England with dreams of representing United.
