Source: TheGuardian
George Best’s inglorious post-Manchester United career, 50 years on
Half a century after his final match for United at the age of 27, a look at the final years of star’s footballing journeyBy Richard Foster for The Football MineJust over 50 years ago George Best played his last match for Manchester United. On New Year’s Day 1974, First Division newcomers Queens Park Rangers took on United at Loftus Road. The game featured two goals from a mercurial maverick, including a characteristically mazy dribble past four opposing players before slipping the ball under the keeper. The player in question was not Best, however, but the equally talented and similarly flawed Stan Bowles. QPR’s 3-0 victory, their first ever over United, left the visitors languishing in 20th place and still in the bottom three. The season ended in United’s ignominious relegation to Division Two.A few weeks later United’s manager Tommy Docherty lost patience with his wayward star after he missed training several more times and he dropped Best for an FA Cup tie against Plymouth Argyle. Best recalled his exchange with Docherty: “I said, ‘Fair enough’. He rabbited on for a bit but to tell you the truth I wasn’t listening. I was thinking, ‘Here we are playing a Third Division side at home and he doesn’t reckon I’m good enough to be in the side’.” It was an inglorious exit for the 27-year-old, who made almost 500 appearances for the club, including the crowning glory of the European Cup final win over Benfica in 1968. Continue reading......read full article
