“He could turn on a sixpence, he had an unbelievable vision…that gave him all the time he needed to express himself” Bobby Charlton
“Most of the players at United were married and most of the players at City were married, so really I’m a single lad in Manchester in the 60s which was quite amazing – you can imagine…” Mike Summerbee
“A beautiful player – he could score from all angles…just a marvellous player” Dennis Law
“He was causing quite a stir but nobody really knew quite how to handle it” David Sadler
“A thing of beauty and we didn’t get it all and he didn’t get it all either” Harry Gregg
“George was gifted with more individual ability than I had ever seen in a player. When you remember great names like Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney, I can’t think of one who took the ball so close to an opponent to beat him with it as Best did.” Sir Matt Busby
“George was the best footballer I’ve ever seen. He was just a special talent. I’ve never seen anyone with the ability to beat people, to dribble, an amazing footballer. George Best was just the best. The greatest. He knew players went out onto the pitch to hurt him. They couldn’t get near him.” Harry Redknapp
“As a Manchester United fan I always saw George Best as a football legend and it was a proud moment for me when I wore the same number seven shirt as him. He is one of the greatest players to have ever graced the game and a great person as well.” David Beckham
“He has ice in his veins, warmth in his heart and timing and balance in his feet.” Danny Blanchflower
George Best on George Best…
“If you’d given me the choice of going out and beating four men and smashing a goal in from thirty yards against Liverpool or going to bed with Miss World, it would have been a difficult choice. Luckily, I had both.”
“I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.”
“I always felt like an entertainer and I knew I could get the crowd excited by doing little things and trying things differently…”
“I was born with a great gift, and sometimes with that comes a destructive streak. Just as I wanted to outdo everyone when I played, I had to outdo everyone when we were out on the town.”
“They say I slept with seven Miss Worlds. I didn’t. It was only four. I didn’t turn up for the other three.”
“When I first arrived in America, in an effort to drum up enthusiasm, I was billed by the media as ‘the White Pele’…I decided to put everything right, though, at my first press conference when I told the assembled media that I was not ‘the White Pele’ and that Pele was in fact ‘the Black George Best’…”
“They’ll forget all the rubbish when I’ve gone and they’ll remember the football. If only one person thinks I’m the best player in the world, that’s good enough for me…”
