There will never be another football maverick like George Best – and quite frankly we’re unsure if the world would be able to cope with such a superstar these days.
The Belfast boy is immortalised as one of the greatest players to have ever played the game, thanks to his exceptional ability on mud-soaked pitches to bamboozle defenders, making him the ultimate entertainer of the Stretford End and a Manchester United icon whose name will live forever.
“I think I’ve found you a genius” Bob Bishop, the scout who spotted Best, said in a telegram to Sir Matt Busby, and he wasn’t wrong. 11 years at United, 474 games and 181 goals, he was the best player on the planet in 1968 when the winger helped United to become the first English team to lift the European Cup at Wembley alongside Sir Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, and has the Ballon d’Or to prove it – just like his two other eternalised ‘Holy Trinity’ team-mates. Yet what he could do on a pitch was only half of Best’s legend.
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Dubbed the ‘Fifth Beatle’ thanks to his boyish good looks and mop of hair, the handsome winger was a hit with the ladies and he certainly made the most of it, with an astonishing playboy lifestyle.
In a new weekly feature, Daily Star Sport is looking back at some of football’s greatest mavericks, and where better to start than the biggest of them all, on what would have been his 80th birthday, May 22, 2026.
Best wasn’t just a superstar at Old Trafford, he was a celebrity in a way that no footballer before him had ever been. At the height of his success he would have his own nightclub, restaurant, fashion boutiques and even star in TV adverts.
He drove a Rolls-Royce with a GB number plate and hung out with stunning pop stars, Hollywood actresses and jaw-dropping models.
The fame earned him a reputation as a boozer and womaniser, which was very much vindicated. He famously quipped: “In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol – it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.”
Best’s first love and sixties model Jackie Glass recalled how the pair were smitten with each other, as the wizard of dribble embarked on an astonishing dating record that few men could match.
“He was gorgeous. We were very much in love,” she said. “George did talk to me about marriage but it was so early in our relationship we were still swinging from the chandeliers.”
However, their relationship broke down because of El Beatle’s wandering eye which became exposed in the media. She added: “We were together for a year properly and then another year off and on. I was his first love.
“He said it didn’t mean anything and tried to get back with me. I was tempted, but I couldn’t see things would change. We loved each other but our lifestyles were different. I didn’t want to be a footballer’s wife.”
He admitted: “I had a tremendous amount of relationships because I suppose I was in a position to. I had plenty of money and I went to the sort of functions where there were always plenty of beautiful women around.”
Jackie’s life took a very different path from Best’s as she converted to Buddhism and changed her name after being inspired by a speech from the Dalai Lama.
After moving into a Buddhist monastery, she was ordained as a nun in 1994.
Meanwhile, Best went on to enchant Carry On star and future EastEnders actress Barbara Windsor. Babs would recall: “There was this vision. He was so beautiful.
“In the bar, he came over and started talking to me. I said, ‘Look, don’t waste your time with me, darling, you’ve got all these lovely ladies after you.’ “And he said, ‘Well, when do I ever get to talk to somebody like you?’
“Well, that did it. It (the sex) was great, he was fabulous.”
Best dated English actress Susan George in a high-profile relationship in the late 1960s.
They made headlines during a widely photographed beach and paddle-boat holiday in Majorca, when he sipped champagne in the sea with the Straw Dogs star.
Another controversy came with Danish fiancee Eva Haraldsted, a 19-year-old model and captain of women’s football team Blinker’s United. Their whirlwind romance began when made a trip to Denmark in the spring of 1969.
Best took her to Belfast to meet his family, spent time with her at his Manchester clothing boutique, and even faced her in a ‘Battle of the Sexes’ football match, men versus women. But he called off the wedding – and she sued him for “breach of promise”.
While awaiting the hearing, Best and team-mate Pat Crerand reportedly got into a nightclub altercation with her new boyfriend. The outdated legal tort was abolished shortly after, but the tabloid frenzy was intense.
They even insulted each other via records played in a “childish exchange of discourtesies” at Manchester nightclub Blinkers.
Haraldsted played “I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane,” with Best retaliating with a Beatles classic, featuring the lyric “get Back to where you once belonged”. Haraldsted eventually dropped her breach of promise action against Best.
He also became very well acquainted with Miss UK Jennifer Lowe, Miss Great Britain Carolyn Moore, and Miss World winners Mary Stavin and Marjorie Wallace.
Best met Majorie when he was running a nightclub called ‘Slack Alice’ in Deansgate, Manchester, and received a call from her PR company asking if the newly crowned Miss World could visit.
Best happily accepted and by the end of the night she had given him her London number. Days later, Best rang her to say he’d be staying in London for the weekend and arrived at her flat with his suitcase.
When asked what hotel he’d be staying at, Best replied: “I haven’t booked anything yet. I’ll sort it out later once I know what we’re going to do”.
But Best didn’t need to bother as he spent the night at her apartment in what he called a “brief courtship”.
The following night, the two went to Tramps nightclub, where Marjorie had been before with tennis star Jimmy Connors and singer Tom Jones.
But Best knew and attempted to outdo them, as they left through the front door to paparazzi who plastered them all over papers and gossip magazines, Best recounted: “She loved it. It turned her on.”
After returning to Marjorie’s flat, Best claimed the phone rang with someone he thought was Formula 1 driver Peter Revson’s mother on the line, who was said to be dating Marjorie at the time.
Best felt embarrassed and confronted Marjorie about the situation before she asked him to leave as they rowed.
While Marjorie was out with a friend when Best got ready to leave, he wrote in her diary: “Dear Marjorie, I realise how upset you must be that I have left. How kind of you to fit me in between the rest.
“I must say you showed about as much affection as a scorpion with a headache. But I suppose one f*** is very much like another. Have a nice year. Yours in sport, George.” He then made his way back to Manchester by train.
The bitterness between them turned ugly when Marjorie reported a number of expensive items missing, seeing a shocked and furious Best arrested. He ordered his solicitor to contact the press to out his treatment, making front page news.
Best helped police by putting straight dates and times to events, meaning the items had gone missing when Best was back in Manchester, but he was still charged.
The aggrieved footballer hired his own private detective and photographs of her risky relationships were leaked. A photograph of her with married Tom Jones on a beach forced the organisers of the Miss World contest to strip her of her title having “failed to fulfil the basic requirements of the job” as her public image crashed.
Revson tragically died during a test session before the 1974 South African Grand Prix and Marjorie flew back to the States for the funeral, forcing the initial court date to be pushed back. When his day in court did arrive, the judge dismissed the case stating: “George Best leaves this court without a stain on his character.”
He was famously found in a hotel suite with a naked beauty queen and £15,000 in cash strewn across his bed by a porter who asked: “Where did it all go wrong, George?”
Best’s lust for the ladies wasn’t just saved for away from football as he was once caught having sex by manager Wilf McGuinness with a lady he charmed on a hotel staircase, just hours before an FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United.
The furious United boss sent Best packing until his predecessor Busby calmed him down and persuaded him to call Best back to play against their Yorkshire rivals. However, Best was far from his top form as he failed to make a meaningful impact on his game.
“He had an absolute nightmare,” McGuinness recalled. “We drew 0-0 again, and George had the chance to win it, but fell over the ball in front of goal.”
Best’s love for the ladies also impacted directly on his team-mates as countryman and former United team-mate Sammy McIlroy recalled in his autobiography, ‘The Last Busby Babe’ that his hero once left him stranded at a train station to go partying before an international break.
“I was making my debut for Northern Ireland in Hull on a Wednesday and I’d seen George out in Manchester on the Saturday night,” revealed McIlroy.
“Bestie said to me, ‘I’ll meet you at 9am on Sunday morning in Manchester. Buy the train tickets and I’ll meet you at the station’. “I said ‘George, that’s brilliant’. I’m travelling to Hull with Bestie, all sorted. I get to the station dead early. 8.30, no Bestie. 8.45 and still no Bestie.
“He didn’t turn up until f****** Tuesday with Miss Britain, Carolyn Moore, and one of his friends. Some of the lads were not too pleased about it, but that was Bestie.”
Despite Best leaving him the lurch at Manchester Piccadilly, the pair became good pals – and it was his fellow countryman who promised, and duly delivered, a bottle of champagne to him for scoring on his debut. Best even provided the assist and was the first player there to congratulate him.
“When I met the team for the first time, George was the first person to speak to me,” McIlroy added. “Bestie said ‘score a goal today and on Monday I’ll bring you a bottle of champagne’. And he did. Just meeting Bestie was incredible.”
Best’s life spiralled and his footballing career ultimately fell away too. By just 27 he began failing to turn up for training and had left United after falling out with manager Tommy Docherty.
Eventually moving to the USA, Best played for a string of American clubs and married model Angie MacDonald-Janes in 1978.
By the end of his career, Best’s clubs included Fulham, Dunstable Town, Brisbane Lions, Tobermore United, LA Aztecs and Bournemouth.
Best became a full-blown alcoholic which Angie was unable to save him from. “You keep thinking that you can fix it and that all he needs is a nice home-cooked meal and nice house and to settle down but it never quite works like that when there’s alcohol involved,” she admitted.
On one night, when she was taking their son Calum, now 36, to a doctor’s appointment in the car, she spotted what she thought was a tramp walking down the middle of the road. Then she suddenly realised it was Best staggering back home from another bender and decided to keep driving.
Angie says: “I realised it was over. I always wanted to look after him but enough is enough, I can’t look after both babies, the big one’s got to go. After that, George drank every single day for 30 years.”
After they separated and later divorced, Best dated Swedish siren Mary Ann-Catrin Stavin, from 1982 to 1985.
She won Miss World in 1977 and appeared in the James Bond films Octopussy and A View to a Kill. Bond actor Roger Moore wrote in his autobiography that “floating away on board a submarine with Mary Stavin must be many men’s dream”.
She certainly enthralled Best, as he even agreed to release an exercise album ‘Shape Up and Dance’ together.
Best’s alcoholism took hold of his life as the decade came to a close and he served a prison sentence for drink driving.
He also made a notorious drunken chat show appearance in 1990, where he told Terry Wogan: “I like screwing.”
In 1995, Best married 23-year-old air stewardess Alex Pursey and the pair were wed for nine years. But it was a tumultuous and unhappy marriage.
In a movie about the superstar’s life, Alex revealed: “In the end he didn’t want to stop drinking or couldn’t. He had a vulnerable side and it was almost as if you just felt like looking after him.
“George sober was the most fantastic husband you could ask for.
“But unfortunately when he was drinking it was like two totally different people. George could be particularly violent with drink inside of him.”
Best once punched Alex, leaving her with a black eye, and she added: “A couple of times we did have a few fights and I did end up in hospital a couple of times.” He later apologised for the terrible way he had treated her, amid claims of infidelity.
Alcohol abuse left Best with severe liver damage in March 2000, which was said to have left his liver functioning at only 20%.
His health continued to deteriorate the following year when he was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. But even after a liver transplant in 2002, Best kept drinking.
He and Alex divorced in 2004. A year later, he died at the age of 59 in 2005.
Upon his death, tributes were paid Pele, Johan Cruyff and Diego Maradona, with the Argentine hero saying: “George inspired me when I was young.
“He was flamboyant and exciting and able to inspire his team-mates. I actually think we were very similar players – dribblers who were able to create moments of magic.”
Fellow United legend Eric Cantona also gave a eulogy to Best. The French forward said: “I would love him to save me a place in his team, George Best that is, not God.”
Yet it’s his own immortal quote for which Best will always be remembered: “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.”