George Best: Pocket Giants

On Sunday, October 5, 2014, the 75,000-strong crowd at Old Trafford for Manchester United's game against Everton joined in with an extended version of a chant which echoed around the stadium. "We all live in a Georgie Best world," it went. Eleven years after his death, 40 years after he walked out of the club for the last time as a player, Best remains an idol. Which is extraordinary given that his star shone for such a brief time. He was at the top of the game for no more than half a dozen years. What this book will attempt to do, through reminiscence and analysis, is to try to pinpoint how Best did it. How did the shy, introverted Belfast boy become the most instantly recognized man in the game? What was it about the way he played, the way he moved, the way he looked that marked him out? And what was it that propelled him to such total self-destruction?