I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.
From the Cregagh estate in east Belfast came the winger whose scouting report allegedly read, simply, I think I've found you a genius. For once, a scout undersold.
Best was the first footballer to live like a rock star, and for a few seasons in the sixties he played like one too: both feet, both directions, tackled by reputation only. The nickname the fifth Beatle wasn't a joke about his haircut — it was an accurate measure of the hysteria.
The moments
1968
Europe, ten years after Munich
In the European Cup final at Wembley on 29 May, Best rounded the Benfica goalkeeper in extra time to break the game open. United won 4-1 — the answer to Matt Busby's decade of grief — and Best took that year's Ballon d'Or.
1970
Six goals in one afternoon
Returning from suspension on 7 February, he scored six in an 8-2 FA Cup win at Northampton Town — still a competition record. He admitted afterwards to feeling a bit sorry for them.
2005
Belfast says goodbye
When he died on 25 November, a hundred thousand people lined the route to Stormont. The banners quoted the terraces' old verdict: Maradona good, Pelé better, George Best.
The career burned short and the life burned messy, and he'd have been the first to say so. But watch the surviving film: nobody ever made defenders look lonelier.