Friday, December 16, 2005
George - Good or the Best?
Was George Best the greatest footballer of all time? A Co. Armagh reader featured in the News Letter doesn't think so:"Now that the hype and hysteria surrounding the life and death of George Best is over, maybe it's time to reflect on some of the things said of George Best.
"I would like to ask again: Was George Best the greatest footballer the world has ever seen? How many times over recent weeks have we read and heard "no footballer was ever good enough to lace George Best's boots". Nonsense, absolute nonsense! We would all like to think he was the best, but even he couldn't lace the boots of Pele and Maradona, especially Maradona.
"Maradona could do things with the ball that would have left our George mesmerised.
"Best was good, but then he looked good playing with and against the players he had to. The players that Pele and Maradona played with and against were in a different league.
Let's get real."
Co Armagh reader
I don't agree with the author of this post. One of the things that Best had to deal with which Pele managed to avoid was the tough, combative nature of European football. I think it's fair to say that Best had more lumps kicked out of him than the great Pele ever did. For dealing with that, Best deserves high praise. As for Maradona, obviously Diego Maradona deserves to be mentioned as one of the greats. He was instrumental in Argentina's 1986 World Cup success. Was he streets ahead of Best though? Not in my opinion. I think some of the stuff George Best could do with a football was just as good as the stuff Maradona was capable of.
I'm not quite sure who the greatest footballer of all time is. What I do know is that when this topic is being debated, George Best has every right to be considered as the greatest ever. I think it's the author who needs to get real if s/he thinks Best is out of Pele and Maradona's league!
What do you think?
# posted by United Irelander @ 1:15 AM 
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