RIP Georgie Best

[M.O.B.E]

Soccer great George Best dies at 59

[peipunk]

Thanks for the link, that was a good read. He sounds like he was the Keith Moon of soccer. To be honest, in my "fitba" ignorance, I only know the name from some references to him and "Hibs" from Irvine Welsh books. Interesting.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

not a bad comparison punkster, but i'd say he was a bit classy to be a moony. Perhaps this guy would be a better 'fitba's version of keith moon':

Troubled English players won't miss Euro '96

LONDON (AP) -- English soccer players will be fined for damaging the plane bringing them home from Hong Kong last week but they will not be kicked off the Euro 96 squad, coach Terry Venables said Monday.

Reports of drunken English players smashing up two airplane TV sets and a table on the flight back sparked a public debate about what should happen the players only a week before the June 8-30 tournament.

There were calls for them to be dropped from the European Championship lineup for setting a bad example to the fans. Venables's statement, released through the English Football Association, did not mention whether that action had been considered. Neither did he specify which players had been fined or how much.

Since they arrived home a week ago, the players have remained silent about what happened on the Cathay Pacific fight from Hong Kong to Heathrow a week ago while media reports suggested Paul Gascoigne, Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman were at the centre of the trouble.

[Booche]

What's an IQ?

[M.O.B.E]

Gazza'z book is a good story. I liked the italian years

[Guest Low Roller]

England is generally split on the George Best issue.

Half of England is devastasted that a footaball legend has passed away. The other half feel it's more of a 'good riddance' situation... He had a liver transplant in 2001 due to severe alcoholism, and despite that kept drinking like a fish... For five years he was preferentially pushed through the hospitals ahead of people who waited for months for their operations so that he could receive treatment for ihs various debilitating ailments, once again due to heavy alcoholism.

It was generally felt that he was undeserving of such treatment.

Either way you look at it, the media covered it rather extensively. They even went as far as printing obituaries and featuring him on the front page of the newspapers with headlines like "George Best: R.I.P" BEFORE he even died... it was pretty messed up.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

split yes, but it's hardly a 50-50 split (I guess you didn't imply that at all). Anyway I doubt if there are all that many people on the good riddance side of things, just a vocal minority.

I think the Citeh (where maybe 50 people booed) and Leeds games were the only places where the minute of silence wasn't as silent as it should have been, and that's out of all the matches over the w.e., factor in tens of thousands at each match and it gives you a good idea as to the percentages invloved in the 'split'

[Guest Low Roller]

I'm not going to speculate as to the actual percentage split, however I think it's kinda obvious that people at a football game will tend to gravitate towards the former. People that were made to wait for a transplant because Best drank himself into oblivion, their families, and people generally trying to improve the way the National Healthcare Service (NHS) is run will gravitate to the latter.

I have no data evidence at all to support either side.

But then I guess the main comparision is what he did during his career versus what he did after his career was over.

[Booche]

I love how many of those 'minutes of silence' turned into loud cheers/applause. Putz.

[M.O.B.E]

Parkhead had a minute of ovation, from what I read. It was the only cheering they did all day too. Losing 1-0 to the last place team, at home, is never a good thing.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

...especially for the hoops

interestingish in scotland these days eh?

[M.O.B.E]

Even though my Gers arnt gonna win anything this year (which I am already ok with), I'm liking the way things are turning out. I hope Hearts can knock the bhoys off. If Keane ends up going to Parkhead it could get ugly. Keane and Stilian Petrov in center midfield would make it impossible to beat Celtic for any of the little teams and I dont think Rangers can even come up with the manpower. Barry Ferguson hasnt got anyone to work with beside him. Maybe Ally McCoist should be at the helm to shake things up a bit. Ive even heard a rumour about Graeme Souness going back to Ibrox. Its going to get fun up there in the next week.

[Diggzz]

I heard they've already offered it to Ally and he turned them down (broadcast commitments and I think he is an advisor of some sort for the Scots national team)

[M.O.B.E]

they offered him to be the striker coach. I posted an article about it in the last champions league thread