A Mark of Respect ?
The tributes have flowed in from pretty much all the football and celebrity world following the death of George Best.
Anybody who saw the pictures of him in the News of The World last weekend, which he bravely asked to be published as a warning, will have seen the desperate state a once supremely balanced and gifted athlete had inflicted upon himself.
It must have been terrible for his family too watch, and they have my sympathy.
Many have described him as the greatest ever. Hand on heart I haven’t seen enough footage of him to say if he belonged in the Pele & Maradona class.
What I have seen of Best does not lend itself to the greatness been bestowed upon him
The drunken ramblings on Wogan, the convictions for drink driving and the utter contempt he showed for the liver he was donated are not outweighed by an ability on the pitch , that he ultimately wasted.
That is why I am opposed to a minutes silence at every fixture tomorrow; I can understand it at United, Fulham even Stockport where he played but I do not believe he ‘earned’ the right to be shown this much respect.
Before the ABU brigade strike up, this is not an anti-united thing, one player who I do believe will have earned the right is Sir Bobby Charlton, both as a member of the world cup winning team and his ongoing to commitment to English football.
I hope that tomorrows silence is observed, mainly for the sake of the club. I know there are a lot of blues out there who also feel there shouldn’t be a minutes silence at COMS tomorrow. For the sake of the clubs reputation: simply do not take your seat until it’s over.
Stay in the bar and make your protest that way rather than dragging the club through the dirt.
Bring on the scouser’s !!!!!
10 comments:
i respect your opinion. my point was mainly to those who dont agree with the minutes silence and may be tempted spoil it.
for me been born with an ability beyond the dreams of mortals doesn't make you right whatever you do.
hopefully the silence will be respected at coms tommorrow.
Best should be remembered for his ability as a footballer, but nothing more. His ability as a human being was limited and the misery he caused himself and to those close to him will far outweigh any achievements in football. The silence should be respected as a once great footballer has passed-on, but we should not be remembering George Best the man in those 60 seconds.
Well said. The man was a football genius but he has no connection to me as a City or England supporter. I shall be staying in the bar respecting the silence but not paying homage.
I also resent this media-endorsed beatification of celebrities such as Best, Diana and even one of my own childhood heroes Peel. It seems the British nation is expected to become emotionally incontinent at moments such as these. Excuse me while I remain a balanced individual.
forget the bollox - if you dont want to do it, stay in the bar an celebrate his genius with a beer
if you do go up, keep the silence an show respect. its not obligatory
either way, he was an ordinary man with a special talent an we pay money every week to watch that kind of thing. dont knock it in others
I have mixed feelings about GB. Yes, he was the best ball player I've ever seen in my life. In his era, only Charlie Cooke came anywhere close, and Cooke couldn't finish to save his life. But now, people are claiming him to be the greatest footballer of all time. And that isn't true - Pele was a far better all-round player.
I also remember him finishing Glyn Pardoe's career by breaking his leg in four places.
On balance, yes, I think I'll stay in the bar.
Now I know why you call this site Bitter, what a bunch of small minded sad little Bastards you are. Take a look at how many positive posting's from BLUES the MEN has honouring one of football's all time greats compared to this stupid little site. Your argument seem's to be "we dont want to pay respects because the guy was a pisshead so were going to stay in the bar instead". Cant help thinking that would have brought an ironic smile to Besties face. I have allways held the beleif that City fans were above these types of petty mean spirited show's of idiocy, Im now of the veiw that there are peevish morons everywhere. Fortunately we only appear to have the half dozen or so that appear on this pathetically lame excuse for a site.
i take it you are going for irony by stating 'small minded' for not going along with the media led mass mourning view ?
my reasons for not having respect (but not to spoil it for those who did) are quite clearly stated, mainly he was a twice convicted drink driver and made a mockery of the donation given too him (liver) .
thats my opinion , if you have a different one please feel free to put it into words and email the site , where it will be considered for publication. its called democracy.
Add pompous and sanctimonious to my last remarks of small minded sad little bastards. He was one of the World's greastest,certainly the best to play on these shores and THAT is what was being honored. Maybe if you'd seen more "footage" you'd understand what a sad day it was for football fans the world over.
I don't think at any time was there a lack of respect shown by City fans on this 'pathetically lame excuse for a site'. I think a lack of respect would have been to marr the minutes silence by booing, chanting etc rather people simply stating that they would stay out of the way during the minute's silence because they choose not to pay tribute to George Best. It is not obligatory and people have the right to do or not do something if they so wish.
Before the weekend, I even wondered where there should be a minutes silence across all the leagues for him (rather than just a tunited, Fulham etc), but hold my hands up and admit in retrospect that Best's influence on football was more widespread than I thought, so have changed my opinion on that and can say I did observe the minutes silence.
One post that I did come across which I think is more fitting is from the BBC message board and I think more a reflection of City fans as a whole than the misguided accusation that we are 'small-minded':
"Can I just say a very heart felt thankyou to Manchester City fans, I dont often post on these message boards but after what I saw on Saturday I felt I should.
I was at Old Trafford on Saturday morning laying my scarf down at the ground, as tribute to Best and the amount of city flags, scarves, banners, pennants I saw was unbeleivable, there was a bloke I saw put down a small City scarf with 'Respect from the Blue half of Manchester', which I thought was very touching, I know you lot are getting a lot of bad press from misguided people, but I thought Id let you know that after seeing the tributes at the ground I felt nothing but respect for your club, have posted similar on the Liverpool board as i had a similar encounter with an LFC fan, but just the sheer ammount of Blue stuff there overwhelmed me". Thankyou.
A life long stretford ender.
The minute's silence should have been observed, for the simple fact that someone who was such a figure in football died, a human being aswell as a footballing legend.
Yes best wasted his life drinking and finished his career to early. But at the same time he was and should be classed as one of the best players in the world.
Pele and maradona were probably the best, but of course you can debate this. Pele played in a team of superstars, so it was easier for him, best played for norn Iron (I'm from here but a rep ire supporer, also a city fan). He didn't have a chance on the international level. Maradona was in my opinion the best because he single handedly one the world cup for argentina and although the argeis' were good, they werent superstars. But when maradona go's are we going to stay in the bar for his minutes silence, because of his coke abuse and his antics off the field. What about Gaza (now I'm not saying he's a scratch on these 3) ???? Will he have a minutes silence remembered, he was a skillful player and a great character, well loved, but he battled with booze and beat his wife, but will that be remembered?
I have to admit that i was someone who laughed when people said about Best being the greatest, to me he's now top 5 along with Maradona, Pele, De stefano and Puskas. If any of those players were playing today with the protection given and the ball and boots used today, then they'd make it look very easy.
As for Best, he was a legend and a man who made mistakes. So as in every funeral or wake, remember his good points because i know when i die i'll expect all the bad things I've done to be forgotten.
Tony Mc
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