Five reasons why George Best was a genius

George Best will be 80 on May 22.

It’s been six decades since he started wowing home audiences, more than 40 since he last played a game.

But the best is a rare breed whose legacy endures. In Manchester United or Northern Ireland colours, the highlights of his career encapsulate why many who saw him still argue that he was the greatest player of all time.

For those younger, whose parents were too young to see the best dramas, there are modern-day comparisons.

Sammy McIlroy, another former United and Northern Ireland great, said, “Lionel Messi is close to the best in the way he plays. He can dribble, beat people, score goals and score goals.”

McIlroy considered him a hero when he was growing up in Belfast.

Sera later became his mentor and a teammate.

“Messi has this amazing dribbling ability,” McIlroy said.

“That was also the best but that was in the 1960s, when the situation was very different from what it is now.

“The pitches were horrible and your opponents wanted to hit you. Norman Hunter, Tommy Smith and Ron Harris were good players but they were ruthless in the way they played.

“It didn’t bother George. It didn’t matter who was scrubbing it. He’d take the rough stuff, get up and say, ‘Come on, let’s eat some more’.”

McIlroy went to Windsor Park at the age of 13 to witness what he called ‘the game of his life’ for Northern Ireland against Scotland.

“I’ve never seen a performance like that in my life,” he said. “It was a one-man show. He wanted me to be a footballer. He wanted me to join Manchester United.

“Everything came naturally to him. Left foot, right foot, shots, heads, tackles.”

But there was more to Serra than what he did on match days.

McIlroy describes him as a fierce competitor in training. And, while his off-field activities were often portrayed as at odds with the devil-may-care attitude, he was also a father figure to young Northern Irish boys like him who traveled to England with dreams of playing for Manchester United.

“He was a natural boy, a nice boy,” McIlroy said. “He spent some time with me, as he did with all the other Belfast trialists.

“When I signed as an apprentice in 1969, I brought my mum and dad and that’s when he came and talked to them. I was standing there listening to him telling my parents that he would look after me.

“My dad’s eyes were just fixed on Bestie. He never opened his mouth. He was just afraid of George.”

Here we pick five reasons why Serra is considered by many to be one of the greatest players in history.