Is George Best the most overrated player ever ?

[moosed]

Was down pub the other night and got chatting to this group of chaps were over in the UK on a holiday, a couple were Spanish, one French and one German. We got talking about football and who we rates as legends, my mate brought up George Bests name and was pretty much ridiculed for it, they basically all said he's overrated by British people and no one outside of UK and Ireland considers him to be a great.

I've seen other foreigners say the same on the internets so it's not like their viewpoint is unique.

Thoughts ?

 

[Dylan]

Was down pub the other night and got chatting to this group of chaps were over in the UK on a holiday, a couple were Spanish, one French and one German. We got talking about football and who we rates as legends, my mate brought up George Bests name and was pretty much ridiculed for it, they basically all said he's overrated by British people and no one outside of UK and Ireland considers him to be a great.

I've seen other foreigners say the same on the internets so it's not like their viewpoint is unique.

Thoughts ?

He was no Robin Friday.........

 

[ijjysmith]

No mate - he was utterly boss

 

[BlueLlama]

Because they never saw him mate. Never played in a World Cup so didnt get much exposusure pre-interwebz and Live TV

 

[Deleted member 28206]

Behave lad. He was incredible.

[video=youtube;FKBEL29P2Lc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKBEL29P2Lc[/video]

 

[Steve0]

Was down pub the other night and got chatting to this group of chaps were over in the UK on a holiday, a couple were Spanish, one French and one German. We got talking about football and who we rates as legends, my mate brought up George Bests name and was pretty much ridiculed for it, they basically all said he's overrated by British people and no one outside of UK and Ireland considers him to be a great.

I've seen other foreigners say the same on the internets so it's not like their viewpoint is unique.

Thoughts ?

How did they know each other?

Anyone who 'ridicules' someone for bringing up George Best in a discussion about footballing greats clearly doesn't know what they're talking about and can't be taken seriously.

 

[Pabbers]

Crazy, he was a beast.

 

[moosed]

How did they know each other?

Anyone who 'ridicules' someone for bringing up George Best in a discussion about footballing greats clearly doesn't know what they're talking about and can't be taken seriously.

How does who know each other ?

 

[peteblue]

Finest player I have ever seen, and when you look at some of the tackles he had to take and ride he was just phenomenal....

 

[roydo]

Finest player I have ever seen, and when you look at some of the tackles he had to take and ride he was just phenomenal....

and on those pitches!

 

[Bob Latchford]

How did they know each other?

Anyone who 'ridicules' someone for bringing up George Best in a discussion about footballing greats clearly doesn't know what they're talking about and can't be taken seriously.

This 100%.

Yes its a pity he didn't play more and grace a World Cup or Euro Champ, however, for all his problems he was exceptionally gifted.

Given the fact that he came up against bone crushing tackles, played on horrible pitches and also the probability that he was hung over every now and then it only adds to how good he was and how ahead of his peers he was. RIP Besty.

 

[squonk]

Nope, in a word.

Hilarious that time he he lost his boot and continued to play on.

 

[TippEverton]

Don't think there's much of a discussion to be had here, the answer to the op's question is quite clearly no.

 

[geofft]

By far the best player I ever saw in terms of entertaining the fans. When Best got the ball people strained to see what he'd do with it - he 'got them out of their seats' in modern parlance.
I'll admit that he sometimes looked disinterested & his final ball wasn't always brilliant but you really wanted to watch Best play.
The nearest I've seen to him since was Georgie Kinkladze (sp) on a really good day. He was nowhere near as talented as Best but went on the same mazey runs, beating people with pace, feints & dummies.
I'd love to see the statistics for how many fouls Best drew.
When Best was playing there was a lot less football on TV so your foreign friends probably saw very little of him compared to the likes of Messi etc these days.

 

[badger blue]

Maradonna would have minced him in a tackle, took the ball and run up the pich a scored a goal!!!
Of all the times I've seen Best on the telly/videos/dvd's I've never really seen him takle or retrieve the ball, seen loads and loads of running and dribbling and scoring goals, where as Maradonna was pound for pound the best all rounder,he could tackle, head the ball, dribble and score goals and basically took a team by the scruff of the neck and dragged it up to win the Italian league and Uefa cup all on his ownio!!! ( well he had 10 other players to help him along!)
In his day Best was good but I wouldn't say he was the best in the world. I'd put him behind Maradonna, Messi, pele, Best............Ronaldo?