Just over 50 years ago George Best played his last match for Manchester United. On New Year’s Day 1974, First Division newcomers Queens Park Rangers took on United at Loftus Road. The game featured two goals from a mercurial maverick, including a characteristically mazy dribble past four opposing players before slipping the ball under the keeper. The player in question was not Best, however, but the equally talented and similarly flawed Stan Bowles. QPR’s 3-0 victory, their first ever over United, left the visitors languishing in 20th place and still in the bottom three. The season ended in United’s ignominious relegation to Division Two.
A few weeks later United’s manager Tommy Docherty lost patience with his wayward star after he missed training several more times and he dropped Best for an FA Cup tie against Plymouth Argyle. Best recalled his exchange with Docherty: “I said, ‘Fair enough’. He rabbited on for a bit but to tell you the truth I wasn’t listening. I was thinking, ‘Here we are playing a Third Division side at home and he doesn’t reckon I’m good enough to be in the side’.” It was an inglorious exit for the 27-year-old, who made almost 500 appearances for the club, including the crowning glory of the European Cup final win over Benfica in 1968.
During the next decade Best spent the twilight of his career drifting between 10 clubs and over four continents, never settling in one place for very long. Having spent 13 years at United, after arriving from Belfast as a 15-year-old, he racked up an eclectic array of clubs. The first stop for the Northern Irishman after leaving United was an unusual one and, as ever with Best’s career, not without controversy. In May 1974 he headed out to South Africa to play for a Johannesburg-based club, Jewish Guild, who had recently been promoted to the top division. This move came during the height of the apartheid era and the South African National Football League was a segregated one, with black teams forced to play in separate leagues.
Despite the inherent moral issues, South African clubs managed to attract British players to play for a few games to boost attendances as well as raising the standard of the football. Dozens of high-profile players were lured by the financial rewards, including Best’s former teammate Bobby Charlton and his brother Jack. Indeed in Best’s first match for Jewish Guild against Hellenic, both World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore and England international Jeff Astle were playing for the opposition. In anticipation of a much larger crowd the club moved the match to the Rand Stadium from their normal home and 30,000 watched. Interest waned rapidly and a few games later Best played his last match for Jewish Guild in front of less than 10,000.
If playing in South Africa was an odd choice his next port of call bordered on the surreal as he ended up playing against United in a pre-season friendly. Back in England he was enticed by an old friend and former teammate at United’s academy to play a couple of matches for a club who were languishing in the Southern League Division One North, the sixth tier of English league football. Dunstable Town were managed by Barry Fry who used his persuasive powers to initially persuade Docherty to release Best, as he was still officially registered with United, and then coax Best himself to turn out for the struggling club.
Fry told the BBC in 2021 about the reason behind his approach to Best. “My first crowd was 34, and the next was 43 because I made all my family come from Bedford. We were about to finish at the bottom for the ninth year running, and I needed a gimmick.” Not only did Fry pull off the coup of securing Best’s services but he also managed to persuade United to bring a reserve team to play Dunstable as part of their pre-season preparations. The United team included George Graham, who had won several honours at Arsenal and Chelsea and on 5 August, a little over six months after he had departed Old Trafford, Best was helping Dunstable to a 3-2 victory over his old team.
Fry’s gimmick worked as the Bedfordshire club’s heightened profile led to them being able to attract better players, including Astle, who Best had faced in South Africa a few months beforehand. Astle went on to score over 30 goals as Dunstable were duly promoted with regular crowds of over 1,000.
For the remainder of his playing career Best divided his time mainly between a handful of British clubs in the lower echelons of the Football League and the North American Soccer League. In 1975 he made his debut for Stockport County, who had finished bottom of the Fourth Division a few seasons beforehand. After scoring in a friendly against First Division Stoke City he made just three league appearances for Stockport before a move to Cork Celtic and shortly afterwards he was heading to the west coast of America.
In between his two spells with the LA Aztecs, he returned to English football with second tier Fulham and alongside Moore and Rodney Marsh, a ticket at Craven Cottage became hot property. Best made an immediate impact by scoring in the second minute of his debut against Bristol Rovers but the famed triumvirate failed to galvanise Fulham, who finished just a point above relegation.
After returning to the LA Aztecs he went on to play for both the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and the San Jose Earthquakes. He occasionally displayed his latent skills, including what was dubbed The Greatest Goal in NASL history. However, his erratic behaviour yet again affected his performances and ill discipline led to him missing training sessions. On several occasions he did not turn up on matchdays when selected to play. Another brief dalliance back in the UK in 1979 saw him try to keep Hibernian in the top division.
When that rescue attempt failed, a few games for Third Division Bournemouth in 1982 preceded his final club move to Australia. In a strange twist of fate Best’s Australian National Soccer League debut for Brisbane Lions was against Sydney Olympic and there was a familiar face in the opposition dugout. Best must have derived immense satisfaction from Brisbane’s 2-1 win over a side managed by Docherty.