Born 1946 in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, he made his Football League debut for
United and won the first of 31 international caps before he was 18. He made 446 League
appearances for United between 1963 and 1973, scoring 178 goals. He was a perhaps the
most important member of the great United team which won the League Championship
twice in the 1960s as well as the European Cup in 1968.

After five years of playing breathtaking football, in 1968 he finally and deservedly won both the English and European Footballer of the Year awards. In 1970 he scored six goals in an 8-2 win over Northampton in the FA Cup, the most goals scored in a single match by any United player.

Sometimes nicknamed "the fifth Beatle", he was one of the most famous stars of Britain in the 1960s. Best was the first pop-star footballer, a personification of 1960's youth culture and the swinging sixties. Sadly this proved his eventual downfall as he became a casualty of intense media attention. Unfortunatley, increasingly wayward behaviour off the field and alcohol related problems impaired his health and ultimately shortened his career. After a series of on-off retirements and a dip in form, he left United for good on New Years Day 1974 in his final game against QPR.

He then played for numerous other clubs, most notably Fulham (76-77) finally ended his football career with Bournemouth in 1983.