HUGH McILVANNEY, the great Scottish sportswriter, sketched a scene for his readers of a Saturday afternoon in an Old Trafford press box which coughed out cigarette smoke.

GEORGE BEST’S death yesterday will kick start a certain type of eulogy. There’ll be plenty of obituaries to read for the next few days, with the usual interchangeable ingredients: Belfast, El Beatle, Matt Busby, Miss World, Fulham, America.