‘El Beatle’ never knew when it was time to slow down

THE story that epitomises George Best’s rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle relates to the day he was found in a hotel suite with a naked Miss World and £15,000 in cash strewn across his bed.

When the footballer called room service, the porter came in, took in the debauched scene and, with an ironic shake of his head, said: “Where did it all go wrong, George?”

Significantly, it was Best himself who would later retell the story with a wry chuckle.

He was never one to apologise for “throwing away” his prodigious talent and indulging himself instead.

While he loved football, the game was also his ticket to the high life and the social whirl of the 1960s, which he was determined to enjoy to the full.

A boy from the back streets of Belfast, he was catapulted into a world he could only have dreamed of, a world of beautiful models, trendy nightclubs and late-night drinking - and he loved it.

With his glamorous women, pop star looks and bad-boy antics, Best became the first football superstar, paving the way for icons such as Paul Gascoigne and David Beckham.

When Manchester United beat Benfica 5-1 in the quarter-finals of the European Cup in Lisbon, the Portuguese newspaper A Bola proclaimed the mop-topped star “El Beatle.” At home he became, inevitably, the “Fifth Beatle.”

He later said: “I was 19 or 20 when The Beatles were at their peak and I was coming up to the peak of my career, too.

“I was also the first footballer to have long hair and that’s how I got my nickname ‘the Fifth Beatle’.”

Best said one of his fondest memories was from the nightclub Tramp, when Paul and Linda McCartney were there on the same night as him.

“Just as they were leaving, Linda came up behind me and whispered: ‘You know we love you, don’t you?’. It was fantastic,” he said.

For a while he was one of the most famous party animals in England by night and a sublime footballer by day.

Manchester United became European champions in 1968 and Best won the European Footballer of the Year award in the same year. He was 22 years old.

But his champagne lifestyle was already taking its toll and he later admitted he could not even remember where he ended up after a drinking binge following the European final.

It was an era of excess, and other popular icons in the music world were indulging their own vices.

But they did not have to get up to train and spend 90 minutes running around a football pitch.

At times Best was too hung-over to turn up for training and so hooked on alcohol that when he should have been at home sleeping, he was out trawling seedy bars.

He felt his career was over when he missed the train for an away match at Chelsea.

At Manchester’s Piccadilly station, manager Matt Busby looked out of the window in vain for his star player, who arrived hung-over on the platform after the train had left.

Best eventually left United following disagreements with new boss Tommy Docherty after accusations about his playboy lifestyle.

The parties and late nights continued as his career drifted away at clubs including Fulham and Hibernian, and in South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia and the United States.