George Best: The Full Interview (2005)
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In this special episode of the Talk Sport Daily, we go back to 2005 when legendary footballer George Best was a studio guest at Talk Sport. The former Manchester United and Northern Isle International was speaking to Drive presenters Paul Breen-Turner and Best's former Fulham team-mate and close friend Rodney Mosh. It became Best's final public interview before he died later that year. Georgie, Georgie They call you the Belfast boy Georgie, Georgie

When you talk about one and only, there is only one. George Best, the original. I once read a thing on... There used to be all soils in a white bottle, liniment that you used to rub on yourself. On it it said, Imitators beware, there's only one original. And that was on this bottle. And that goes back to the 1900s.

I think Bestie fits that category. Good afternoon, George. Nice to see you. Thanks for coming. And by the way, an email here from Robin Earl who says, Bestie endorsed some boots in the 70s with revolving studs. They almost broke your ankle. Do you remember those? Revolving studs? Revolving studs when they had the spinning disc on? You saw it at the hotel room, didn't you? LAUGHTER

Revolving studs. Obviously you got that one wrong. That's Warren Biddy in it. It was a revolving stud. Let's go back to... How are you, by the way, at the moment? How are you doing? I'm rubbish. I might pack in halfway through this. I've got a cough and a bit of a cold, but I'll survive. Hang in there. Let's go back to when you guys first met. You met in Manchester, was it? First time you met Rodney? Yeah, when we had two great sides.

Two really great sides and City were tremendous in those days. That was the time we didn't play 4-5-1, we played with five forwards. When you looked at our two forward lines, both sides were winning things. Manchester in those days was phenomenal.

Not only the football, but the music and the fashion industry. It was an amazing time to be around Manchester. Because you owned a string of boutiques as well, didn't you, at that time? Yeah, I was heavily into clothes as well, so I was my little sideline. What was that called, Bestie? Oh, Bestie, isn't it? One was called Edmordy. That's right. I couldn't think of the name. Would it be fair to say you were sort of the David Beckham of your time?

I suppose so. I mean, obviously, up until I came along, I suppose, the press really weren't that interested in what footballers did off the field. I think that all changed in the 60s and 70s. Yeah. And, of course, it's become a million times worse these days. You know, all footballers are, when they follow their girlfriends and their...

their wives, their friends 24 hours a day, you know, you're under the microscope even more so today because of the coverage. You used to get that, didn't you? They still bother you, don't they? Yeah, the only problem is they don't want to write about football anymore. Yeah, I still get it. I mean, I haven't played for 30 years.

And they're still chasing me around, hiding behind bushes and jumping out from behind cars. It's scary, isn't it? It is scary, especially when you get caught. If we look back, for example, at the last 12 months, and the whole of the nation is listening to us on Talk Sport, how unfair have they been and how sort of off-target and out-of-order have they been, would you say? With me? Yes, with you over the last 12 months. Well, it's...

That's what the press are like in this country. I mean, Ronnie and I have always said that, you know, they build you up, excuse me, because they think they can knock you down, they think they're entitled to. And, you know, almost daily I do sort of charity work, things behind the scenes, and they never mention that, because it doesn't sell newspapers. They're not going to write that I went to, you know, a handicapped school or I opened some, you know, community offices, which I did recently down near Portsmouth, because it doesn't sell newspapers.

They'd rather write about me falling out of a pub and getting in brawls. Because you've never had any time for the newspaper people, have you? I never have done and I still don't. Actually, in the old days it was good because you know, you could talk to newspaper guys. They'd come on the trips, you'd sit on the flights with them, you'd have a beer with them, you'd go out with them, have a drink and you could say what you wanted to them. It never appeared the next day. Now you can't...

Can't even dream about talking to them. Yeah. George, do you blame people like Wayne Rooney for saying, I'm not going to speak to the press, I'm not going to talk to you? Do you blame players like that today? No, not at all. I mean, the problem is that they think they're entitled to talk to you. They think that you owe them. And of course you don't. That's why they don't like Alex Ferguson. Because he doesn't suffer fools lightly. And he doesn't want to talk to them.

and so all of a sudden he's a bad guy because he doesn't want to talk. And they basically say, how dare you not talk to us? It should be a privilege, in other words. Yeah, it should be. On this Wainrooney subject about the anger management and, you know, he's got his problems on the pitch and off the pitch and all that sort of stuff, where do you come down on all that? Well, he's done himself no favours. I mean, I was one of the ones that said, you don't want to take the aggression away. And, but...

It's stupid things he's getting booed for. And who knows how many times he's going to get sent off. And the problem is, of course, referees are only human. Well, sort of. That's a bit of a stretch. And they're going to be looking out for him now. That's guaranteed. He's been sent off, I don't know how many times now, but it's no good to the fans, the supporters, his manager, the club.

if he's not on the field. And the way it's going, he's going to be off the field quite a lot. Yeah, but he's making, George, he's making like £60,000, £70,000 a week. My point would be, I don't think he cares about what other people think. He just does his own thing, and it's almost like, well, whatever the consequences are, I'll handle it. Yeah, but his girlfriend spends more than we've done. Take her credit cards away, then, yeah. I don't know, he's just got to curb it. I mean, you don't...

I mean, whether you think a booking's right or wrong, we all argue, but you don't walk up to a referee and clap him in the face. Or throw mud in his face. Yeah, but I missed.

You actually threw mud at a referee? No, that was his story. I picked up mud and threw it. Yeah, wasn't that the referee's decision? Lee Sharp, in his book recently, said Sir Alex Ferguson came round, knocked on his door, and completely got the wrong idea. He broke open the door with his shirt off, he had two bottles of beer in his hand, Ryan Giggs was in the room.

And, er, so Alex went in, dragged Ryan out, said, "You can't be doing this," you know. But Lee said, look, he didn't really get the right idea. What he saw wasn't really what would've happened. In your day, in your peak, did you guys used to have parties? I mean, would a manager, what would he have seen? If he'd have come round your house and rung the doorbell, what would he have seen? We didn't used to have parties, did we? What's a party? What's that?

Yeah, we used to enjoy ourselves, but we didn't get... I can't remember us getting in too much trouble. We went out and had a few beers and enjoyed ourselves. Just had a laugh, wasn't it? We didn't get in fights and abuse people. I mean, you're going to get that. That's going to happen. And, you know, whether you're right or wrong, because of who you are and the coverage. And footballers today, you know, they can't go anywhere without being recognised. And you're going to get some thug...

eventually he's going to come up and challenge you and say, I did it to whoever. I mean, I still get it. I had it recently, you know, for a nice quiet nightcap with my girlfriend and some guy broke my jaw, some total stranger. What, just punched you? Yeah. So they're looking for him at the moment. He's on a missing list. But that still happens. And then, of course, people sort of try and read between the lines. You know, I was involved in a frat car, which I wasn't.

It's nothing to do with me. There were three of them. And now he's pleading self-defence. The three of them. I'm nearly 60. These three young guys, I attack them. Bestie, is it true that you once said that you'd like to play for Chelsea? Is that true? Yeah, there was a slight chance when I left United. I suppose the other glamour club, so to speak, were Chelsea.

and they had a terrific side at the time, some great players. Not quite championship material, but pretty close. And I've always enjoyed being in Chelsea. Did you consider it, or did it ever come off? I did. I thought about it a lot. The problem was I really didn't want to play for anyone else apart from Man United, so I took a couple of years off. And then, as you know, we...

The scene in America started up, so I went off there for seven years. Sure. OK, one here from Kevin. He said, please could you ask George... Well, the question is, your most treasured trophy in the game. What would be your most treasured trophy? I would have to say, obviously, the European Player of the Year. Because when I was playing, they didn't do the World Player of the Year. It came in a little bit later. But I...

I'm one of those people, I love awards. I don't care what it's for. And I went over recently to Monte Carlo where they're doing an induction, the Golden Foot, on the promenade in Monte Carlo. And every year they're going to induct five or six great players. And it was lovely because when I was there they had players like Luigi Riva was there, Rivelino, Shevchenko.

Hento, George Weah and we did the foot and the promenade and then we had a big dinner that night and they had an auction of all the players that were there of their shirts and I was last time the Man United shirt and they auctioned them for charity and most of them were going for like two three thousand and George Weah and Shevchenko tried to outbid each other for mine.

They got up to 9,000. Oh, great story. And Chef Chengo said to George Weah, who coincidentally is actually running for president of Liberia. Yes, he is, yeah. At the moment, or is going to be. And Chef Chengo said, you're not going to let me outbid you, are you? He went, no. He said, well, you better have it then. So when you sit there and you look at these great players, you know, bidding against each other for my shirt, it was a little bit special. Praise indeed. Who...

Who did you, was there anybody you idolized as a kid? That's from Kevin. My favorite player of all time was Di Stefano, the old Real Madrid center forward and I have a wonderful photograph in the office with him and Puskas, the other great Hungarian legend but he was the most complete player I ever saw. Okay, toughest defender of all time?

Cool, and you used to get kicked at Piller to post, didn't you? Yeah. I think the hardest and the best, and overall, a player who could also play a bit, was Paul Reaney at Leeds United. The old Leeds, yeah.

He could kick you, but he always picked you up. He's a gentleman. Is it true that, this is from Paul, by the way, is it true that once in a European Cup game you planned to go down on your knees and head the ball into the back of the net? Does that make sense to you? Not on my knees, I was going to get down on my belly and head it in. I'd planned to do it in the European Cup final, actually. And when I went round the goalkeeper for the second goal...

The first goal in extra time. I'd made my mind up to take it past him, and I was going to do it then, but the bugger got up too quickly. So I didn't have time. The manager wouldn't have liked it much. Oh, he would have done, yes. Floyd in Hampshire, he said, this is a little bit different, he says...

I know you play pool. We've played a lot of pool together. You played against his team last season in the local league. Did I win? They didn't say very well. They just said, you know, hopes you're well and he played pool against you last year. Yeah, I love a game of pool. Well, I had a...

As you know, Marge, I had the bar in Los Angeles. Yeah, sure. With my pal Bobby, and we had it for 14 years, so almost every night I was on the pool table, or the darts. I thought you were going to say every night I was on the pool. LAUGHTER

More emails in just a moment. Let's just move briefly, if you don't mind, to pubs, music. I mean, when you went to Portugal that time, you came back, they nicknamed you in the Portuguese press, I think, the fifth Beatle. And it brings us on to music in your life. What sort of music has been important to you? Well, I've always enjoyed it because I've always sort of mixed with music people. I think you tend to find that a lot of musicians...

are really into football and I suppose if they hadn't become musicians they'd have been footballers and probably vice versa and I know Rodney's into music as well and it's just you know the fact that I know personally a lot of people for years and years you know people like Elton and Rod Stewart and Van Morrison

So it was inevitable that I got involved. Elton John? Yeah. That's another lovely thing. They had a tribute, an Ivor Novello tribute recently to Elton. And he purposely asked if I'd be there as a special guest. I mean, there were plenty of special guests there. And I took my son along, Callum. And at the end of the show, Elton did a song after the awards were over, or his award was over.

And when he finished, he got up, and I was sitting almost opposite him, and he just pointed at me and myised, thank you. And Callum said, did he do that to you? And I said, well, why shouldn't he? Let's have a little listen. Let's have a little listen, because you brought along a couple of CDs, and this is one of your choices. We'll give you a little 30-second splash. You got it right under I say you are my friend When I

Positively at 4th Street. What do you think of George when you hear that? What does it remind you of? It reminds me of all the hypocrites and I think you listen to the words to it and it speaks for itself and he's put down exactly what I would want to write to the people who pretend to be your friends.

And basically, I was stabbing you in the back. You had none of that, yeah? Yeah. Still do. Yeah. I still had it. And just every time I listen to that, it about sums the whole situation up for me anyway. When somebody says, I've got loads of friends, and then you hear other people say, do you know what? I can count my real friends on one hand. Yeah.

what do you think um on no hands i can get my real friends with my thumb let me ask you this one best i'm gonna throw one at you uh if you don't answer it don't answer it you know in your life and i've known you for a long long time there have been lots of women in and out your life at different times

Is there one woman that's been in your life that you think to yourself, well, she was really genuine, a really, really genuine person? To be honest, there was one, yeah. Okay. Nothing came of it. We were together off and on for quite a long time, but it was very, very tense. And intense. And intense. And we ended up, we weren't going to be good for each other.

But she was the one special. OK. Well, that will remain a secret. Yes, because she was one of the very few who has never, ever spoken about it, and she had plenty to speak about if she wanted to. OK.

and disappeared off into the sunset. Now he lives abroad and has a couple of kids. OK, no pressure. For some of our younger listeners who didn't see you play George, what was your temperament like? Did you have it well under control? Not really. I think in the early days, I think the fact that we were winning everything, it helps. But when things started to go a little bit awry...

Yeah, the old temper flours up a little bit. I usually was mostly sent off for, you know, abusive language towards the referee. I did get sent off once for... We were actually playing an Argentinian side at Old Trafford and we were basically going to get knocked out or going to lose. And this guy had kicked lumps out of me all through the game and eventually, towards the end...

He was down by the tunnel. In the old days, the tunnel used to be in Halfway Line at Old Trafford. And he was being booked, so I thought, why not? So I just walked over and chinned him while he was being booked. And walked straight up the tunnel. While he was being booked. Picture this. You're in the garage, hands covered in grease, just finished tuning up your engine with a part you found on eBay. And you realise, you know what? I could also use new brakes. So where do you go next?

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Hi, Gemini. The football transfer window's open. How are my team's stats looking? Well, your team definitely has a lot of star power. Do you think we're going to have a good season? It's going to come down to consistency and a little bit of luck on your side. I'll let you know if we win. I'll be keeping an eye on the scores. Yeah, me too. Now we're talking. Transfer to Google Pixel 9 with Gemini Live today. Sequences shortened. Gemini Live available for ages 18 plus. Internet required. Results are illustrative. Check responses for accuracy. Feature and account compatibility limitations apply.

Deadline day is fast approaching and TalkSport is your home of the January transfer window. I'm Jim White and along with me, Alex Crook, we'll be bringing you unmatched coverage leading right all the way through until the deadline itself on February the 3rd. Every Tuesday and Friday, we'll bring you shows on the TalkSport YouTube channel. But for even more content throughout the week, listen on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. That's TalkSport's transfer notebook throughout the whole of January. Our best.

What was the truth behind the story of you two guys? I think it was Rodney, you were in the same side at Fulham, and he suddenly decided to make a blinding tackle on you, his teammate. Yeah, he tried to take my ball away from me. No, is that a true story? Yeah, it's on film.

And I wouldn't let him. It's my ball, so he couldn't have it. But great times for you at Fulham. I mean, you must have enjoyed it immensely with the players you had around. It was a short period, Bessie, wasn't it? It was great. Moura? Yeah, the great Moura was there. And we had a lot of good young players. Funny enough, I just bumped into one of them, Tony Gale, a couple of days ago. And he was someone of great honour and pleasure, it was, because he was only a kid.

coming in and playing alongside Rodney and myself and Bobby Moore. It's not bad for a young kid. And, you know, we went out and enjoyed it. The crowds were coming back, the cameras were there. I mean, we weren't even in the top flight. The cameras were there and...

Everybody was laughing and joking. Good fun, wasn't it? We've got hundreds and hundreds of questions, George. We're not going to get anywhere close to. But you're welcome to keep on emailing and texting your questions. Pat Jennings. Talk a little bit about Pat Jennings. Oh, Pat. I mean, a gentleman. You know, Pat and I roomed together on the Irish trips.

and he was just a gentleman. Great, great goalkeeper. At a time when there were so many great ones around. Sure. And to get the number of caps he got for Northern Ireland was phenomenal. I mean, I should have got the same amount if it hadn't been for club commitments. But he's just, again, he's one of those people, when you meet him, he just, it's a breath of fresh air. You know, he walks in the room and he's,

He's got that booming voice. His hands have got bigger, if that's possible. What was it like, George, and this is impossible for anybody to know other than you, what was it like being the player that you were, not being able to play in the World Cup? What was that like? Yeah, I mean, it's a bit like... Because everybody in the world was saying you're the greatest player in the world and you can't play in the World Cup. Yeah, well, it's a bit like Giggs, you know, he never had the chance.

The problem of course would have been, you know, it would have been nice to have qualified, but to go to the World Cup with Northern Ireland, it's not quite like going and playing for Brazil. But, you know, it wasn't to be. And again, you know, the comparison we ran gigs, the fact that, you know, club-wise, you know, we were winning.

It would be different if we hadn't been winning domestically, but we were, so it eased the pain a little bit. It would have been nice. Okay. This is from Colin in Wigan, and he says, George, what was your relationship like with Sir Matt Busby? I know, but tell everybody. It was just, he became my sort of guardian. He took me off like my dad does when need be.

And then they'd kick your backside and then before you left the office put his arm around you and tell you to go out and behave yourself. Yeah. Yeah, it was funny because I used to go into the boss's office and he used to sit there and he used to sit in front of this great man just nodding your head. Whatever he said you just nodded, yes, yes boss, yes boss. And then I'd come out in the corridor where the offices were so I'd come out and close the door

and a couple of doors down like great jimmy murphy who did such a marvelous job after the munich christ and helping to rebuild the team he'd take me in his office and give me a beer okay it was a good guy and a bad guy it's like the two coppers one let me uh switch gears a little bit more um jose marino well when when he first came here i thought you know what a breath of fresh air

And I know he's got unlimited money to spend, and has done, but he's eaten the rewards. They've started off like a house on fire. But they can't go the whole season and win every game, can they? I tell you what, you wouldn't bet against them. They won't. And if they do, it would be a miracle. Because we said, didn't we, at the end of last season, they're there to be shut down, and everybody want to beat them.

They've gone sick, haven't conceded. Six points clear. It's not a bad start. Maybe you can say they haven't come up against the cream yet, or what's left of the cream. But I think he's getting a little bit too involved in the controversy and he's having a few moans like the managers these days.

Not as long as he's going to play the system he's playing.

I don't see how any team can expect to win anything playing one forward. It's just not possible. Pack the midfield as much as you want and stick one up front. So it only gives you one option. I mean, all they're doing is knocking it up to the one guy up front. What's he going to do with it? I mean, unless he's a bit like Mark Hughes and holds it up and waits for people. But they're knocking it up in the air and he's flicking it on. Who to?

And as long as you're playing with one forward, you're not going to win anything. OK. Let's listen to this one, Bestie. This is from Rich. He's in Plymouth. And he's asked a question, Jules, that, you know, we've been out together, you know, over the years and there's a lot of questions been asked of both you and I. I've never heard this question before. I'm going to ask it from Rich. He says, would you trade your genius as a footballer

to be anonymous so you wouldn't have had to have suffered what you suffered from the press? Would you trade that? That's a great question, by the way. Well, it is. If you'd have asked me that ten years ago, I would have said no. And I'm leaning towards yes, I probably would. I'd love to be able to walk down the street, go for a meal or go for a drink, take my dog for a walk. If I had my dog back...

Where's your dog, George? She's got both of them. Really? That's Alex. Yeah, it just would be nice. But I've found a couple of places now where I can do that. I've got a place in the south of France for my sister. I go off there and the locals don't bother me. And I can sit in the square, I can go for dinner, go for lunch.

Nobody bothers me. George, what do you think about the film they made of you, the Bestie film? It was an insult. I've got a lad who's driving me at the moment, and every time he picks me up, he tells me he's looking for this film. I said, don't bother. I said, because it's the biggest load of rubbish ever.

I've ever seen. It's an insult. At least you're honest. When we went to the premiere to look at it, and I was being played in the film, I didn't know I was being played by Roger Daltrey of The Who. Best of Marsh, and I'm being played by Roger Daltrey, who's four foot six tall. So you're right, pal. George, let's get a little light-hearted. Let's put a bit of happiness in. I thought that was being light-hearted. That was light-hearted. It was, actually. He's quite sensitive, Rod, sometimes. Players are losing this ball in the sun, but it was best...

We picked up that kid flick. Driven wide. Yes! What was your greatest night out? Who did you go out with? I mean, you had some good ones, but if you look back, what was one memorable night? I mean, I would imagine the Miss Worlds were quite high on the list. No, they weren't. I don't know. I like a night out with the boys. I had a wonderful night out recently, and it was quite a few of...

The old boys from the 68 side and a few after that. And dear old Noel Cantwell was there, who of course died recently. And just to be there, and we had it at Michael Parkinson's pub down near Windsor. And it was just, I took my girlfriend...

What's her name, by the way, George? Rosalind. Rosalind, yeah, OK. And she hates football. Well, doesn't hate, she's just not interested in it. But she had such a lovely night meeting some real people, you know. I think you find out with...

the ex-footballers, you know, as company. They're just different class. I don't know what it is, but they mix, and we had a great night, lovely dinner, and just to see the boys and have a few beers with them. Actually, funny enough, what they did, they were very clever. They stuck me between my girlfriend and Parkey. So you couldn't get up? No, no, no, I couldn't get up, I couldn't drink. So I had about a three-, four-hour night with them.

didn't have a drop but i had an amazing night brilliant how tough is that how tough has that been the drinking oh it's tough every day i mean it's just you can't get away from it you know you're surrounded by everywhere you go go in a supermarket you go to a restaurant you get on a train get on a flight they're almost thrown in your face and we know today what today's culture is like with especially young kids and it's it's frightening how much alcohol is consumed

I mean, I've done it for years and I know the problems. It's not going to go away. It's up to me. Some days are good, some days are bad.

Okay. Let's have... We're going to have a bit of music. This is amazing. Oh, you can go, Paul. You just talk away from me. I just sit here like a wally and you just keep talking. I was not going to say this. Sorry, Paul. Do you know, I think sometimes, and I'm not going to get down and dark on this, but sometimes everybody thinks about dying. Yeah. From time to time. You do, don't you? Yeah. What would you want people to think of you? I don't know. I...

Well, I know what they will think. They forget all the rubbish when I'm gone. And they'll remember the football. It's as simple as that. I mean, I don't give a toss about everything else. As long as they remember the football. And if only one person thinks I was the best player in the world, that'll do for me. Because that's what it was all about, as far as I'm concerned.

yeah we all think about that especially when i hit i listen to that that's what i play when i go on holiday and sit in the balcony three o'clock in the morning with a bottle of champagne and your legless yeah but it's just by the way pal there's more than one person i think she's great we've had thousands and thousands of emails and texts the paper pelly actually said that didn't he

He did. I found out it was amazing because I didn't know this. I was away somewhere and an ex-footballer came up to me and introduced himself. I couldn't remember who it was, but he came up to me and said he'd been on a dinner in New York and Pele was guest of honour and quite a few of his ex-Brazilian teammates were there. And he stood up to say a few words and do a question and answer. And one of the questions was who was the greatest footballer he'd ever seen.

And they're all sitting there, like Grincha and Rivalino and Didi and Fava. Beck and Bala. And he went and George Biss. Apparently there was totally sadness. Which is a hell of a compliment. Yes.

Listen, what I'm going to do for the last few minutes of this show, I'm going to open up the telephone lines. There's been thousands and thousands and thousands of people that wanted to speak to George, but I'm going to take a couple of calls before the end of the show today, Paul. Just one very quick question so we can get through as many as possible and you can actually have your say. That song, by the way... Starry, starry night. The song is actually called Vincent and it was about the artist, your favourite artist. Van Gogh. Yeah, Van Gogh.

Beautiful, beautiful lyrics as well. So we'll be going, I think we're going to have quite a few as well coming from Northern Ireland. Do you get a chance to go to Belfast very often? A little bit, not as much as I'd like to, yeah. Because most of my family are still there. My four sisters, my dad, my brothers, he lives in Dorset.

But the rest of them are still over there, so I go back as often as possible. Listen to this one. This is from Jackie, the Texas driver in Belfast, that took Paul BT and Rodney. He was our driver. He says, George, there's only one football legend...

We were treated so well, weren't we? They're amazing people. They really are. What's the future for you, George? I mean, you're in a difficult situation now. You said you're more or less living out of a suitcase. Financially, things are tough for you at the moment. What's the future for you? Well, hopefully get back into Chelsea, get it cleaned up and... That's your flat in Chelsea? Yeah. So once I've got the base, I mean, there's always...

There's always work coming in. I mean, that's never a problem. But it just means my retirement's put off for a couple of years because I've been clean nut. George, we're going to go to Sheffield. John, you're on Talk Sport. You're through to George Best.

Good afternoon, George. Hi, John. What an honour. Thank you. George, just very quickly, I know time's at a premium. The goal that everybody, the BBC show all the time, when it dances down to Sheffield United defence, my team, how could you do that to me? Well, my grandad and my dad, this is October 1971, when I was just six.

my dad and my grandad were locked outside. And they still say, or they would say, they're both not with us, unfortunately, but they say if Ted Hemsley was on the field, do you remember Ted Hemsley, our left back? Yeah. He went off. Would you have scored that goal? I'd probably have taken it on him as well, yeah. LAUGHTER

Let's go to Liverpool. John, you're through to George Best on Talk Sport. Hello, George. Hi there. All right, mate. Absolute legend. Thank you. The question I want to ask you is, in my day, I'm 42 now, and I can only remember like six world-class players, including yourself, Pele, Maradona, Beckenbauer, maybe a few others, but I'd like to know, do you know any now in this day and era who you would class as world-class apart from, say, Zidane?

Well, obviously, you've mentioned one of the main men in Zidane. I think Thierry Henry is. Ronaldinho, I think, is. Well, that's three straight away. Maldini...

has been a great, great player for many, many years. What about David Beckham, England captain? I think David's close, but I wouldn't put him in the same class as the sort of players that we've mentioned. George, very quickly, we've got a lady who wants to say hello. It's Joan in Norwich. You're through to George Best. Hiya, Joan. What's your points? Hi, George. I've watched you since I was seven. Excuse me, George. I'm excited.

So am I, so am I. I've watched you since I was 17 and I thought you were absolutely brilliant. Thank you. And I still watch football and follow everything. And when you're on TV, I'm always there. Do you have a question for George, Joan? George, yeah, I do have a question, George. Funny question, George. Could you please just wish my granddaughter every happiness at university when she comes to Hattie? What's her name? Amy. Amy.

Amy, all the best at university, is it? Yes. Yes. All the best, Amy. Have a great time. Well done, Joan. And let's quickly go to Bob. You've got about 15 seconds to speak to George Best. Go on, Bob. Hi, George. Hi, Bob. Best by name, best by nature. Thank you, pal. Right, quickly, about that goal you scored against Gorgon Bank. Yeah. You were too quick for him. Yeah. And he still lies a bugger. Yeah. He's only got one eye. But

Bob, you got through. We've got to leave it there. Rodney, George, it's been a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much for joining us. I've enjoyed it tremendously. And I think I speak for both of us. We wish you good fortune for the future as well. Cheers, thank you. What a legend. George Best joining us on the game on TalkSport. Play the game. Oh, play the game.

Hi, Gemini. The football transfer window's open. How are my team's stats looking? Well, your team definitely has a lot of star power. Do you think we're going to have a good season? It's going to come down to consistency and a little bit of luck on your side. I'll let you know if we win. I'll be keeping an eye on the scores. Yeah, me too. Now we're talking. Transfer to Google Pixel 9 with Gemini Live today. Sequences shortened. Gemini Live available for ages 18 plus. Internet required. Results are illustrative. Check responses for accuracy. Feature and account compatibility limitations apply.