Bottle beating George Best

Press, 19 December 1988, Page 21

Bottle beating George Best

NZPA-AFP London The fallen soccer idol, George Best, is drinking himself to death, according to his manager and ex-wife.

Bill McMurdo told the "Sun” newspaper that in the last five months the one-time Northern Ireland and Manchester United wing has been sinking 24 glasses of champagne a day plus vodka and Bacardi cocktails.

Mr McMurdo’s revelation comes a day after Angie Best said she was quitting Britain for California with her seven-year-old son, Callum, because she did not want him to see his father die on the bottle.

“If you could see George now, you would cry,” said Mr McMurdo. “This, is the worst drink-

ing binge he’s ever been on.

“Every day is a bender for George, because he’s convinced he has nothing left to live for.

“George still remembers the days when he was a star and thought he had real friends, but the only friends he has now are people who might recognise him in a bar and buy him a drink. “Those are the friends who will end up killing him. It’s like giving your best pal cyanide. If they really were friends, they would not buy him drink.

But Best, aged 42, denied he was drinking himself into an early grave and described such claims as “wicked evil trash.”