48 years ago, an alcoholic Best made a ‘pantyhose’ to Cruijff and clenched his fist in the air
By 1976, the Northern Irishman had already been released from Manchester United, was playing for Fulham and was a shadow of the player he had been.
October 13, 1976. It happened 48 years ago. George Best was in his 30s and his best days were over. It wasn’t just his age; his alcoholism had left him a shadow of his former self. Manchester United had let him go; he was playing for Fulham in the English second division, after spells in Scotland and the United States (Los Angeles Aztecs, his fifth club in two years since leaving Old Trafford).
Ahead of the Netherlands-Northern Ireland World Cup qualifier in Rotterdam, Dutch journalist Bert Nederlof was tasked with writing a profile of the great star and travelled to London to watch Best play for his new club against Southampton. The Northern Irish great dribbler had disappeared, and could not be on the pitch. He called him a “fallen superstar”.
Another journalist, the British Bill Elliot, was on the Green and White Army bus as they travelled to Rotterdam, where they would face, two years after the fateful Munich final for the Dutch, the Clockwork Orange of Johan Cruijff (and Johan Neeskens, and Ruud Krol, all in their prime). Elliot asked Best what he thought of the rivals’ captain. The answer was quick: “Exceptional!” However, the journalist was not satisfied and asked “better than you?”. Best laughed and retorted: “You’re joking, aren’t you? I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to humiliate Cruijff at the first opportunity!”
And then he also put the ball between Neeskens’ legs and Neeskens was so angry that he ran around for the next 10 minutes trying to kick him!
The footballer’s claims could hardly be considered very credible. It was Danny Blanchflower’s first appearance on the Northern Ireland bench and Best had not been called up to the national team for three years. He even looked a little overweight, despite being tanned by the California sun and with slightly longer hair.
There is no video evidence of his doing so, only testimonies. On that magical night, Best was once again a prodigious and unstoppable footballer, guiding his team to a 2-2 draw.
Cruijff didn’t like it, of course, because he was royalty like Bestie.
But let’s get back to Bill Elliot and his description of the moment when two of the greatest footballers of all time crossed paths on the pitch: “Five minutes in, Best received the ball on the left. Instead of heading towards goal, he cut inside, passed at least three Dutch players and found the path to Cruijff, who was on the right. He took the ball to his opponent, feinted with his body twice and put it between his legs. As he ran to receive it further forward and head towards goal, he raised his right fist in the air. Only a few of us in the press box knew what that really meant. Johan Cruijff, the best in the world? Are you kidding? Only an idiot would have thought that that night!”
The inspiration Northern Ireland needed
“That was Bestie,” recalled Sammy McIlroy, who was part of the British team at De Kuip that night, years later. “He could do anything and everything. Cruijff was amazed! And then he also put the ball between Neeskens’ legs and Neeskens was so angry that he ran around for the next 10 minutes trying to kick him! It’s incredible that he did that to players of that calibre. The players didn’t like it and the crowd was angry too.”
McIlroy set up an early opener for Chris McGrath as Northern Ireland took a shock lead. Krol and Cruijff struck in quick succession to turn the game around, but substitute Derek Spence equalised late on.
Spence also recalled that night. “He went up to Neeskens and got past him, I saw it with my own eyes. It wasn’t a fluke because he had humiliated the whole Coventry team in a warm-up game the previous Wednesday. He humiliated them twenty times, I counted. He tunnelled past Neeskens and then Cruijff. I didn’t see Cruijff’s, but he did it, as the Dutchman confirmed it years later. They used to make fun of him for it. He didn’t like it, of course, because he was royalty like Bestie . He was an inspiration to us that night,” he told Radio BCC Ulster.
The Netherlands would only fail to win that game on the way to Argentina, where they would reach the new final and lose again, once again to the home team, just like four years earlier, against Germany.
In Northern Ireland, that night in Rotterdam is still remembered as a miracle. Best would only last one more year in the national team. His alcoholism was getting worse. His career continued to bounce between the United States and Scotland and even Australia, before hanging up his boots for good at Tobermore United in his home country in 1984.
