George Best. De beste speler ooit zonder groot toernooi.

Jeetje Golfert. Mooie foto.

Digger

Mooi eerbetoon aan hem bij de BBC vanmiddag.

Ik las het bij CNN

Zou ie weer gedronken hebben ?

SOCCER legend George Best lay dying in his hospital bed last night...and warned other not to make the same mistakes as him.

Brave Best, 59, asked for harrowing picture of his alcohol-wrecked body to be published in the News of the World (see today's paper) saying: "I hope that my plight will act as a warning to others."

He was painfully thin, with a deathly yellow pallor and his his sunken eyes are glazed with tears of regret.

Tubes led in and out of a bloodied and bruised skeletal body ravaged by the effects of a lifetime of boozing.

Last night, as the former Manchester United star battled a severe lung infection, his tearful friend Phil Hughes told us: "George could never beat his drink problem, but he told me, ‘I hope my plight can act as a warning to others'.

"He has lost so much weight he looks like a broken sparrow. He's shrunk from over 12 stone to barely seven stone and is just skin and bone.

"Taking the pictures was the most harrowing thing I have ever had to do. I have been friends with George for 25 years and been with him through all the great times and very bad times.

"But George wanted me to take the pictures as a warning to others about the dangers of excess drinking. And having discussed it with his family, they agreed to allow it to be published in the News of the World."

Shattered Phil's voice cracked with emotion as he described the heart-rending hours of deterioration leading up to George's admission into intensive care where he is on a life support machine.

"He looked terrible and was struggling so much to talk I had to get a speech therapist to help me understand him," said Phil, 45.

"His skin had started to turn yellow because his liver wasn't functioning properly. He had a catheter attached to his neck for the drugs they were putting into him.

"He was still struggling to eat even a spoonful of porridge and they were feeding him high protein supplements through his nose.

On Friday morning, Phil received a phone call from West London's private Cromwell hospital saying that George's condition had worsened. He was asked to see the doctors along with George's son Calum and his girlfriend Ros Hollidge.

"George was really struggling for breath but pleased to see us," said Phil. "Me and Ros got there first and tried to comfort him.

"We told him everything was going to be OK and the doctor and a senior nurse told us they were going to have to move him back into intensive care.

"George nodded and said, ‘Do it.' He remained so strong. But I felt like I was falling apart and Ros broke down.

"Ros kept kissing George on the cheeks as tears rolled down her face and told him everything would be OK.

"But we both feared the worst as the porters wheeled George away on his bed. When Calum go there he broke down in tears.

"I then went to intensive care with Ros and Calum and we all stood by George's bedside and told him how much we loved him.

"He squeezed my hand. He knew we were there for him. But his eyes looked blank, as though he didn't know what was happening.

"After they settled George at 6pm, one of the doctors came out to us and said, ‘The next two hours are critical'. He said the last thing thing they wanted to do was put him back on a ventilator because he would slip into a coma and possibly wouldn't come around.

"I phoned George's sister Barbara in Belfast and she asked if there was a need for her to come over and I said, ‘I think you should.'

"Those crucial two hours came and went and George was still there fighting. Yet his breathing was so bad they had to put him on a ventilator.

"It was such a huge blow after him battling back from the first infection he had and getting out of intensive care. We were all so hopeful for him then."

Last night George's sisters Barbara and Carole were at his side along with George's brothers-in-law, Norman and Alan, and his brother Ian. Other family members were also said to be flying in.

Professor Roger Williams—who oversaw Best's 2002 liver transplant and has treated him ever since—said the star had been put back on dialysis for his failing kidneys as well as being given oxygen for breathing.

Best was admitted to hospital on October 2 suffering from flu-like symptoms. He had a chest infection which had spread to his kidneys and other organs.

Best's former wife Alex, 33 said she was "devastated" by this latest grave setback.

Ik zag net de foto op tv.Heartbreaking.Kan hem niet vinden op het net.