'Life's A Ball'

I have always loved watching players who excite and thrill. A precious few have the ability to turn a game in a moment. Fortunately, I have worked with some of the very best. Kevin Keegan, Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley, Paul Gascoigne and Ian Wright spring to mind. The ultimate entertainer of them all made an impression on me before my career had begun. Like virtually everyone I knew at school I had a dream to make it as a footballer. My hopes began to take shape at the Cliff, Manchester United’s training ground in Salford. United were my team and I was one of a group of promising youngsters invited to train at the club during the week. Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was a striker in those days. Come to think of it, weren’t we all?! I scored lots of goals but later, beyond school, I was to drop back and make a nuisance of myself in midfield. The Cliff had an indoor shale pitch and when the weather was bad everyone trained together – the first team, the reserve team, ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams. This meant that I was surrounded by all my heroes...Denis Law, Bobby Charlton, Pat Crerand and the greatest of them all, George Best. Best was my idol and you can imagine my excitement when I got to play a five-a-side game with him. George was something else. He had everything. His attacking skills were breathtaking and bamboozled defenders but he could also track back and was a great tackler. I looked on in wide-eyed amazement. It was the mid-to late-60s and he was in his pomp. We used to have a pint of milk and a sandwich afterwards. What impressed me even more was that George would come in and sit with us youngsters. You would not believe it! Bobby Charlton would come over and talk occasionally and others drifted in and out but George was the only one who regularly gave us his time. Me and my mates crowded round and sat there in a trance. We were young and star-struck. There was no big ego here. With a cup of tea in front of him George would chat to us about ordinary, everyday issues. Some of the lads had travelled long distances to get there and George would ask where they were from. He would be particularly supportive to the one or two Irish lads who were in the group. Many years down the line I was to face the great man once again. I was at Oldham Athletic by then, established as a physiotherapist but keen to get the boots on and have a game whenever possible. I never turned down a chance to play! It was April 1986 and Oldham manager Joe Royle took a Lancashire Football League team up to Workington to play in a fund-raising match. We had some decent players in the starting line-up, including former Liverpool and England full-back Phil Neal. George turned out for Workington. He flew in and out by helicopter and his picture featured on the front of the match programme. George was a month short of his 40th birthday and well past his peak but he was the star man on the day and his advanced age did not stop him thrilling the crowd. Our right side midfield player was a lad called Mike Cecere. Mike was decent enough to play around 250 league games, mainly at Oldham, Huddersfield and Walsall. He had the job of keeping George quiet. Not the most enviable of tasks! Mike closed George down on three separate occasions, only to be ‘nutmegged’ each time. We took Mike to one side and told him how to deal with it, basically to keep his legs tighter together. The fourth time Best approached, Mike did just what we told him. George promptly put the ball one side of him and ran past on the other! Brilliant! Another Best party piece involved humiliating me! George dribbled towards poor old Mike yet again. I was positioned immediately behind with another of our players behind me. In a flash George had ‘nutmegged’ all three of us before stopping the ball and running up the touchline with three fingers in the air! You’d think it was staged but I honestly went in to win that ball. I wouldn’t shirk a challenge on anyone, even in a friendly, and I’ve left a few opponents reeling from heavy tackles in my time! With George, I never got close.