The charismatic Manchester United and Northern Ireland star, hailed as Britain’s most talented player ever, was last in the Island in 1999 as guest of honour at the inaugural Jersey Football Tournament, and thousands also remember the thrilling night in 1971 when he played at Springfield with the rest of the Old Trafford team.
In London, Best’s doctor, Professor Roger Williams, said today: ‘I shall see him later this morning, but I really can’t see him surviving the day.
I may be wrong, but the complications he has had made recovery impossible.’ Professor Williams said that the 59-year-old was receiving basic medical care to ensure that he was as comfortable as possible, but nothing could be done to improve his condition.
Best, whose career was cut short by the alcoholism that blighted the rest of his life, has been in hospital since the beginning of October and was put on a life support machine last week after he picked up a lung infection.
Jersey Football Tournament organiser Iain Mackenzie, of Sporting Evenutalities, said that the football world would lose one of its greatest stars when Best dies.
