THERE COMES A time in Brian Reddin’s new documentary, ‘George Best i gCorcaigh’ when two conflicting emotions sneaks up and make a mental note to revisit your silent contemplations at a later date.
A day or two after and you recall how George Best’s short spell in Cork Celtic must have seemed to the titular figure.
After eleven seasons at Manchester United and all the glories, manager Tommy Docherty’s patience finally snapped and he was cut adrift in 1974.
He then embarked on a number of short-term fixes, money being the chief motivation when he played for Jewish Guild in South Africa, Dunstable Town and Stockport County.
Despite having won the League of Ireland in 1974, Cork Celtic were struggling the following season, the familiar pattern of boom and bust soccer culture on Leeside asserting itself.
They received word that Best might play for them through his old friend the former Chelsea player Bobby Tambling and decided that it was a commercial opportunity worth a shot.
He togged out against Drogheda United at Flower Lodge on 28 December, 1975, and later games against Bohemians and Shelbourne. Footage of the games show that he was barely trying a leg.
And yet to Trevor Welch, laterally of The Score on Cork’s 96FM and appearing here in a George Best T-shirt, those games were pilgrimages. His father had grown up a Manchester United fan. George Best was a God in their home.
It was about going to see a game with his Dad. About more than soccer. For him it was a day he spent out with his Dad,” explains Reddin.
“It’s a much bigger story and I found that touching, that communal experience of families coming together to see these guys.”
And there you have it. An out-of-sorts Best, merely turning up to fulfil a pay-as-you-go contract while battling demons, and yet for many that packed into Flower Lodge and Turner’s Cross, it was one of the highlights of their life.
Best juggling a ball in New York, 1975. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
‘George Best i gCorcaigh’ is a production typical of TG4, and goes out on St Stephen’s Day at 8.15pm.
Typical in that it sets a scene that people coming armed with no prior knowledge of Best can gain a good footing early on.
Then it drips in rare footage with a wide range of characters best placed to tell the story. It’s a format that has worked for Reddin in the various films he has produced on subjects such as Peter O’Toole, Grace Kelly and Rory Gallagher.
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He was blessed to be able to call on excellent communicators such as RTÉ’s Ger Canning and John Creedon, along with Welch, who were able to point out the exact spots in the ground where they were stationed hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the old Best magic.
Others weren’t so enamoured. Four Cork Celtic team mates in Alfie McCarthy, Bryan McSweeney, Jerry Myers and John ‘Blondie’ Carroll were interviewed on a fine, sunny day at the Cross and their own memories weren’t as fond.
“But in typical Cork fashion,” laughs Reddin, “Trying to get them excited about playing with George Best, one of the greatest players of all time, and they are all about, ’Sure, it was great for him to play with us, like.’
In his prime against Leeds United,1970. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
“It’s hilarious. They were togging out for a tenner and Best was getting a grand so I’d say that stung on some level.
“It was great to bring them to Turner’s Cross, they hadn’t been there in years. Lovely to see them – non-plussed as they were – but great to see them in there.”
There is a striking image when Best is leading the team out for his Celtic debut, holding a ball as he makes his way onto the pitch, with some elderly men and women sat perched on benches close to the entrance, wide-mouthed and gawping that, yes, indeed, it was George Best in the flesh. In Cork. Among them.
But at this point, alcohol had dug its nails into the Belfast Boy.
“Matt Busby was his surrogate father, then there was a succession of managers, including Frank O’Farrell from Cork, but he didn’t seem to have any time for them,” says Reddin.
“And then he came over to Cork and didn’t even learn the names of the team. It was a bad year for him, looking to go to a team for money, basically and it was fortuitous for them.
“In some ways it was really bad because he was in a slump where he didn’t care. Now, there was no suggestion he was turning up drunk or hungover in Cork. But the lethargy and the non-interest in it.
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
“Like, he didn’t take the time to learn the guys’ names. He took the cheque and went home. When he was playing, he was shouting the number of his team mate out to call for the ball.”
As a veteran of many George Best books and documentaries, you can set your clock to time when that famous footage of him in nightclubs, pouring some bubbly into a stack of Champagne glasses.
All that stuff, along with some of the highlights of his prime, including the 1968 European Cup final is available through British Pathé.
What elevates this documentary is the footage they secured of the games he played for Cork Celtic. Even total nerds would be doing well to have seen any of this stuff.
The first game was captured by RTÉ as a news item. They went down to capture some clips of Best and the cameraman was instructed to stay on him throughout the game at Flower Lodge.
There was around 25 minutes of his second game, played at Turner’s Cross when you can see the stadium itself, and the pitch in particular, was shocking. His former team mates chuckled as they recalled what Best must have thought of their dilapidated changing rooms.
As well as that, there are some revealing moments from his regular appearances with Gay Byrne on The Late Late Show.
Even that is drenched in pathos, as Reddin explains.
“I felt very sorry for him. Looking at him through the archives and how witty and intelligent he was, for a man who left Belfast when he was 15, not even finishing secondary school.
“Even when he sat down with Gay Byrne, all they ever asked him about was the booze. ‘Are you still drinking, George? Do you regret everything, George? Are you ever going to get off the drink, George?’
“They never really talked to him about soccer or about United. It was always about the downside of things.
“I’d say he must have been pissed off and had a pain in his arse answering these same questions over and over and over again.
“Someone told me when he done a bit of commentary on matches for TV3 around the time Giggs was playing. And someone asked him, ‘People are saying that Ryan Giggs is the new George Best. What do you think?’
Attending a Manchester United game in later years. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
“And off the top of his head, Best said, ‘If I was pushed, I would say we are probably about even. But then again, I am 50 now.’”
Set in the historical context of the time, this is a well-rounded piece of work.
“As well as the links about League of Ireland soccer, there is also an interesting social history there. It was interesting to see where Cork was with soccer at that time and where it went afterwards, which was downhill,” says Reddin.
“All the teams in Cork disappeared. All around them the factories were closing, the recession came in and soccer disappeared out of Cork for ten years.
“So, it was interesting in terms of a snapshot of time as to what George Best came into. I think John Creedon said it best when he said it was like a bit of rock ‘n’ roll coming into what was essentially a dreary city.”
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'Sure it was great for him to play with us, like’ - when George Best togged out for Cork Celtic
THERE COMES A time in Brian Reddin’s new documentary, ‘George Best i gCorcaigh’ when two conflicting emotions sneaks up and make a mental note to revisit your silent contemplations at a later date.
A day or two after and you recall how George Best’s short spell in Cork Celtic must have seemed to the titular figure.
After eleven seasons at Manchester United and all the glories, manager Tommy Docherty’s patience finally snapped and he was cut adrift in 1974.
He then embarked on a number of short-term fixes, money being the chief motivation when he played for Jewish Guild in South Africa, Dunstable Town and Stockport County.
Despite having won the League of Ireland in 1974, Cork Celtic were struggling the following season, the familiar pattern of boom and bust soccer culture on Leeside asserting itself.
They received word that Best might play for them through his old friend the former Chelsea player Bobby Tambling and decided that it was a commercial opportunity worth a shot.
He togged out against Drogheda United at Flower Lodge on 28 December, 1975, and later games against Bohemians and Shelbourne. Footage of the games show that he was barely trying a leg.
And yet to Trevor Welch, laterally of The Score on Cork’s 96FM and appearing here in a George Best T-shirt, those games were pilgrimages. His father had grown up a Manchester United fan. George Best was a God in their home.
“It’s a much bigger story and I found that touching, that communal experience of families coming together to see these guys.”
And there you have it. An out-of-sorts Best, merely turning up to fulfil a pay-as-you-go contract while battling demons, and yet for many that packed into Flower Lodge and Turner’s Cross, it was one of the highlights of their life.
‘George Best i gCorcaigh’ is a production typical of TG4, and goes out on St Stephen’s Day at 8.15pm.
Typical in that it sets a scene that people coming armed with no prior knowledge of Best can gain a good footing early on.
Then it drips in rare footage with a wide range of characters best placed to tell the story. It’s a format that has worked for Reddin in the various films he has produced on subjects such as Peter O’Toole, Grace Kelly and Rory Gallagher.
He was blessed to be able to call on excellent communicators such as RTÉ’s Ger Canning and John Creedon, along with Welch, who were able to point out the exact spots in the ground where they were stationed hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the old Best magic.
Others weren’t so enamoured. Four Cork Celtic team mates in Alfie McCarthy, Bryan McSweeney, Jerry Myers and John ‘Blondie’ Carroll were interviewed on a fine, sunny day at the Cross and their own memories weren’t as fond.
“But in typical Cork fashion,” laughs Reddin, “Trying to get them excited about playing with George Best, one of the greatest players of all time, and they are all about, ’Sure, it was great for him to play with us, like.’
“It’s hilarious. They were togging out for a tenner and Best was getting a grand so I’d say that stung on some level.
“It was great to bring them to Turner’s Cross, they hadn’t been there in years. Lovely to see them – non-plussed as they were – but great to see them in there.”
There is a striking image when Best is leading the team out for his Celtic debut, holding a ball as he makes his way onto the pitch, with some elderly men and women sat perched on benches close to the entrance, wide-mouthed and gawping that, yes, indeed, it was George Best in the flesh. In Cork. Among them.
But at this point, alcohol had dug its nails into the Belfast Boy.
“Matt Busby was his surrogate father, then there was a succession of managers, including Frank O’Farrell from Cork, but he didn’t seem to have any time for them,” says Reddin.
“And then he came over to Cork and didn’t even learn the names of the team. It was a bad year for him, looking to go to a team for money, basically and it was fortuitous for them.
“In some ways it was really bad because he was in a slump where he didn’t care. Now, there was no suggestion he was turning up drunk or hungover in Cork. But the lethargy and the non-interest in it.
“Like, he didn’t take the time to learn the guys’ names. He took the cheque and went home. When he was playing, he was shouting the number of his team mate out to call for the ball.”
As a veteran of many George Best books and documentaries, you can set your clock to time when that famous footage of him in nightclubs, pouring some bubbly into a stack of Champagne glasses.
All that stuff, along with some of the highlights of his prime, including the 1968 European Cup final is available through British Pathé.
What elevates this documentary is the footage they secured of the games he played for Cork Celtic. Even total nerds would be doing well to have seen any of this stuff.
The first game was captured by RTÉ as a news item. They went down to capture some clips of Best and the cameraman was instructed to stay on him throughout the game at Flower Lodge.
There was around 25 minutes of his second game, played at Turner’s Cross when you can see the stadium itself, and the pitch in particular, was shocking. His former team mates chuckled as they recalled what Best must have thought of their dilapidated changing rooms.
As well as that, there are some revealing moments from his regular appearances with Gay Byrne on The Late Late Show.
Even that is drenched in pathos, as Reddin explains.
“I felt very sorry for him. Looking at him through the archives and how witty and intelligent he was, for a man who left Belfast when he was 15, not even finishing secondary school.
“Even when he sat down with Gay Byrne, all they ever asked him about was the booze. ‘Are you still drinking, George? Do you regret everything, George? Are you ever going to get off the drink, George?’
“They never really talked to him about soccer or about United. It was always about the downside of things.
“I’d say he must have been pissed off and had a pain in his arse answering these same questions over and over and over again.
“Someone told me when he done a bit of commentary on matches for TV3 around the time Giggs was playing. And someone asked him, ‘People are saying that Ryan Giggs is the new George Best. What do you think?’
“And off the top of his head, Best said, ‘If I was pushed, I would say we are probably about even. But then again, I am 50 now.’”
Set in the historical context of the time, this is a well-rounded piece of work.
“As well as the links about League of Ireland soccer, there is also an interesting social history there. It was interesting to see where Cork was with soccer at that time and where it went afterwards, which was downhill,” says Reddin.
“All the teams in Cork disappeared. All around them the factories were closing, the recession came in and soccer disappeared out of Cork for ten years.
“So, it was interesting in terms of a snapshot of time as to what George Best came into. I think John Creedon said it best when he said it was like a bit of rock ‘n’ roll coming into what was essentially a dreary city.”
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BESTIE BESTIE LIKE Cork Celtic Football IN IT FOR THE MONEY League of Ireland Soccer