George Best's liver condition improves
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See the article in its original context from March 2000.
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Fears that Best was suffering from liver failure were raised when the 53-year-old star, who admits he has had a drink problem for many years, was admitted to the private Cromwell Hospital in west London in Wednesday night. But doctors insisted his condition was not life threatening and said on Saturday there was an improvement in his condition.
Professor Roger Williams, the consultant overseeing Best's treatment, said that although he was making good progress, he would have to spend at least another week in hospital before he was well enough to leave.
"We are carefully monitoring George's condition and the tests show that things have improved," Williams said. "He is certainly well in himself.
"However, his recovery will be at a slow pace and I would not expect him to be leaving for at least another week." According to Best's personal assistant, Phil Hughe, the star has pledged to his wife and friends that he will give up drinking after this latest scare. But his admission to hospital was the latest chapter in the soccer star's rollercoaster life in which he has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons as well as for his brilliant skills on the soccer field. As a teen-age star in the 1960s, Best was probably second only to Pele. in terms of talent and his amazing dribbling skills helped Manchester United to a memorable European Champions Cup triumph in 1968.
He scored a stunning hat-trick in United's 5-1 win at Benfica, then one of Europe's top cubs, in Lisbon in 1966 when he gained the nickname "El Beatle" in the Portuguese media.
His good looks and rock-star lifestyle attracted a string of female companions - virtually all of them blonde - and he has had two stormy marriages.
After retiring from English soccer early at age 26, he gained a reputation as being a heavy drinker and despite a semi-successful spell playing in the United States, his return to England to play for Fulham didn't work out. He was banned by FIFA from playing anywhere in the world when he walked out on the Craven Cottage club.
