Manchester United legend George Best's 1968 European Cup winner's medal fetches £156,000 at auction
George Best's 1968 European Cup winner's medal has been sold at auction for £156,000.
It was arguably the greatest accolade won by the Northern Irish genius during a turbulent football career.
His goal in extra time of the final at Wembley put Manchester United on course for a 4-1 win against Benfica which helped to create the legend of a club which had suffered so horribly with the Munich disaster 10 years earlier.
The European Cup medal was among 13 of Best's awards put up for sale by his sister Barbara McNally, who said she was forced to part with treasured mementos in order to pay off his debts. The items fetched almost £200,000.
Flamboyant on and off the pitch, Best died five years ago - aged just 59 - after a lifetime battling alcoholism.
A replica of the European Cup Winner's medal, which was made for Best by the PFA when he misplaced the original medal, fetched £9,000.
The BBC Lifetime Achievement Award the recovering alcoholic won in 2002 sold for £7,800; and the 2000 Belfast Telegraph Hall of Fame award raised £4,800.
Other important lots sold included the 2000 International Hall of Champions award, which made £3,960 and the Freedom of Castlereagh award, which fetched £4,560.
From private collectors, a limited edition George Best Faberge egg commemorating his part in the 1968 cup final sold for £25,200. It was listed at £15,000 to £20,000.
The last shirt worn by Best for Northern Ireland while a Manchester United player on November 14 1973, sold for £6,000.
The sale also featured the shirt worn by Brazilian footballer Pele in his final international appearance for Brazil versus Yugoslavia on July 18 1971, which made £8,640; and a collection of Muhammad Ali memorabilia, signed and donated by the celebrated former boxer to Parkinson's UK, which raised over £3,000 for the Parkinson's disease charity.
McNarry, 58, had told how she had no choice but to sell off the late Manchester United icon’s prizes at the Bonhams auction in Chester.
In a statement, she said: 'I’m absolutely devastated that the executor is having to arrange for the sale of George’s trophies and memorabilia which hold so many precious memories for myself and George’s many fans worldwide.
'But I reluctantly have to accept that there is no alternative due to the financial status of the estate.'
Best’s £135,853 estate went almost entirely to McNarry when he died of organ failure in London’s private Cromwell Hospital in November 2005.
His gross estate was £525,680 but after debts were settled the net value was slashed. Further claims on the estate apparently later came to light.
Best drew up his will when he was still married to Alex Best but never updated it. When they divorced, she was automatically cut out and the estate switched to McNarry.
McNarry lives in Belfast and runs the George Best Foundation, a trust set up to raise funds to combat liver disease. Best’s son Calum, 29, was said to be disappointed after he was left only an engraved commemorative watch from the 1994 World Cup.
Best’s other three siblings did not receive a penny. There have since been costly private disputes over who in the Best family owns what.
At a previous Bonhams auction in 2003, Best himself sold his 1968 European Footballer of the Year trophy for over £150,000. Best said he would 'shed a tear' at losing the trophy, which he sold to pay for a Greek holiday home.
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