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Football

07th May 2015

PIC: Say what? George Best’s real name wasn’t George?

We don't know what to believe anymore

Darragh Murphy

We thought we knew George Best inside out but it turns out that we don’t even know the most basic background of the man.

We might be able to recreate Best’s best goals right down to the most subtle shoulder drop but it turns out that we don’t even know his real name.

The Belfast Telegraph have obtained Best’s birth certificate and there’s not a George in sight, with the name on the document instead reading “Ronald Samuel Best.”

The newspaper published a picture of the certificate that was initially registered on 27 May 1946, five days after his official birth date and the brother-in-law of the Manchester United legend, Norman McNarry, has no idea how the name was mistaken.

McNarry said: “Barbara (Best’s sister) hasn’t a clue about the name change on the birth certificate and she doesn’t think anyone can explain how it happened. It’s a grey area as far as we’re concerned.

“We can only assume that it was a misprint, or that a mistake has been made and later rectified,” he added. “Maybe the registrar of births got it slightly wrong and then changed it after Barbara’s dad pointed it out and said he was called George.”

Ronald Samuel? We can’t take that seriously, can we?