Ex-Villa chief Stride: Our multiple attempts to sign Man Utd legend Best

Former Aston Villa chief Steve Stride has recalled how they tried signing Manchester United legend George Best.

He wrote for Birmingham Live: "We also discussed Manchester United's George Best, and the manager was instructed to make contact. The mercurial Irishman might have been past his best by then, but what a sensational transfer that would have been and it wasn't the first time we had contemplated it.

"In December 1972, Vic Crowe had proposed offering Bruce Rioch in exchange for Best, while the directors intimated that the manager could make a 150,000 offer to United. Although nothing had materialised by the following Spring, it was still on the anvil, with Doug Ellis and Harry Kartz revealing they intended visit Old Trafford to discuss the potential transfer of the player famously known as the Belfast Boy. United responded by saying they would leave their decision in abeyance.

"And I'll never forget the first time I attended a board meeting in secretary Alan Bennett's absence, in July 1974. I had only been at the club for a couple of years, so it was an amazing experience to be party to the workings of such a big club. Halfway through the day's business, the phone in the corner of the room rang and Doug Ellis halted the proceedings.

'Excuse me,' he said. 'I have to take this call.' He chatted for a while, with none of us having a clue who was calling, and then returned to inform us: 'That was George Best.'

"Unfortunately, despite having been discussed at various times over the previous 18 months, it was another signing that got away, although Best finally appeared in a claret and blue shirt at Villa Park a decade later. He turned out as a guest for us in a game against Albion in aid of the 1985 Bradford City fire disaster."