BEST'S DEATH BED REUNION WITH EX-ALEX
By Phil Taylor
GEORGE Best's ex-wife Alex made a secret visit to his bedside hours before he died, the News of the World can reveal.
The blonde beauty, who went through a bitter divorce from the stricken star, made her peace with him after his family allowed her to say her final farewell.
Their touching moments are revealed today by 59-year-old George's agent and best friend Phil Hughes who was there with Denis Law—George's famous Man United team-mate—when he died on Friday.
Phil, 45, and Denis, 65, today speak movingly for the first time of George's death with his family and friends around him. They poignantly tell how they each kissed him tenderly after he died.
And Phil reveals the soccer legend's last words to him—a Christmas wish he would never fulfil.
Kissed
Eyes red with grief, Phil told how Alex, 33, came to George's side. It was like a flashback to five years ago in the same hospital—when Alex was pictured with him as he recovered from his liver transplant. But this time there would be no recovery.
"I was holding his hand when Alex walked into intensive care at 1am on Friday morning as he was on a life support machine," said Phil.
"His son Calum was holding George's other hand. I gave my chair to Alex and put George's hand in hers and she broke down in tears.
"Alex whispered something in George's ear and kissed him on the cheek. It was clear that, despite everything that happened between her and George, she still really loved him.
"I left the room and broke down.
Phil also revealed how tragic Best died without ever meeting his secret daughter.
He said: "I am sure he would have loved to have seen her."
The mystery 36-year-old was the one person missing from the family gathering at the soccer legend's death bed.
She was fathered by Best during his glory years at Man United—but they always lived apart.
Her mum fell pregnant while engaged to a well-to-do businessman. The scandal was hushed up at their wedding and the baby was passed off as the groom's.
Only the couple and Best knew the truth about the birth in 1969.
Best, then 23, promised the mum he would never attempt to make contact—and he never did.
Twelve hours after Alex's loving kiss, George died. Around his bed were Phil, Denis, Calum, his father Dickie, his sisters Carole, Barbara, Julie and their husbands, Julie's twin sister Grace, and his only brother Ian.
"I had feared George would die alone," says Phil. "But the people who mattered to him were there until the end. Until his heart stopped beating."
Stories
Beside George also was the man with whom he had terrorised defences across the world in the glory days...Denis.
"It was so tough at the end—typical George fighting long after everyone had given up on him," said Denis. "At 7pm on Thursday we were told he wouldn't make it through the night. I decided to stay and slept in the waiting room with George's dad. I'm sure George would have laughed if he could have seen us, huddled on benches under blankets.
"His sisters stayed with him, talking to him, telling stories, they were magnificent. We all gathered around him on Friday morning. The monitors were going further and further down and we knew the end was near.
"One of his sisters read the 23rd psalm. We held his hand, someone was always holding his hand.
"Then the doctor looked at me and nodded. He announced that George had gone and we all wept."
As one of football's most gifted talents passed away, soccer fans across the country united to pay tribute to Georgie Best.
Thunderous applause rang out for 60 seconds at the homes of some teams—including Celtic and Wolves —in an unusual but moving salute.
Other supporters, including those of Manchester United's great rivals Manchester City and Liverpool, who were playing each other, paid their respects with a traditional minute's silence before kick-off.
Denis Law is glad his pal's one dying wish will be granted. "He had always said he wanted to join his mum Ann back in Belfast," said Denis, who will be at the funeral this week with the important women in George's life—his ex-wives Alex and Angie and his last girlfriend Ros Hollidge.
"George would have wanted people to realise the dangers of drink, to see his condition," said Denis.
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