Best show in Town

Suspension and six goals at Northampton aside, that year he:

He was a rascal, no doubt, but he could play, and it says much for his enduring appeal that talk of Sunday's fourth-round clash between Northampton and United has centred on his contribution to an 8-2 win all those years ago.

Colin Calderwood, Northampton manager since October, was five and at school in Stranraer at the time. He has only ever seen grainy clips of Best gliding effortlessly through the mud past the hapless Northampton goalkeeper, Kim Book.

"Everyone you talk to in Northampton this week seems to have been at that match!" he smiled. "But I've told my players to focus on Sunday. There's pride at stake as far as I'm concerned and I don't want it to turn into an embarrassment.

"I hope that we can do ourselves justice. It's a great opportunity for my players to judge themselves against the best - the defenders against a striker like Ruud van Nistelrooy, the midfield players against Paul Scholes, the forwards against Mikael Silvestre."

The former Spurs, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest defender was reserve team coach at White Hart Lane until Northampton tempted him with his first managerial post. "It's very different," he said. "Results are what count now. At Tottenham my job was about the development of youngsters. I got my satisfaction from seeing players like Johnnie Jackson and Dean Marney emerge as first-team prospects."

Strangely, Manchester United provided the last big moment in Calderwood's playing career at Spurs. He was in the team that beat United 3-1 in the fifth round of the Worthington Cup in December 1998, but spent the rest of the season in the reserves before moving to Villa.

Calderwood concedes that the prospect of an FA Cup upset in the Sixfields Stadium on Sunday are remote, but I told him to tell his players that, in 1970, the late Dave Bowen's side were only two-down after 50 minutes - and they missed a penalty. That day a crowd of 21,711 paid record receipts of ?17,000 and did their best to create an intimidating atmosphere. I remember the police moving on to the terraces in force to subdue fighting fans.

Nothing, though, deflected the little Irish genius. Right foot, left foot, head . . . it made no difference, the goals just rolled in.

The funny thing is, Book didn't play badly. Best was simply unstoppable.

The former Northampton goalkeeper, whose son Steve now plays for Cheltenham, recalled: "George came into the dressing room afterwards and shrugged and smiled. He was really good about it. He'd stuffed us but you couldn't help but admire the way he did it."