Best's funeral to be held at Stormont

Published on Tuesday 29 November 2005 00:11

GEORGE Best will be buried in his home town of Belfast on Saturday after a funeral service at Stormont, home to Northern Ireland's parliament buildings.

Thousands are expected to gather in the grounds of Stormont and line the streets leading to the 164-hectare estate on Saturday to pay tribute to the former Manchester United winger, who died on Friday. "The details are not finalised, but it will be at Stormont and it will be on Saturday," said Phil Hughes.

Adrian Donaldson, the chief executive of Castlereagh Borough Council, which is helping to organise the service, said the funeral would be held in Stormont's Great Hall at 11am.

"That will be for around 300 guests," Donaldson said. "It is expected there will be several hundred thousand people who will turn up to the actual Stormont parliamentary estate to mourn the passing of George Best."

Donaldson said the service would be relayed on television screens to those gathered in the grounds. Belfast-born TV presenter Eamonn Holmes, who is a lifelong Manchester United fan, will be master of ceremonies.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will attend the funeral and then fly back for his side's Premiership match at Old Trafford against Portsmouth, which kicks off at 5.15pm.

Leeds United have issued an official apology after some fans failed to observe a minute's silence at Millwall in honour of Best. Manager Kevin Blackwell had already condemned the behaviour before his side's 1-0 win. "Leeds United are disappointed at the reaction of a minority of fans who failed to observe the period of silence," read a club statement. "We certainly do not condone this kind of response and feel those responsible have let the club down.

"We apologise to all who were offended by such a response and we have already been in touch with Millwall to see if there is anything they can do to identify those responsible."