Clyde Best

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Clyde Best
{{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|size=100}}

| fullname = Clyde Cyril Best MBE

| image = Ex-West Ham United footballer Clyde Best, Boleyn Ground Aug 2012.jpg

| image_size = 325px

| caption = Best at West Ham United's Boleyn Ground, in August 2012

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|2|24|df=y}}

| birth_place = Somerset, Bermuda

| height =

| position = Striker

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 = Somerset Trojans

| years1 = 1968–1976

| years2 = 1975

| years3 = 1976

| years4 = 1976

| years5 = 1977–1981

| years6 = 1977–1978

| years7 = 1979–1980

| years8 = 1980–1981

| years9 = 1981–1982

| years10 = 1981–1982

| years11 = 1982–1984

| clubs1 = West Ham United

| clubs2 = → Tampa Bay Rowdies (loan)

| clubs3 = Tampa Bay Rowdies (indoor)

| clubs4 = Tampa Bay Rowdies

| clubs5 = Portland Timbers

| clubs6 = Feyenoord

| clubs7 = Cleveland Force (indoor)

| clubs8 = Portland Timbers (indoor)

| clubs9 = Toronto Blizzard

| clubs10 = Toronto Blizzard (indoor)

| clubs11 = Los Angeles Lazers (indoor)

| caps1 = 186 | goals1 = 47

| caps2 = 19 | goals2 = 6

| caps3 = 4 | goals3 = 7

| caps4 = 19 | goals4 = 9

| caps5 = 118 | goals5 = 38

| caps6 = 23 | goals6 = 3

| caps7 = 30 | goals7 = 33

| caps8 = 6 | goals8 = 2

| caps9 = 22 | goals9 = 2

| caps10 = 18 | goals10 = 3

| caps11 = 90 | goals11 = 29

| totalcaps = 535

| totalgoals = 179

| nationalyears1 = 1968

| nationalteam1 = Bermuda

| nationalcaps1 = 2 | nationalgoals1 = 1{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=46538/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327085056/http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player%3D46538/index.html |archive-date=27 March 2013 |url-status=dead |title=FIFA.com – FIFA Player Statistics: Clyde BEST |accessdate=4 September 2015}}

| manageryears1 = 1997–1999

| managerclubs1 = Bermuda

}}

Clyde Cyril Best {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (born 24 February 1951) is a Bermudian former football player. He was one of the first black players in First Division football in England, scoring 47 goals as a striker for West Ham United between 1968 and 1976.

Early and personal life

Best moved from Bermuda to England at the age of 17, to play for West Ham United. Upon his arrival he was looked after by club captain Bobby Moore.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46731183|title=How an FA Cup night out soured Moore's West Ham career|work=BBC Sport }} He has credited Moore and fellow West Ham players Harry Redknapp and Billy Bonds with helping him deal with racist abuse.

Playing career

As one of England's first black footballers, Best was regularly targeted with racist chanting from the terraces,{{cite book|author=Martin Polley|title=Moving the Goalposts: A History of Sport and Society in Britain since 1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OzpKIiMW1GEC&pg=PA157|date=11 September 2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-76688-8|pages=157–}} but eventually became a fan favourite at Upton Park. He was a strong, powerful player with the skills of the traditional English centre forward, tough to dispossess when he had the ball and good in the air. He made his debut for West Ham United in a 1–1 home draw against Arsenal on 25 August 1969 at the age of 18. His first goal for the Hammers came during League Cup competition, in a 4–2 win against Halifax Town, on 3 September 1969. In 1973 Best deputised for an injured Bobby Ferguson in goal against Leeds United.{{Cite web|url=http://www.goalkeepersaredifferent.com/keepers/outfield-players-in-goal.html|title=Emergency Measures | Outfield Players Who Went in Goal | Goalkeepers Are Different|website=www.goalkeepersaredifferent.com}} Best played 218 games and registered 58 goals for West Ham over 7 seasons between August 1969 and January 1976.{{cite web|url=http://www.westhamstats.info/westham.php?west=2&ham=42&united=Clyde_Best |title= The Wonderful World of West Ham United statistics Clyde Best |publisher=westhamstats.info|accessdate=4 September 2015}}

Best also played in the Dutch Eredivisie for Feyenoord where he was generally viewed as a failure, scoring only 3 goals in 23 matches,{{cite web|url=http://www.feyenoordgeschiedenis.net/miskopen.htm |title=Miskopen – De grootste missers uit de Feyenoordgeschiedenis | The worst buys in Feyenoord's history (Dutch) |publisher=feyenoordgeschiedenis.net|accessdate=4 September 2015}} and in the United States and Canada for Tampa Bay Rowdies, Toronto Blizzard and Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League. While playing for Tampa Bay in Soccer Bowl '75, he scored an 88th-minute goal to secure the Rowdies' first NASL championship in a 2–0 victory over Portland Timbers.{{cite web|url=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CoqWWZryDfU/Tk-SyjDtXOI/AAAAAAAALNs/QprEBSLeOSg/s1600/1975-8-24+Soccer+Bowl+Report+2.jpg|title=Image: 1975-8-24+Soccer+Bowl+Report+2.jpg, (1583 × 908 px)|publisher=3.bp.blogspot.com|accessdate=4 September 2015}} The following spring he led the Rowdies to the 1976 indoor title and was named tournament MVP.{{cite web|url=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XkD8CXfcufQ/TnMFho6qCMI/AAAAAAAALRk/BwoPC8IkDO4/s1600/1976-3-27+Rowdies+vs+Lancers+id+Final+Report.jpg|title=Image: 1976-3-27+Rowdies+vs+Lancers+id+Final+Report.jpg, (656 × 920 px)|publisher=2.bp.blogspot.com|accessdate=4 September 2015}} He was the Rowdies leading scorer for the brief 1976 indoor season with 11 goals, 5 assists for 27 points.{{cite news |last=Gurney |first=Jack|title=Rowdies Win NASL Indoor Crown 6–4|date=28 March 1976|newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19760328&id=xLoqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LmcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4831,4866586&hl=en/|page=1D|accessdate=15 September 2016}}

Managerial career

Best was an assistant coach for the San Diego Sockers for a brief period in the early 1990s.{{cite web|url=http://bernews.com/bermuda-profiles/clyde-best/|title=Clyde Best Football Bio Bermuda : Bernews.com|publisher=bernews.com|accessdate=4 September 2015}} Best coached the Bermuda national team from 1997 to 1999.

Later life

After his coaching career finished he retired back to Bermuda.

Honours

Best was inducted into the Bermuda National Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. He was awarded an MBE in the 2006 New Year Honours list for services to football and the community in Bermuda.Determined to look the part, Best went into a swish London outfitters to buy a top hat. He was somewhat taken aback to find out it would cost him £500, but, unwilling to go incorrectly dressed to his investiture, paid up – only to have it confiscated on his arrival at the Palace as a security risk page (S5, Sports section Sunday Telegraph issue no 2,428 dated 23 December 2007)United Kingdom:{{London Gazette |issue=57855 |date=31 December 2005 |page=24 |supp=1}}